Robb and I got Penny as a pup while we were still in college. Penny truly was our first baby. Robb had said no dog will ever sleep in his bed but he only last 2 nights of listening to this adorable 5 lb puppy cry in her kennel before he changed his mind. Penny slept with Robb from that night on and as the years went on she started sleeping on my side of the bed and I enjoyed having my little foot heater in the winter. This fall Penny celebrated her 15 birthday. She was still fairly spunky if their was something to get worked up about but for the most part she had retired to our bed for her retirement years. She was starting to go blind and Emerson was a bit too much for her. Emmy wasn't very gentle and she didn't like the kids to sneak up on her since her eye sight was getting bad.
Penny was such a huge part of our family! She was with us when we moved into our first house. She was there when we brought Bryce and Caleb home and at that point she about had a nervous breakdown, but who's judging so did Robb and I. She did eventually grow to tolerate the boys and as they got older and weren't trying to carry her around by the neck or jump on her, she started to like them. Penny thought were we crazy when we brought home another baby but Abby wasn't as crazy as the boys and Penny was always partial to Abby.
Penny loved Christmas and loved presents! We could never put her gifts under the tree until it was time to open them because she would always sniff out the gifts that were hers and bite them open.
Although it took her about 7 years to calm down she was a great dog and in the last half of her life she was very little work! She liked to go on walks but didn't require them on a daily basis to stay sane. She only needed let out a couple times a day and never had accidents in the house. We would just put food and water out and she just ate at her leisure. The care she required was about equivalent to that of a cat.
We all loved Penny! She was our dog that ate chocolate, she loved sweets, she would pretend to die if you pretended to shoot her, she had a deep deep hatred for the UPS man and mailman. She got all growly and crabby if the kids would wake her up in the middle of the night. No one in our house could wear black without getting completely covered in white hair. She barked as airplanes flew over our house like she was warning them to leave her family alone. Her favorite people were Rick and Mark (Robb's friends from college). She loved going to Grandma and Grandpa's house where she could pretend that she was a little dog on the praire.
On November 1, I got home from working on a Sunday and heard some odd noise in the house. Robb was still at church with the kids so I went to find out what was going on. I found our beloved Penny having a seizure under our bed. I got her out from under the bed and got her wrapped in a blanket to keep her from biting me. I called the Emergency vet and was headed out the door when Robb and the kids got home. I had Robb come in first so I could tell him and together we sobbed for our the pup that was like our first child.
We took her to the emergency vet and the kids were devastated that we were going to have to put her down. We were a mess! All of us were crying and the kids didn't want us to put her down. Emmy was trying to hug her and kiss her paws and all the kids kept petting her. It was one of the hardest parenting moments because I felt like Robb and I were too sad to help them much. The kids stayed in the room with us when they put her down so that they could see that she wasn't hurting anymore and that she just fell asleep. Bryce was very upset that she never got to live at the new house so we made the decision to bury her at the new land so that she could always be close to us.
Emerson was very confused why we had to put Penny in a bag and she kept hugging the bag and then asking us to let Penny out. I had to take Emmy to the car while Robb buried her because Emmy was crying to take Penny out of the hole. I felt so bad for her and she had no idea what was going on.
We all said good bye to our great family pet that day. It was a rough day for everyone!
The kids made a rock to put on her grave. I hope she knows how much she was loved! She had a family of 6 sobbing over her as we said good bye. It is crazy how a 15 pound dog can find her way so deep into your heart. The only thing that made the kids feel a little better was that we told them grandpa Orville would meet her in heaven with all the treats and chocolate that she could ever want. Good Bye Penny Pup We Love You!
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