The power of one little dog....

When I sit down and think about the people who are my friends, both those who I consider good friends and those who I only know in passing...I realize that most of you I know through my dogs.  And I'm sure many of you knew Kal-El and you know Sparrow and Lonya.  Cheyenne wasn't quite as "well known" as my other dogs...but without Cheyenne, I'm not sure that I'd know many of you at all...people who I think of as my good friends...I owe that all to the little dog that someone threw away.

I first saw Cheyenne as I was leaving work, right after the 4th of July, limping around the parking lot at Moody Gardens, in Galveston Texas.  She looked pitiful, and I scrounged through my lunch bag to see if I had anything that she might eat.  The only thing I had were some oatmeal cookies, which I tossed at her.  The next day, she was still there, so after my shift, I bought a hot dog at the concession stand and went to find her.  She was under a construction trailer and I tossed her little bits of hot dog.  She gradually moved closer to me, until she would very tentatively take a bit from my outstretched fingers, then dart back.  The next day, my day off, I went to the trailer with some of Akela's dog food.  I tossed some of that to her, but she wasn't overly excited about it (some of the other people at work had been feeding her too..and hotdogs are better than kibble!).  I asked my co-workers to not feed her anymore that day or the next, and told them I'd be back to try to catch her tomorrow.   I walked back across the parking lot to my truck and about halfway there, I happened to turn back...and saw that the scrawny little dog was following me, though at a distance.  I wandered around the parking lot (must have looked like a fool), and she gradually got closer...I was talking to her the whole time, just babbling.  Finally, she was within a couple of feet of me, but I didn't want to risk grabbing her, so I decided to open the passenger door to my truck and ask her to get in.  To my surprise, she got in and jumped up on the seat...she had made her choice!  I was a little uncertain, since I now had this dog who I hadn't touched yet, in my truck!!  But, when I got in and sat down, she looked at me, slightly wagged her tail and didn't bite me when I reached to pet her.

Skinny Cheyenne, right after I caught her

I did take her to the humane society, to see if she had been reported missing (though given her condition, I was pretty sure she hadn't been).  No one had reported her missing, and I left a description of her there, but took her home with me.  After about a month or so of fostering her, I knew she was there to stay!

Cheyenne chasing Kal-El

Chey was very underweight when I got her and it appeared that her tail had been broken at some point (it was kinked) and one of her rear feet was all scarred up.  She would bite if she was afraid, and she taught me how to read those signs and back off.  People who knew her later in life, never seemed to believe that she actually had a bite history...nothing "serious", but it was there.

Cheyenne and Simon, best friends

I started in a basic agility class, after I moved to Florida, to see if it would give Cheyenne some confidence, since she had trust issues with people.  Never in a million years did I plan to compete with her, I was way too self conscious for that.  And there would be a bunch of people I didn't know at a competition, and they may actually watch me...no, not for me.

Agility changed my life, and that's all due to Cheyenne.  Chey took to agility like it was something that she'd always done.  She was a natural...I've often said that I wish I had Cheyenne later in my agility career, after I knew more.  She was a very good agility dog, I truly believe that if she'd had a handler who knew what they were doing, she would have been great.  But, she didn't care about my crappy handling, she just wanted to play at the sport she loved.   She liked to hang out at trials in her own chair, and would seem to memorize the course as she watched me walk it.

Chey made me love the sport too.  And the more I showed, the more I became part of the agility community here in Florida.  I came out of my shell within that community and it's led to meeting a lot of great people and making a lot of great friends.  And that's all due to a little spaniel mix that no one wanted.

The last weekend of Cheyenne's life was spent at an out of town agility trial.  She seemed to enjoy it, though she did sleep a lot.  But, she was perky when walking around the show site and tried to get into the van on her own.  She always loved to travel, and was such a great dog to travel with, she was so easy.  I had many friends offer to keep her for me, and if I could clone her, I'd make a fortune....since she was also such an easy dog to live with.  She was never sick, never hurt...until the final month when we were dealing with her cancer.  She declined quickly when we got home, as if she just wanted that one last road trip before she left us.  She didn't seem to be in pain, but lost control of her rear legs and couldn't hardly walk.  We spent her last night sitting in the sun and laying in bed watching TV.   She was ready to go I think, she didn't struggle at all.  She left very peacefully, and I hope has rejoined Kal-El and Akela at the Bridge.   I had her for 13 years, and it still wasn't long enough...she was thought to be 1-3 when I found her.

I will forever be indebted to Cheyenne.   I couldn't have asked for a better companion, a better intro dog into agility or a better friend.  Who would have thought one little dog could do SO much?

We'll miss you girl....