Hello friends! I hope that everyone is doing well. I’m back, but with a heavy heart. Yesterday I had to euthanize one of my pups. And since I first wrote about her here: Finding and Bringing Home Whiskey, I thought I’d give an update just in case there are any of the old timers still kicking around.
Thirteen years ago, I walked into the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley, Minnesota and walked out with a new best friend. Amaretto, as they were calling her was listed as a Husky mix. I remember that she had the sweetest, liquid eyes. I walked in, knowing that there were a few dogs that I was interested in. I looked at Amaretto, she seemed sweet, but I needed to look at a couple of others before I let myself fall in love. My wife was having a very different experience. Where I walked past after taking a quick look, my wife engaged. Amaretto was up near the gate with her, but when someone else would come to look at the kennel door, she’d go to the back of the kennel to hide. Once they were gone, she came back to the gate, reached through, and grabbed my wife’s arm. She knew then that the search was over. So she called me back and we went into an isolation room to really get to know this sweet girl with the liquid eyes.
There is no way to express just how hard we both fell for her. On the way home though, my wife realized that Amaretto is an unwieldy name. So she tried a few different names before stating, “if you’re going to be named for liquor, it might as well be one that we drink. What do you think about Whiskey?” At that moment, the dog formerly known as Amaretto jumped up and kissed her cheek. It seemed that she approved and she has been Whiskey ever since.
My girl was extremely ill-used in her first year of life before ending up at that shelter in Golden Valley. She was rescued by our shelter from a kill shelter in Hillsdale, Indiana because Animal Humane Society places dogs so fast that they can take up the slack from around the country (yet another win for Minnesota). Anyway, we know she was ill-used because our current vet, found BBs in her back flank muscles during the X-Ray that led to the cancer diagnosis in December. But even though this little girl had been literally shot before she got to us, she was the sweetest pup that I had ever seen. Broken? Yes, who wouldn’t be? So much so that she didn’t know how to play when we met her. When she saw other people or dogs at the park, she shied away from them all. But so full of love for her humans.
Working from home and then starting a dog sitting business were truly the best things I could have ever done for her. She blossomed having all of these other dogs come to visit her. She became more playful and more assertive. When a pup was breaking her rules, she’d bark at them. Something she never would have done before we started. She was my helper in a job that I love so much. Quiet most of the time, but always watching. And if she was needed? Well, let’s just say that she broke up more than one scuffle between guests.
So raise a glass in memory of Whiskey tonight and know that our family is a little dimmer now that the light has faded from those sweet, liquid eyes.
Rest in peace, Whiskey (2012-2026). We love you.