This is a story about how we were blessed with a 6yr old cocker and how in the 13 years she was with us she blessed and enriched our lives. She died Jan 31st 2005 my middle son's 22nd birthday. She was 19 years old.

When "Precious" came into our lives it was a very tumultuous time in my life and that of my children. It was the summer of 1992. I was at the end of a very troubled marriage of 16 years and trying to deal with that as well as raising 3 son's ages 9, 10 and 14.

We had just lost a beloved buff cocker I named Racheal. After her loss I said, "NO MORE PETS"!

I was driving to pick my two youngest sons up from school when I saw the sign the first time. On the ride home the boys saw it and asked about it. For the next week we all saw the sign everytime we left our neighborhood.
Finally, after continuous nagging from my three sons I made the call to check if her owner had been found.
I was so hoping that they would tell me yes!
The lady came on the phone and said that no one had even called about her at all except us! She also told me that she was unable to keep her. She had taken in so many stray dogs her husband was threating to leave if she kept one more.

I hung up and told the boys lets go and we'll "just look"!

Five minutes later I pulled into the drive and saw this black puff of fur and fell in love. I turned to the boys and said; "oh my God, she is so precious".

The name stuck!

She was twisting and hopping around at the end of her chain and trying her best to get to us. Needless to say, my "never" turned into a thirteen year labor of love!
She was in bad need of grooming but cleaned up really pretty. When I took Precious to our vet we were told she had almost no eye sight left in one eye and the other one was also effected. We were told she would eventually loose her eye sight.
The vet said she was approximately 5-6 years old but other than the eyes in pretty good shape!
She was my constant companion through my last years of my failing 16 year marriage. Many a day or night she loved me while I cried in her fur. She loved my three sons and was so happy when one would come home.
She had the cutest habit of giving what we called "happy growl's". These growls are hard to explain, it was almost as if she were so happy she had to make some sound to let us know with words.
Years pass and each of my sons grew older. She was still our baby. When my oldest grandchild Cassidy was born, Precious felt it was her duty to watch over her and sleep right next to her feet.
As Precious grew older she loss total sight but she always knew when Cassidy was coming in the door. Gradually her hearing became bad too. She always knew where her bed and food was and could get around the house and yard as if she could see.
She loved the lake and loved to swim. We would take her with us in the summer and she would swim out to my voice. Her favorite and most aggrivating thing she ever did during our lake trips was roll in the sand when she was dripping wet. She ended up looking like a walking dred lock covered in sand. You could not convince her not to roll in that sand!
When she was younger her most favorite place to ride in the van was behind my neck. She would tap my arm with her paw and take a flying leap and land smooth as silk behind my neck and lay against the head rest.
As she got older I had to make her sit in the passenger seat. She got to the point where she would fall asleep and not wake up when she had to pee. Let me tell you, a sudden wet feeling while driving going down your back was not pleasent!
I never regretted bringing her home for one moment. She was the most loving pet anyone could be blessed with. After she loss control of her bladder more and more often due to age, she began to sleep on a large pillow. I missed feeling her against my side at night but we adjusted and I got to stay dry all night!
She would adopt any pillow Cassidy brought here and she usually ended up getting to keep it! We bought her a blue soft dog bed but she would still sleep on her pillow's when she was in the living room.
She was so cute when she walked. She had this funny way of sort of patting the ground befor she took a step if she felt unsure. Rarely did she bump into anything, she was so amazing.
A total of 18 years past for her and the boys all grew up. She was still my baby even though we now had a male black cocker that my oldest son and his wife had bought me the year befor. We also had a jackrat.
For those who don't know the breed, its a half jack russel and half rat terrier.
She took both the male dogs in stride. If they tried to mate with her she would just stop walking and sit on their heads! It was almost as if she were smiling as she did it. The jackrat was named peanut because of his size, and the male black cocker is Shadow. They never got anything over on Precious.
About three weeks ago she started acting strange and walking in right angle circles. When I took her out to potty she wore herself out with the turning. I talked to one vet that said it was just her age and to put her down. I took her to our vet and found out she had an inner ear infection and that she needed her ears cleaned out.
The vet gave her medication as well as cleaned her ears. She also gave her a rabies shot even though she wouldn't bite a flea. Well, maybe a flea but certainly no human! She told me it would last her three years and would probably be the last one she would need. I broke down crying because she was telling me that Precious wouldn't last past another three years! I guess I just figured she would last forever and never leave me.
At least I hoped so! That wasn't to be the case and the end came way sooner than the vet had warned me of.

Within the week I would loose her!

There would be no more happy growl's, no more wiggles of her entire body, my best friend would be gone.
Late the evening of the 31st of January she started acting as if she were in severe pain. She didn't want touched and could not be made to lay down. Just endless circles and she quickly got to where during the evening she was dragging her back legs and unable to stand.
I gave her something for pain and took her for one last van ride. We drove the 50 mile round trip to Okc, Ok to see my oldest son and to let her say goodbye to Cassidy. Cassidy is five and Precious loved her more than anyone else.
Even thought she was drugged and probably still in some pain she fell off the van seat trying to get to her baby Cassidy. She wagged her tail and licked her and they said their last fairwells.
My heart was and still is breaking over her loss. She died that night but not in pain anymore. She is now buried in my back yard along with a ball Cassidy gave her and she is laying in her favorite bed. She is under the mulberry tree but really she is still right here with me and always will be.
She will live in my heart forever. I just pray that someday when it is my turn to go that she is waiting for me and that we can go swimming and for rides again!
I know she won't be blind then and she won't suffer anymore. I can only wait for that day and try and live with the sorrow of her loss.