My Millie

Well, I had high hopes for this post sometime on Thursday. In my mind we would come home from our much anticipated camping trip this weekend, and I would post pictures of a wonderful time with the kids and the several other families that came with us.
I guess I could still do that, because those things did end up happening, but a much more serious and sad thing occurred that will far overshadow this trip in our memories in the years to come.
We took both of our dogs with us when we departed this Friday, which is a standard practice for us everytime we go. Everything was fine as we were setting up camp around 10 a.m., and as the day went on, we were grateful for beautiful, breezy weather. However, our dog Millie, seemed to be a little antsy. We made sure that she (and our other dog, Oreo) had plenty of cool water, and they were both in the shade, but she was still restless. I went ahead and unleashed her, knowing that she would probably do better being free, and that she would never get away from us. She seemed to calm down some, so honestly, we went on about our business.
About an hour later, Mark and I were at the campsite next to ours when Jacob yelled for us because Millie wasn't breathing well. I ran to her and sure enough, her breathing was terribly labored and she was struggling. We scooped her up immediately and rushed her to the animal hospital that was only about a half an hour away, but we didn't make it. We lost her.
I never, never, never would have taken her out of this house if I would have known that something was wrong with her. We are still so completely baffled about what happened to her. Even the vet couldn't figure it out.
We are just so stunned and hurting right now. It is so hard to lose a deeply loved pet, because they are such a part of your day to day life. Even my footsteps are lonely today because I never took them without a furry, sweet and loyal companion right behind me.
I would love to post a picture of my sweet girl for you to see, but I don't think that my heart could stand to see it right now. If you want to do some fishing, I know that I posted about them with pictures recently under the title Precious Pups. And that she was, indeed.