Cinder's Gone to Rainbow Bridge

 It's been quite some time since I last wrote in this blog. Between general life, an antiquated computer, starting a small business, keeping up with the dogs, and sketchy internet, it just got easier to let the blog go.

Cinder grew up and grew into a highly beautiful and very curly merle girl. She started life being highly reactive and it took us three solid years of working together to become a solid and trustworthy team. She ultimately became so good that she never had to stay home when I went somewhere she could go. She never got concerned with other dogs as long as they stayed at least two feet away and were quiet as they passed.  She actually even herded loose chickens in Rural King a few times.

Cinder's first love was always playing "Flyer" with her soft Frisbees at the private pond park near our home. She dearly loved to dock dive from the banks of the pond and swim out to retrieve her flyer and do it all over again. She'd always loved to run after it too, but being a swimmer, she'd always ask to swim over running whenever weather permitted.  However, she eventually broke a couple toes on a front foot mid-summer in 2021. It required keeping her home and quiet for 10 weeks.  By then end of her jail sentence, it was the beginning of November. We opted to just play Flyer at home and keep her runs short and contained within our yard until the following Spring.

Meanwhile, we'd travelled to Lafayette, Indiana to meet some people and pick up a new Border Collie male that needed a new home. We thought he'd make a decent companion for Cinder since she seemed lonely without her two uncles, now long gone to Rainbow Bridge. Our new boy came with many issues including a serious case of hip dysplasia, so as much as we'd come to love him over the 14 months we had him, we had to let him go to Rainbow Bridge because his pain was too great to bear.

We thought Cinder was going to be an only dog from then on. We made the best of all the good days, but Cinder came up lame almost regularly for most of the summer and fall. By November 2022, I was highly concerned that she didn't seem herself or feel well. I repeatedly took her to the vet clinic and we ran every test possible only to find nothing. But I knew she just wasn't feelin' it.

January came and on January 5th, we got a message from a friend about a Border Collie male puppy about four months old that desperately needed a home FAST. His people had had many Border Collies and he was the last of their final litter, but they couldn't seem to find a home for him. They'd heard of me and wanted me to take him.  I was hesitant, but we decided to go get him and if a friend of mine with a large sheep farm wanted him, I'd get him to her or keep him.

We picked up the gorgeous little male and we named him, "Dark Knight." Surprisingly, Cinder seemed to take to him quickly, acting almost like a surrogate momma to him. But, because she wasn't always feeling well, she would often just let him play alone or would encourage playing quietly on the floor so she didn't have to move much. However, one day of the third week of April 2024, Knight and Cinder were playing on the bed until I saw him go over the side of the bed and make a horrendous yelp. He went crying down the hallway carrying his back leg. I couldn't palpate anything significant, but I know dogs don't yelp, whine, or carry their feet if they don't hurt somewhere. We went to the vet and he had a broken toe on his back foot. 

We got Knight splinted and home, to remain quiet for the next 8-12 weeks, returning weekly to the clinic for splint changes. He had to be on meds to help him remain quiet enough not to hurt himself. March came in like a lion and on the morning of March 6th, I noted that Cinder truly wasn't feeling well. I'd planned to call to get her into the clinic when they opened, but before then, she took a major dive. She'd gone out to go potty and suddenly became panicked, and wobbly on her feet. She finally stopped to poop and it was disgusting and full of blood and mucus. I've seen that before and it's always been a very bad sign that it's time to say good-bye. That morning was no different. By the time I'd gotten her to the clinic, it was so obvious we were not going to be bringing her back home-ever again. It was the worst day of my life.

Having said  farewell to Cinder forever on March 6th, I determined that God had sent me Knight to ease the loss of Cinder. I loved that little guy and we made three treks a week into the clinic to treat his toe and re-set the splint as he kept growing. We'd been doing some training that didn't involve him walking much and he was a sharp little dude. I was quite proud of how he'd been coming along. Finally, the day he got to get his splint off came. We got his splint off and he was in fine shape. We were finally ready to start more intense training, but as we left the clinic, I fell down the steps on the way to my truck. That meant a trip to the E.R. for me and I was off my leg for at least three weeks. Ugh. If that wasn't bad enough, in mid July 2023, Knight began getting aggressive and attacking me, biting me with intent to do as much harm as possible. Out of the blue, my beautiful boy was suddenly a monster. It was so out of character. I read every book, and finally had to call on a behaviorist. She was stumped too. But, she tried to work with us for a month, until Knight went totally off the rails. He became full-blown Cujo. We called the clinic and when we arrived, it was again clear that I was probably not going to be bringing Knight home. He'd been horrible in the truck and was so out of control, none of us could get to him without risking being bitten horribly. He was out of control. Finally, we got him sedated and after all our discussion, we had to euthanize him. The vet was sure he'd had a brain tumor develop due to the neurological signs she was able to see combined with the behavioral changes so hard and fast from his previously self; and the way he'd have "honeymoon phases" following his rampages. She felt certain a brain tumor was the culprit and there wouldn't have been anything anyone could do about it because it had happened so quickly and gotten so bad so fast.

So, now you all know the full story of Cinder's journey to Rainbow Bridge. Until now, I haven't had the ability to really talk or write about it all because everything unfolded in such quick timing and rocked me to my core. I still miss Cinder every day.

I waited over a month before deciding I'd get another dog. I knew I didn't want another Border Collie because I'm older and in worse health now, so I didn't want to be responsible for trying to keep a BC well-exercised daily. It took me some time to figure out what kind of dog I'd get.  I finally opted to adopt a rescue Rough Collie puppy, four months old. I've been half afraid of what would happen with him after all that happened with Knight, but so far, he's fine. He's now 15 months old and in good health. He will be my last dog.

Thank you for following Cinder's tales as long as you did. We met some really great people via this blog and her FB page while we kept them both active. Thank your for being our friends. I'm sure if Cinder were here, she'd send you all pooch smoochies for your whole faces!