Our Dear Sweet Minnie (aka "Mimmi")

My heart is heavy today as we have lost a very dear family friend. Chris and I have been married for 13 years and we have had Minnie as our dog for 9 1/2 of those years. She passed away this Sunday afternoon. She was roughly 14 years old.

This little dog showed up at my sister's farm back in 2002. She was a very badly abused little thing with a broken tail and several other wounds. My sister took her in and had her treated and fixed. The problem was that this dog was little and new and the other dogs treated her TERRIBLY! So my sister felt horrible for this little dog and did all she could to make sure she at least got to eat. Well, we went down to NM for our annual fireworks visit in July 2002. We saw the dog and thought she would be the perfect fit for our little house and our little kids--we only had Carlie who was 2 and Ethan who was 5 months at the time. So we took her home with us. We had no idea that we were taking home THE BEST DOG EVER!!!

She was always such an appreciative dog. She LOVED the kids and was very protective of them. There were times when Chris would be wrestling with the kids and she would get involved if she thought he was being too rough with them:) She NEVER bit the kids even though they deserved it many times. She was mixed-breed dog and had some sheep-herding dog in her mix and when the kids would get too rough with her, she would herd them into a corner and pin them there with her hip. Whenever I saw this, I knew it was time to get the kids away and give her a break. Here she is after she and Ethan had been "stickered" by Carlie (this is a scan off a scrapbook page)


She and Ethan had a special bond. I lovingly referred to Ethan as my "Man Cub" because he spent hours with Minnie--especially right after Max was born. I was busy with my newborn but Ethan was happy as could be with his best friend.


Minnie did have one flaw....she was RACIST! I am NOT kidding! I believe that she was abused by Mexican men and so if anyone came to our house with darker skin, we needed to put her in a room because she was going to nip their heels.

She lived a long happy life with us eating all of the table scraps dropped--she was better than any vacuum we've ever owned. And she passed away this Sunday afternoon here at home. My husband says she was just waiting for me to leave. I had a scout meeting at 1 pm today. She passed away about 10 minutes after I left. But the kids were all around her. So I'm still bawling right now but I take comfort in knowing that she passed from this life peacefully and with the kids she loved the most right by her. Our home already feels strangely empty. So farewell to our dearest family friend and protector. You will be sorely missed.

This was Minnie after a trip to the groomers--LOVED those bows in her ears that never lasted more than 10 minutes:)