We had adopted Sandy from LEARN in 3/05. We recently had lost our SandyGirl to Liver Disease in 7/08. Please see the tribute letter below and attached photo we’d like to add to your Tribute Page on the Website.

 Just over 3 years is not long enough time that we had to spend with our Sandy. We adopted her from LEARN in March of 2005 and from that day she came home, our lives changed forever. This tribute letter is a small token of our appreciation and affection toward Sandy as she made such a lasting impression and bountiful love in our hearts.

My husband had come across the LEARN website by mistake. From that 1st day, he saw Sandy’s photo sitting on a bed, with those eyes just looking right at him saying “you found me! Now come and meet me!”. It was love at 1st sight. She was around 8yrs young, and we decided that our other lab, Odie needed a buddy to be his partner in crime, companion and most of all, an extra set of lab kisses to be widely shared. From her foster mom, we found out a lot of information that was available about Sandy and her previous life. It was not a pretty tale and we wanted to make sure her “Golden years” were much more memorable than the 1st 8yrs she had before in that previous life.

On Good Friday, March 25th, 2005, we went up to Wisconsin and picked up Sandy. She literally sat in the back seat and just stared out the window with the look on her face of “where am I going to now”. Well, little did she know she was coming home to where she was given more love and affection (and treats) than she’d ever known. Her and Odie instantly made a bond and she made it known that she was a respectful lady who was not in the mood for a 5yr old Lab and his games! But when she saw that tennis ball, it was “GAME ON!” and literally tired Odie out to where he actually gave up.

In June of 2006, we were blessed with our son, Mason. Odie and Sandy both became very aware of their new duties of protecting and giving love to their ‘human little brother’. Because Sandy was a cuddler and loved her belly rubs, Mason and her bonded quickly. We called her ‘Nurse Sandy’ because when it came to nightly feeding the baby, she was right there next to my feet keeping me company and making sure we were ok. As Mason grew older and became mobile, Sandy would follow him and make sure he didn’t get into trouble or climb the stairs. At this point, she had a few extra pounds on her and knew that this kid couldn’t climb over her and the stairs to make his way upstairs. One of Mason’s 1st words was “Za Za”. He knew how to cuddle with her and give her extra love because she was starting to not feel well and not be as active as she once was.

In Feb/March of 2008, we noticed Sandy’s behavior toward food and overall was not her norm. We took her to the vet and after tests were ran, her liver enzymes were elevated beyond normal. After series of tests, meds and different food, she seemed to come back to her norm of being a non picky eater and more active. Even our vet changed her diagnosis from ‘not good’ to an indefinite life span going forward. So we kept her on the medication to maintain the liver function. In June, however she started to not respond to the meds and go back to being lethargic, inactive and not as spunky as she was known to be.

She had lost so much weight and with the arthritis, it hurt us as much as it was hurting her. We tried one more time with whatever the vet thought may work to help her and that didn’t even change her at all. It was time we needed to make a decision; it was one that was our hardest and most emotional decision. I took her to see the vet on July 11th to see if there was anything remotely possible to help her. At that point, she was starting to suffer and be in a lot of pain. I couldn’t do it by myself. We decided to wait and enjoyed the weekend as a family, one last time. We were blessed with a very beautiful weekend so we were outside most of the days-that was Sandy’s favorite thing to do-sleep under ‘her tree’, in the shade with her family nearby. My husband BBQ’d everything that we knew she loved and we didn’t deny her anything she would like to eat. She turned down the dog treats (Odie helped her with that) and she happily ate all that we gave her off the grill.

We took turns and spent the nights sleeping next to her downstairs as she was too frail to go up the stairs. We just spent whatever moments we could with our Sandy. She knew in the end, that we loved her with all our hearts and made sure her ‘golden years’ were golden. We laid her to rest on Monday, July 14th. We made the decision to be with her at that moment so she knew as she crossed over the Rainbow bridge, her thoughts were from happiness on earth to happiness in heaven.

We have all tried to regain our strength and move on with our home missing an important part of the family. Sandy is home with us now, but in a different way. We have dedicated the tree she always snoozed under and made a memorial plaque that hangs above to remind us of how special she was. As the saying goes, time does heal wounds. Our hearts are still missing her dearly, but we know that we did everything medically possible to help her and it was time. Sandy was 11 1/2 years old when she passed. She will always be remembered as our feisty, get the last word in, you gonna eat that?, wanna play ball?, pet me kinda girl.

We are so happy that we had the opportunity to adopt/save a Lab from LEARN. It was an experience that we will never forget and always cherish in our hearts. Thank you very much to all the volunteers and love that LEARN provides to the dogs. It’s because of you all that we found our SandyGirl.

Sincerely,

Harold, Kristene, Mason and Odie Likens