Nadia's Remembrance

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What a bundle of cuteness!

So I've been a little MIA lately. We've had a few rough weeks at home. About a month ago our almost 7 year old chocolate lab, Nadia, started to get sick. Long story short, over two weeks she went from completely fine to absolutely miserable.

We connected the first time we met

After two weeks of pain meds, xrays and exams, we found out she had Leukemia. Within the next few days we decided it would be best to say our goodbyes as she was going downhill quickly. We didn't want her to suffer.

She had beautiful green eyes as a puppy

So I pulled together some pictures of her to celebrate her life. She was wild and crazy but she had a heart of gold. She would have walked through fire for me and I miss her dearly every day.

Hiding on the back of the couch from her cousin Cocoa.
She was terrified of the cat and I'm pretty sure Cocoa
enjoyed tormenting her.

The above pictures are a few of her adorable puppy pictures. I brought her home 6¹⁄₂ years ago and she changed my whole life. She was a big goofball!

I can't tell you how many times we played
dress-up with Nadia. She never minded.

Sometimes I think she thought she was a human. Here we were camping and she just decided she didn't want to lay in the dirt so she climbed up in a camping chair.

She was always running around like crazy, tongue hanging out, looking like a doofus... but occasionally she calmed down and you could see she was a beautiful dog.

Nadia loved the water. This past Labor Day the hubby and her spent the afternoon jumping off a dock and diving in the pond together. She swam until she was completely exhausted.

However... as much as she liked water, she did not like the beach at the ocean. How miserable does she look here? The waves, the sand, other dogs... it was a little overwhelming.

She did quite a bit of traveling; from all over Missouri, down to Louisiana, over to Florida and back up. And we had our road trip from Missouri out to Virgina to pick up the hubs from his Army training. If I'm counting correctly she went to 13 different states {I know people who haven't been to that many}.

Here we are in New Orleans

But as cute as Nadia was... there were some behaviors even I couldn't explain or understand. Like this one here. We always had to close our bathroom doors because this little toilet paper monster would unwind an entire roll. The phrase "bull in a china shop" often came up in reference to her yet somehow she was gentle enough to bite the paper and pull it all the way to the end of the roll.

Her sleeping habits were unusual as well. It's a dark picture but in case you're wondering, no, her front feet were not touching the ground.

This was her typical sleeping position. She often slept in bed with us. I still remember the night a woke up and heard snoring so I elbowed the hubs in his ribs. Immediately he replied, "I'm awake. It's not me it's Nadia". Yes, she could snore with the best of them.

But she was the best snuggle bug you could ever want. This is us catching a nap after a day of travels.

And then of course there was her unexplained fear of other dogs... or animals in general. She loved her big brother, Nate but he was the only animal she was ever comfortable with. Our friend brought over his new silver lab. The poor puppy just wanted to play with Nadia but she felt it would be best to climb up a on bar stool!! So the puppy chased her tail. She was not happy.

But she pulled it together for her cousin, Dasha's, birthday party and took a group photo {never mind the hubby's foot pushing on her left shoulder to keep her in the photo}.

As crazy as she could be, somehow she knew to be gentle with my youngest nephew here.

On our last days with her this is what she did, just lay in her bed. It wasn't her. Before she didn't stay in the same spot for long. Always on one of our heels following us around to see what we were getting into. Within two weeks she wasn't the same dog. She was still a sweetheart but you could see the pain in her eyes when we would get up from petting her. She wanted to follow us but her pain was too much. That was why we decided to let her go.

I'm warning you now. If you haven't read this before, BEWARE. I couldn't read through the list as I was posting this because I knew I'd break down. You've been warned. Grab a tissue if you wish to read the 10 Canine Commandments. Otherwise just look at the cute dog and skip on to the next picture.

#10 is why I held her until the end

Nicknames: {oh boy, here we go} The Brown Dog, Boofer, Boof, Baby Girl, Little Girl, Franky Flops...I'm sure there's a few I'm missing.

If Nadia had been a person she would have the funeral where people say; she lived life to the fullest, was always a glass-full kind of person, never met a stranger, and so on. She loved getting attention and giving kisses in return... sometimes a little too much. I could go on and on about her funny stories and showing pictures but I don't want to make this any longer. She was a great dog and lived a great life.

Now I imagine her playing catch with her cousin, Dasha {she's no longer afraid of other animals}. My Grandpa T is playing with them and laughing at their nonsense. It's his full body laugh where he holds his belly like Santa and throw his head back laughing. Grandma D is sitting nearby making funny comments about them and laughing as well. Her laugh is the one where she grabs her stomach with one hand and the other goes across her mouth as she squeezes her eyes shut cause she's laughing so hard. They're all having so much fun. They are missed but we all know they're in a better place.

May she rest in peace as comfortably as she use to rest on the couch, basking
in the sun, snoring like an old man. ;)

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