I
had decided not to do a post about Jamie but all of your concerned emails and
comments (even after I turned off the Comment section off) have made me give it
another try.
Most
of you only know Bert, because it is Bert’s blog, few of you have noted the
little posts or comments about Jamie.
Who is she, why is she so special to my heart, what makes her different
to me?
Jamie
came to me after my sister had died in 1995.
I didn’t go looking for her, I just came across her one day when I was taking
care of my sisters little girl Becky.
Becky
fell in love with this puppy and begged me to bring her home. My sister, her mother had died weeks before
and when a little girl asks for something so close after her mother’s passing, it
is hard to refuse. So Jamie came home
with us.
My
Search and rescue partner McKenna (a beautiful little golden retriever of five
years) had died tragically just a week after my sister had died. I had not been willing to train another
dog. I was through with search work, but
I was still training dogs and handlers.
Little Jamie would accompany me on the weekend camping/training exercises.
She
loved the mountains, she loved being at my side and I guess she loved searching
because one day while I was setting up a two mile track for one of the older
dogs, she decided that she should show me how much she had learned while
watching.
She
took off and covered the two miles at a dead run, with me at a distant stretch
behind her. She didn’t miss a step. She tracked perfectly and on that day at that
time, it was decided that I was not through with active search and rescue work.
For the next twelve years, traveled all over the country on searches or training other groups and doing
demonstrations in schools, churches, fairs, etc. for the next. She was amazing.
She
did amazing things. She was a great
great search dog, great companion and great friend. She was my “Heart Dog” she is
my “Heart Dog”.
She
was awarded the Governors and the Presidential Point of Light award for her work.
She was respected by everyone she met.
Her
search career was an open field, she tracked, she air-scented, cadaver, water
and disaster. I am not bragging, she
really was excellent in every venue. Her ability to scent discriminate was uncanny.
She
loved me with every part of her being.
When she looked at me, you could see into her soul and I was at the
core. She would have given her life for
me and there were times that she saved my life while we were on searches.
She
kept me safe, she would detour me from danger.
She
would do anything for me and I for her.
I miss her dearly. 17 years of
her at my side and then gone leaves me with a huge emptiness.
It
is raining outside on her grave.
Yet
the air smells like new life. Bert is
sitting at my side.
Bert
has always had a difficult time playing ball with me. He doesn’t give up the ball without a fight
and more often than not, I have been injured by his enthusiastic reluctance to
give in. Jamie always brought the ball
back and put it right in my hand then waited excitedly for me to throw it
again.
The
day after my sweet Jamie passed, Bert brought the ball to me and put it in my
hand.
(Please understand that I have turned the comments off. I appreciate all of you and the love you are sending my way. But I honestly don't think I can handle thinking of her much more for a bit. Thank you all for your friendship and support. Blogville is a wonderful place)
