I woke up this morning with a very unsettling feeling.  All last night I prayed and prayed about my dog Freckles.  I asked God if it was him His time to just take him and not let me be selfish.  It was hard to sleep knowing he was staying overnight in a hospital alone with IVs all run in him.  I was holding onto some kind of hope for him to pull through but this morning I woke up out of a deep sleep and sat up out of bed.  My heart was pounding and my throat was lumpy...and then 5 seconds later my phone rang.  It was Dr. Cone from the clinic....Freckles had passed in the night in his sleep. 

        I found this dog in college in the fall of '99.  He was underneath a bush whimpering and barely able to move.  I came and knelt down by him and petted him for a bit.  He was so mangled and matted...the previous owner had used an old battery cable for a collar on him which was completely matted deep into his fur.  I was so torn up and thinking "oh geez, I CANNOT bring another animal home! My parents will kill me!"  So I got in my car and was trying to leave and that dang dog drug himself out into the parking lot and plopped down in the middle right in front of my car.  My heart broke and I opened my door and got out and picked him up and put him inside.  I drove him home.

         He wasn't in very good shape at all.  I gave him a bowl of water to drink and he drank it ferociously.  It was then that I noticed water and blood dripping on the ground from his neck.  His throat had been ripped open and the water he had been drinking was just coming right out...I couldn't see the extent of his injuries cuz his fur was so thick and dirty and matted.  I immediately rushed him to the vet where they patched him up and gave him som penicillin for his wounds.  I brought him back home and put him out in the sunroom. Over the next couple of days it wasn't looking very good at all.  He wouldn't get up and come to you or wag his tail when you entered the room like most dogs would.  And he wasn't eating or drinking much at all either.  But then he slowly started to come around and after a week my family had fallen in love with him....including my dad!  ha ha!

         A few months later I got an offer to work on youth camp located in South Texas.  It was a 1,400 acre ranch with a river and hills.  I brought Freckles down with me that spring of '00.  Those were the best days of his life!  He would run and chase deer, and raccoons, and he loved to go on hikes with me.  He would even go fishing with me!!  He loved to sit in the boat and watch me pull up all the fish.  He didn't know what to think about them! lol  I remember one time I went out on the boat without him and he got so mad that he was stuck on the bank.  He would bark and bark at me and I would yell at him "Freckles!! Shut up!!! You're going to scare the fish!!!"  And then ....."Kerplunk!"....I knew it!  He came diving into the river after me.  His fat butt wasn't built for swimming at least not for very long.  I was yelling at him to go back ashore but as stubborn as he was he just wanted to be close to me.  And then I think he realized his fat butt wasn't going to make it to me so he did turn around.  Only he got tangled in weeds and trees and started to go under.

         I dropped my rod in the water and grabbed an oar and rowed as fast as I could to get to him.  It seemed like it took forever, watching him go under and back up again.  That was very scary.  But I got up to him and yanked his heavy soaking wet coat up by the neck and put him in the boat!  He just sat there and watched me fish the rest of the night. 

          Freckles hated cats....HATED cats!!!  He would love to chase them any time he saw one.  It was his favorite thing to do.  He chased after a porcupine once....ha ha ha ha thinking it was a cat I guess....it was the middle of the night and I couldn't see a thing.  After the scuffle was over he came whining over to me with needles all in his nose!  I just shook my head and had to laugh!  Stupid dog!
         
          He was diagnosed with heartworms in 2002.  He underwent treatments for it which took a big toll on his organs.  He wasn't really the same after that.  He couldn't run as much, nearly at all.  He just got so tired so quickly.  He became an inside dog for the most part.  Still loving to go out on my balcony and just lay outside.  I knew he missed living at the ranch...chasing us on our 6 wheelers and going hunting for wild animals.

          In 2007 he was diagnosed with Ehrlichia, a tick disease, that made him very, very ill.  After many blood tests and overnight emergency care he was released after a day with what seemed like a full recovery.

          In March of 2008 he began having seizures and showing severe neurological problems.  He seemed very "out of it" but was eating and drinking normally.  He had more blood tests done at which time he was put on medications to help with symptoms of the tick disease and also to help support a weakened liver.

          A few nights ago Freckles began having severe gran mal seizures.  I was terrified to watch him go through it.  The vet here in Branson, Dr. Cone, seemed to hold out some hope that maybe these seizures were unrelated to any past medical conditions and may just be old age, possibly Epilepsy.  He was given an herbal medication to treat for the seizures and thats when he became very lethargic and non responsive.  I took him for more blood tests to see what was going on.  It would take a day to get the results back.  That whole day I just layed with him petting him.  I spent the night on the floor next to him.  The next day we got the results and Dr. Cone said this is more serious than he thought.  Its really unknown exactly what killed him but I guess the best thing to focus on is that he is somewhere now much happier and healthier than he's ever been in his life!  He's running free and smiling and I can just see him chasing all the cats he can possibly ever want to chase!!!! : ) 


           I will miss that dog soo very much.  He was with me through thick and thin.  Through every major break up when I was alone and sad and needed comfort he was right there.  He loved to crawl in bed and stick his back into me and just let me pet him all night.  He never peed in the house....he was always so good about that.  He never tore anything up when I was gone.  He was the perfect dog!  And I wished he would've lived forever!  I love you Freckles and you will be missed terribly!!!!