Minnie

Although I grew up with dogs, they were typical outdoor farm dogs. My Dad didn't want dogs in the house. I'd always wanted a small dog, and was surrounded by Jack Russell Terriers as it seemed many of our horse showing friends had them. I had started to research the breed and breeders. One of my favorite passtimes was to walk through the mall and look at the puppies in the window of the petstore. Although I always looked, I was so careful never to go in...after all, I did know where those puppies came from and it broke my heart. That day was different though...as I walked by, a tiny little black and white Rat Terrier puppy was pounding at the glass to play with me. I couldn't help but stop and meet her. As I did, I realized she had a cough but it just didn't seem to slow her down any. I knew I couldn't take that puppy home but as I turned to walk out of the store, I heard that pathetic cough and I just couldn't bear to leave her. I had done the thing I swore I'd never do...I bought a petstore puppy. She rapidly acquired the name "Minnie" and it seemed like months before she compltely recovered from her horrible case of kennel cough. Minnie became my best friend. She moved from New Mexico to Iowa, then to Illinois, Nebraska, and finally, back across the river to Iowa as she followed me all the way through college, graduate school and into my new career. She was also the dog that inspired me to start training. I never thought Minnie could be trained...she was shy, dog aggressive, and let's just say she was a little ball of stress. Thanks to some incredible friends and great trainers at the Dog Training Club of Champaign-Urbana, Minnie passed her Canine Good Citizen and even began some rally obedience and agility training and competitions. In 2007, Minnie lost her left eye to a luxated lens. In early 2009 she lost her right eye and was 100% blind. Slowly her emotional and mental health degraded and in September, I had to make the most difficult decision ever...and say good-bye to my beloved little rat terrier. She was 13, and I miss her everyday.