JellyBean

I had JellyBean since she was 6 weeks old. She passed away just before her 17th birthday. She was a pure bread miniature dachshund with red/black short hair. When she was little, she would chew on anything she could find even if you thought it was out of sight or reach. She was known for jumping up on anything she could reach. She had her own couch with toys and blankets. She was just like a kid, toys everywhere. She would hide her toys, but if you told her to find it, she knew just where it was. Sometimes she thought she was a cat. She would sit on the top edge of the couch and watch out the window and bark at anything that moved. She scared many UPS delivery guys with her bark, but when we would open the door, they would ask where the big dog was. When she was 7 years old, she shattered a vertebrae in the bass of her neck where it connects to the back. She had to be taken to WSU for her surgery. WSU did an amazing job! We considered JellyBean a graduate of WSU. When we picked her up, they said she may live about 3 more years because of the stress and damage. Well, she lived 10 more happy years! When I graduated from college, I got married and we lived in Hawaii (husband was in the Army). JellyBean stayed with my parents as she would not be able to make the trip on the airplane and quarantine for 3 months. She lived with my parents for a year and a half until I came back while Chris was deployed to Iraq. Chris deployed to Iraq 3 times, and every time he returned, JellyBean would be so excited and she never forgot who he was. I even have a picture of her wearing the headphones that were plugged into my computer while Chris was on skype. She would just lay there listening to him talk to her. When I took the headphones off of her head, she would run around looking for him. We moved to an apartment and we still had her couch, but she was unable to jump up and down (well, she thought she could). My dad and I built carpeted stairs for her to get up to her couch, our couch, and our bed. These stairs were longer than the steps you can buy at the store, so that she could get her whole body on one step before climbing to the next step. A few years later, we bought our first house and it came with a doggie door built in the laundry room so she could get to the back yard. My dad and I built little ramps for her to get in and out of the doggie door since her legs were so short and she could not jump, we didn’t want her to get high centered. In our new house, JellyBean practically had a bed in every room; we would just move her favorite blankets to the room we were in. JellyBean accumulated many blankets from different people. She had one from my dad, one of mine, three of Chris’, and one from a grandma. She was a true burrower; she always had to have her nose covered, even if the rest of her was out of the blanket. We did not use her couch or stairs in our house as it was big enough, she had her own space to walk around. When it was time for bed, she would walk to the bedroom and lay down in that bed. If you did not come soon enough, she would walk around the living room to the kitchen and back until you came. When we were not at the house, JellyBean would listen to the radio or the tv-espn, just like daddy. Whenever we would go out of town, we would take her to my parents’ house so they could doggie-sit. Every year or two, JellyBean would have an episode where her neck/back would flare up and she would go on several medications and confinement for a couple months, then she would be back to her normal self. These times were always hard, as I always feared it was the end, but she always proved that wrong. In the last few years, she was losing her sight, hearing, and smell. She also got silver hair on her nose and paws. We would carry her room to room with us, and carry her out to potty and back in. She would sleep most of the time, except to eat and potty and walk around every now and then. On her last day, work was cancelled due to weather and I am so grateful as I was home with her when she passed. It was quick with no suffering. I had just taken a picture of her as she was sitting kind of funny (she would always lie in weird/funny positions). Little did I know, that would be the last picture I would take of her. I picked up her blankets and took them to the living room and went back to the bedroom, picked her up, and she was gone. I kept telling myself, I wish I could have taken her to the vet earlier and then she would still be here, but she went on her own terms in her house where she was comfortable. She took a few big breaths on the ways to the vet, but when we arrived, they said her heart had already stopped. JellyBean was her vet’s oldest patient and she was crying that day, too. JellyBean’s vet was so caring, kind, and compassionate. We did not have to decide or deal with anything that day. JellyBean is now in her final resting place, mostly in her urn, and a little bit in a necklace urn around my neck. JellyBean was my child for 17 years and I will never forget her and all of the amazing memories she made with us and everyone she met. We love you JellyBean!

Chris and Becky D. – aka- mom and dad