NEVER...EVER...GIVE UP HOPE : Dogs - S is for Sheba on the Yellow Line

Sheba. Dear Sweet Sheebie. There is something special about all the dogs in my life but Sheba was one of the sweetest. We had been dogless for six months after putting our Sinker and Perky to sleep at the same time. We had a new baby girl in our family but our 5 year old son had just lost his two pets and we needed to find one to fill that spot. Off to the dog pound.

In the corner of the room was a ball of fluff. The manager and each of us tried calling her name and she stayed in the corner. Then my son said "Sheba, come on." And she ran over to him. We knew she was the one. "Unfortunately," the pound manager told us, "there is a lady that is interested in her and asked us to hold her until 1 p.m. tomorrow."

We were there at 1:05 the next day and claimed Sheba as our newest addition to our family. The lady called back later that day and was told that she was too late. Sheba belonged with us. What a delight she was. She was totally devoted to my son and spent hours every day playing with him on our acreage. She lived outside as her coat was made for the Arctic and would be far too warm indoors. Smart --- an understatement. She was genuis.

Sheba made an incredible, profitable discovery!

We had a huge pond with two smaller ponds at the bottom of our property and quite a distance from the house on the top of the hill. "Mom, come quick" my son called. I ran outside to see Sheba, totally out of breath, but looking extremely proud of herself. She had dragged a four pound Koi from the pond and planted it by our front door.

"Show us where you got this, Sheba." We followed her down the long hill, across the property and she started to bark in front of one of the small ponds which was more like a mud hole than a pond. We had no idea there were hundreds of Koi in our large pond as they like to hide in the mud when they sense people are near. Apparently, this one had died and was on the edge of the small pond where Sheba found it. Some of these Koi were very large and valuable. Sheba had no idea what a gold mine she had discovered.

@BatteredHope #AtoZChallenge Sheba in the snow

We lived about two miles from a lake where the children liked to swim. I dropped them off there one day and went home to do chores. The busy highway was two lanes wide with a solid yellow line in the center. As I was approaching our driveway, I could not believe my eyes. Dead center, on the yellow line, Sheba was lying there in great anticipation of her family returning from the lake.

I knew Sheba was inches from certain death...

There was a lot of traffic in both directions and I knew I could not stop without creating an accident. I drove past her and pulled over farther down the road. I was absolutely terrified. I knew that if she saw me she would come bounding toward the car. There was no way she would make it unscathed. I sat there until the traffic was at a minimum. Then I sped down the road with my back door wide open, slowed down when I got to her, and said "Jump in Sheba!"

She was thrilled, jumped in (all muddy, I might add) and was so excited to have found me. It was hard to discipline her when she was so happy, but after that, we kept her on her leash when we left home.

Sheba made the move from the country to the city a few years later. She was getting old and my daughter was now in middle school. One afternoon, my husband noticed that Sheba was lying under the bushes in the front yard. He went up to her. "Hey there, old girl. What are you doing?"

She barely raised her head and he knew it was not going to be long. He lovingly carried her into the house and I flew down the highway to pick up my daughter from school. I ran into the classroom and whispered into her ear, "Come quickly, we will talk to the teacher about it later. Sheba is dying."

Tears flowing down both of our cheeks, we were silent on the drive home. She sat on the floor of our deck and picked Sheba's head up and placed it on her lap. Gently stroking that beautiful soft fur with Rochelle's tears flowing easy now, Sheba let out a loud cry and died. Apparently, she had a heart attack. The only blessing in the situation was that we did not have to make that decision for her.

When our son Jason got home, he wrapped her in a blanket and put her in the trunk of our car. With my husband, they drove up the mountain, where she loved to play, and buried her.   Sheba was with us for thirteen years.

I am participating in this year's A to Z Challenge 2014 and am sharing 26 dogs stories - one for each letter of the alphabet.

A is for All the Dogs               B is for Babe                             C is for Charlie
D is for Dyeing Hair                E is for Emergency                   F is for Flying Snake and Flying Dogs
G is for Galloping down the road                                              H is for Hiding behind the tree
I is for The Intimidator                                                              J i for Just Dream Big
K is for Babe is Killed
L is for Louie Vuitton
M is for MercedeZ
N is for New Addition Chiweenie
O is for Old Fart and Other Cats
P is for Perky
Q is for Quincy
R is for Rusty and Rex Black Dobermans

It would be awesome if you would visit other blogs in this challenge. There is a wide range of subjects posted every day and my fellow bloggers would be honored to have you drop by.