Farwell to my dearest friend

Seven

19?? - October 3,2009

A part of me died today. My best and loyal friend, Seven, has crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.

Seven is short for her full name Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One. She was named after a Star Trek character that was rescued from the oppressive Borg collective and given a chance to re-fine her humanity.

See, Seven was a hard luck case. I found her eating a dead deer alongside the road on my way home from work. I called the police and the trooper drove up and down the road asking the houses nearby if she was their dog. During this time, I blocked traffic as she staggered on and off the road. Luckily, the dog handler from the Sheriff’s department just happened to be passing by and I asked him to take her to my vet.

When she arrived at vets, she was in horrible shape. She weighted just over sixty pounds and her feet and legs where badly damaged. My vet said that she was probably on the run for over a month. He was unsure if he could repair her, but I told him to make her whole again, whatever the cost. She spent the next month at my vets being nursed back to health. I visited her daily and when she was healthy enough, I started taking her for walks. I'd never had a dog before and was surprised how quickly I bonded with her. After about three weeks, she started taking day trips to the office with me. Everyone knew but me that she was eventually going to be my dog.

It became apparent that Seven had come from an abusive home. Though she was the most sweetest and lovable dog to me and my love ones, she was viscous to others. It wasn't her fault, she was a product of her upbringing, but now weighing in at over 110 pounds, I had to take the matter seriously. And that is how I came to name her… it was now my mission to integrate her back into society. I had a behavior specialist come to office twice a week for months and took her to group classes weekly. Unfortunately, though she made great progress, she remained unpredictable. I had to be constantly vigilant when introducing her to my friends and sometimes, the results were disastrous. It drastically changed my life, but the good out weight the bad by 100 fold.

Over the last 12 years, she has been there for me through good and bad, always wagging her tail to share in my happiness or to cheer me up when I was down. My life won't be the same without her, but I know that she is in a better place; free of pain and reunited with her cat friends that pasted before her. My home is now empty as is my heart, but I am grateful for the fact that I have enough fantastic memories of her to last two life times.