Lily

We had to put Lily down a few weeks ago:(  We all miss her, but she is much happier now playing at "the farm."  That is where Carter thinks she is.    The easy thing would have been to say that Lily went to heaven to be with Daddy, but he doesn't understand why we can't just go to heaven and get Daddy so I tried to avoid using the word Heaven.  I told him that Lily wasn't feeling well and went to a place where she feels much better,  can chase sticks, and soccer balls.  He then said, "Like a farm, Mommy."  Yup buddy just like a farm.

Lily's story goes like this....Niles had been waiting for the day that he could get his own dog.  Not many places that rented to students in Stillwater, allowed dogs and had a yard.  He found this perfect little one bedroom house.  Everything about it was tiny tiny, but it had a yard and allowed dogs.  He was set on getting a dog older than year so it would not be a puppy and have all the puppy issues.  We went down to the city shelter in Stillwater and found sweet Lily.  Her name was actually Jilly ( I think).  He tried to think of a name that rhymed with that, but was not as stupid as Jilly.  Terry suggested Lily and he went with it!

Lily did not have all those pesky puppy issues, but she had some weird issues.  She tried to run away anytime she was left alone.  She could jump high and when Niles would leave her, she would jump that fence and be gone.  The first day he left her he found her playing with kids around the corner.  He didn't want to tie her up on a rope, because he was afraid she was going to hang herself.  She wasn't quite potty trained so he didn't want to leave her alone in his rented house.  He ended up putting her in the bathroom.  This caused her to completely destroy his door from trying to dig herself out.  He had to pay for that!  His new plan was just to take her with him almost everywhere he went!  People knew her all over Stillwater.  She loved riding in the jeep and she loved being with Niles.  With time she became more comfortable and stopped trying bolt at every chance she got.

She was very protective.  She always slept on my side of the bed.  Standing guard!

Lily was also very weird about going to the bathroom.  When he first got her he would walk her down to this park that was a few blocks away to get her to go to the bathroom.  She grew out of that too, but was always a little weird about it.

That girl could jump higher than any dog I had ever seen.  She loved to catch sticks and could catch a soccer ball in the air that Niles would kick right at her face.  Sadie loved to chase and bite her legs while she tried to do this.

We miss her, but she feels much better at "The Farm."