Our sweet, precious Dixie has left us last week. She has brought so much love and joy into the Clayton home since the very first day she arrived at 1092 Countrywood Cove.
Dixie arrived to us on special circumstances. It was January 1997 and I was in the third grade. My dad had gotten a very special opportunity to train at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. We were so excited for him, but it also meant that he would be gone from January til March. {three whole months!} My mom had a lot on her shoulders during the time: a high school sophomore, eighth grader, and a third grader, but she's super women so she got it done. During this time, I guess we were a little down missing dad and all so mom let us add an addition to our family to cheer us up. We already had a cocker spaniel named Fluffy that we had had for many years. A lady that worked for my mother also a a dog kennel where she bread huskies. Now my mother certainly wasn't going to pay for a pure bread dog to cheer her family up, but Dixie was special. She was the "runt" of the liter I guess you would say. She couldn't be sold as a show dog because her tail didn't curl just right and they believed her beautiful blue eyes to be blind. A tail curling didn't make any difference to us, we thought she was beautiful.
She was born on Thanksgiving Day in 1996 and she came to us in January. I still remember the day we got her. It was a Saturday and I had been gone on a field trip with my Girl Scout troop. Mom came to pick me up and my brothers were with her with a big ball of fur in the backseat. The thing I remember most was that she smelled, she smelled awful but she was beautiful. We took her home and into the guest house to give her a bath. We put her into the sink and soaped her up and she jumped out and went walking down the counter. She was so tiny compared to what she came to be. My dad wasn't aware of our new addition until he came home for a surprise visit in February. He came to pick me up early from school and surprise me and he was the one surprised when we got home.
only picture I could find on my computer. I know we have many more in our house somewhere.
Dixie was always so fun and special. When it snowed her inner husky would come out and she would run and play. She LOVED the cold weather. She was so smart. She could find anything lost in our backyard like key chains and other random objects that my dad would lose. She also never left our yard. We never had a fence or anything but she new where her territory ended. She would walk the entire perimeter of our yard, but would never step foot over it. Dixie loved the warm months as well when dad would take her to get a hair shave so she could survive the hot summers. My parents always drink coffee and read the paper in the mornings on the back patio when its nice outside. Dixie would come have her breakfast with them. She would put a big mouthful of food in her mouth and bring it to the patio and dump it. Then she would proceed to eat with them. She treated our cats like they were her babies. She would heard them out of the way in the carport when we would arrive home and some times allow them in her house to keep warm at night. All of the kids in our neighborhood came to play with her and to all seem to know her. Wonderful, wonderful part of our lives.
She was indeed a very special member of our family.
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