Mandy escaped through a dug hole under the fence in a different home where we had once lived and she was gone for 3 days. Three terribly long and hellish days. A knock on the door opened to find a man holding Mandy and I wept with joy! He explained that he had found her on the road and had heard about her being missing. We truly received a miracle that day and that stranger was an angel.

 

Although Mandy grew older in age, her spirit never did. She still loved to run and play, but she required longer naps. In the spring of 2007, it was thought by our vet that Mandy had had a stroke. By the time we found her outside in the yard, she could barely move. We rushed her to the vet clinic, where they immediately went to work in trying to reverse the effects of the stroke. We were sure we would lose her then and our tears were many. She was kept there for 3 days, improving more with each passing day.  Suddnely, she refused to eat, drink or try to potty. She was giving up the fight. 

They told us to take her home and see how she did there. If there was no change, then we would have a decision to make.

 

Within a day, Mandy began eating tiny bits of food and drinking water.

While in the animal clinic, they were taking Mandy outside to potty, holding her little rear end up with a towel wrapped aropund her mid-section.

When her dad took outside to "do her buisness," she wanted nothing to do with the towel stuff. She wiggled her way across the lawn, laid down, turned on her side, and went potty! Was she remarkable or what?!

 

Mandy continued to improve daily and although her rear end would fail to stand up at times , she just kept going. She came back from the stroke almost 100%!

 

This little girl had been through so much! An almost perfectly behaved and loving dog did not deserve to go through what she did in her short life.

 

I could tell many stories of our Mandy, but there isn't enough room on this site to write about our 10 years with her. To sum it all up, she gave us so much more than we gave her. But she didn't seem to mind. We loved her as much as she loved us. And if she's alive somewhere out there, she misses us as much as we miss her.