The story behind "The Dog"

I have been wanting to share this story for a while, but I have also wanted to see what would come of the situation before I just put all my feelings out there. 

Let me give some background to the reason I think my original dislike for this dog was 'some-what' valid.

No mother and father should ever have to plan the funeral of their 18-day old son, and they certainly shouldn't have to pick his place of resting. When we chose where Sawyer would be buried it was for a number of reasons, including the fact it was well-kept and also close-by to where we lived at the time. It is still some-what close, just not as close as it used to be before we moved. For the first few months I would go out and eat lunch or just sit for hours on end. It was peaceful and quiet and I never felt as if I couldn't be there, or that I couldn't stay for as long as I wanted. We also paid a good amount of money for this type of place because I knew it was just always be what I wanted it to be.

On Sawyer's five month birthday I decided I wanted his cousins to come out to visit so we could take some pictures. I went out early so I could change out his arrangement and just sit before they arrived. As I was changing out the arrangement, a dog came running across the graves towards me. I am normally not afraid of dogs, but when you are alone and have no idea what the dog has in mind as it is running towards you I was a little taken aback. Luckily my aunt and cousin pulled up with the kids so I started walking towards their car and the dog had taken a seat about 20 feet away. As I turn around I see the dog running off with my towel in her mouth! I start yelling and chasing after her, "Hey! That is MY towel, DROP IT NOW!" to which she did. She didn't go far and would come closer every once in a while. We got our pictures and decided it was time to go, but I think we got some pretty good pictures!

Here are a few :)

As I continued to visit during the month of October I would notice that Sawyer's arrangement had been chewed on with some of the pumpkins even missing! I was furious and I knew it was all the dog's fault. I proceeded to walk in to the office and ask why nothing was being done. I LOVE the owner's and we ended up cracking jokes by the end of the conversation. They promised they were working towards doing something, but until then my arrangement would probably continue to get chewed on. By that point it had gone from 5 pumpkins to four, with the majority of them being chewed on so it was already toast in my mind. I was just hoping something would be done by his six month birthday when I took the new arrangement out there! My aunt had taken a pumpkin out on Halloween and apparently one of the owners had to chase the dog on several occasions to drop the top of the pumpkin. My other aunt also takes different rubber duckies out for different holidays and occasions, the one for Halloween lasted all of three hours. The thief? You guessed it - the dog! The rubber duckie is still no where to be found.

November 9 was Sawyer's 6 month birthday. I know I posted about it here, but I made cupcakes for the NICU staff and planned to take them in the evening. On our way, Josh and I stopped by to visit Sawyer, eat a cupcake, and change his arrangement. Lo' and behold that dang dog came running across the graves again. She stopped and was just howling up a storm and started barking. I went and got in the car and cried for about 10 minutes because I was just so frustrated that I couldn't even visit my son's grave without being bothered, especially by a dog. I was also frustrated that I had to spend his 6 month birthday at his grave site rather than at home with him in my arms. His birthdays are always emotional for me, so this just really sent me over the edge. Josh ended up chasing her off and I said my goodbyes so that we could head to the hospital. My aunt is a nurse in the NICU and I knew she was working so I was excited to see her and some of the other nurses who cared for Sawyer while he was at Gwinnett Medical. 

When we arrived I was still pretty shaken up from our encounter at the grave. My aunt asked me how my day had gone and I explained that I hadn't even really cried until we went to visit Sawyer. I told my whole story, frustrations and all, to her and the other two nurses that let us in. By the end of my story my aunt STILL had a smile on her face and I think she was even chuckling. She told me that she had a gift she had wanted to give me for Sawyer's 6 month birthday but it wasn't ready. After hearing my story she knew she had to show me the gift. The gift? A framed picture of THE DOG sitting on Sawyer's grave with her paw on his marker. I looked at her like she was crazy. She was really excited too and thought that I could put it on his memory wall.... uh, what?! HA! She obviously had this idea BEFORE I shared my story of how frustrated this dog had made me. Apparently the nurses in the NICU had even cried over this picture... that was something I got a laugh over. My aunt has a friend whose husband is buried a few spaces down from Sawyer. When she goes out to visit her husband, she always sees the dog at Sawyer's grave. In fact, my aunt had even TOUCHED the dog the last time she went out to visit Sawyer. Little did she know the staff had been trying to catch the dang dog for weeks! I am getting a good laugh now as I type this out, but boy was I MAD when all this was going on.  

Since all of this, the dog has been caught by animal control and taken to the Gwinnett County Animal Control shelter. It really is much too cold for her to be out running around and no place to call her warm home. As much as this dog drove me nuts, I really do think she was Sawyer's "watch-dog". I think the only reason she howled and barked was because she thought we were invading her space, I mean she is only a dog! She had no idea I was just a momma trying to visit my sweet boy. She is in need of a home because space is tight at the shelter. The shelter she is at is NOT a no kill shelter, and I would much rather she go to a loving home where she gets attention and isn't chewing on my arrangements ;)

Here is a picture of her, I believe she is being called Xena. If you would like to adopt her or know someone who is interested please pass this along and help find Xena a loving home!

Until next time,

Ashlyn