Ode to Harper

Emma and Harper

Our first child, Harper, grew to be an old lady in the last couple of years. Shortly after we returned from vacation, it was time to bid adieu.

Harper was a pound-rescue lab mix who graced our very first back yard with her exuberance. When Jim and I first married and bought a house in Columbus, Ohio, Jim picked her out… and I marvelled at what a perfect dog she was. She was fast as lightening, but gentle with children, submissive, but a good buddy to any other dog who’d befriend her. She was a natural “den mom” for our children when they came along, and was known in both of our first, and now our second neighborhood here in Nashville, as a good starter-dog to introduce to children.

Harper was always a little skittish and “head-shy.” At age ten we had her teeth cleaned under anesthesia and Jim asked them to remove a persistent lump over her eye. It had been there since we got her as a nine-month-old. Her card at the pound had called her “Sugar” and said the family gave her up because the children were “rough” with her. But when the vet removed the lump we knew just how rough. The lump was a BB. It missed her eye by maybe an inch and stayed under her skin for ten years.

All that twitching and shying away from people when we had anything that looked like a stick– even the TV remote– suddenly made sense. She was abused and traumatized as a pup.

But her heart was full of nothing but love for people anyway.

Because Harper was fast and loved to run more than anything. I knew she was no longer having much fun when her back end quit working. I’d sling a towel under her belly and help her maneuver around in circles in the back yard.

It was time.

She told us by quitting eating and drinking except when  I begged and prodded enough to get her to take a short drink of piece of Bologna. After four days of that we carried her to the vet.

It was a calm and peaceful end for her. It felt right the whole way although it was probably the hardest thing Jim and I ever had to do. When I go, I hope it’s like that. Painless and surrounded by my loving family.

We brought her home and Jim dug a big hole through layers of rock and clay while I brushed her and cleaned her up. The spot was perfect for our beloved Harper. The visual center of our backyard border. We planted a pretty white-bloom dogwood over her and are nursing it through the hot August weather.

Harper was nearly 15. We miss her a lot.

Wide shot before I cleaned it up

This bed has been neglected all year. It was time for a good cleaning and clearing. Since it has become more shaded, I plan to move the day lilies and Russian sage to a sunnier place and find some hostas and hopefully some pretty blooming perennials for it in the spring.

After a clean-up

It may be hard to tell, but weeds and sprouting trees and suckers are gone. We’ll fully rennovate at a more appropriate time. But “Harper’s bed” looks more comfortable now.

Harper's bed wide shot