Our Elsie IS GOne
Our beautiful, devoted, gentle giant, Elsie, died on Sunday evening. After an amazing day of walking and chasing rocks in the Wallkill River for an hour and a half, she came home with us and her respiratory system suddenly collapsed. We brought her to the hospital and learned that her white blood cell count was zero and her lungs were 70% dysfunctional. It was so, so hard to believe — Elsie seemed to have had such a run of good days, with walks and good meals and lots of contentment — but the vet described what she was facing, which was basically like drowning. He was blunt, he was honest, and he advised euthanizing her.
We're heartbroken. For three years, our Newfoundland was so, so much a part of our daily lives — our retirement, our property, our partnership, our shared sense of pleasure and accomplishment. She made so many moments special; she made the mundane totally special; our serotonin flowed like crazy just from seeing her in her various spots and activities.
The Newfie breed is so delightful, so connected to their people, and so easy-going. We were incredibly blessed to have had this creature so present in our lives throughout the pandemic. My task now is not to dwell on her shocking death but on her magnificent life.
Elsie spent her three short years walking down rail trails off the leash, always coming when we called, "Here!" She swam at every opportunity, patrolled the edges of our acre-and-a-half at night, and ate like a queen (she had an auto-immune disease that compromised her swallowing for the past year, so we spent half our lives preparing meals that she could slurp up). She was also a great traveller and accompanied us to South Carolina in the back seat of our Honda Fit every other month or so, visiting a score of state parks and college campuses en route to our daughter and grandson. Most of all, she stuck by our side, lay down at our feet, and always kept us in range.
Walking with Elsie was like walking with a celebrity. The number of people who complimented her and wanted to pet her was phenomenal. I couldn't help but feel a silly pride to be walking alongside such a beast! And she was always mild with people (and with other dogs) and accepted their pats and smiles with grace.
Elsie turned the isolation of Covid into our intimate adventure. Susan did most of the training and did a great, great job of it. Elsie learned a lot of commands, and a lot of other words. She would let us know what she needed with a look or a short bark, and she wisely differentiated between what she might expect from me and from Susan, and from us and other people. We were a pack of three, and she would always look to see that the pack was assembled before we set out on her adventures.
What a sweet, smart, affectionate, dignified dog! What a gift she was in our lives.
For now our little house is filled with shadows and tears.