Roxy the Traveling Dog’s Final Journey

There is just not enough years to spend with a special little soul like Roxy.

December 25th, 2004 – October 16th, 2020

I started this blog in January 2011 under the name Roxy the Traveling Dog. And she was quite the little traveler. She went a lot of places, and had a lot of fun. Her favorite thing ever was meeting new people, or seeing old friends. She was quite the people person, or dog. She touched so many people, some who never met her. Because of the blog, she became a little bit of a celebrity and it was always crazy when people would approach us and recognize her.

We knew this past summer would be her last. For the past year the dementia really worsened, and her little body was losing it’s strength. Our mighty little girl who could hike for miles, and miles, was now just able to walk tiny distances. I’m glad we didn’t have art shows this summer, and were able to take her on a 6 state adventure. Oregon was by far her favorite, because she loved running on the beach. Yes running. One evening we could hardly keep up with her.

Her favorite thing the last few years was riding in her backpack, as we walked or hiked different places. She could watch, and experience the world from this great vantage point.

Last week we spent 4 days with the wild horses in Utah. We knew then that we were going to have to make the dreaded decision soon. She was getting increasingly confused, and weaker. But, she still wanted to eat and seemed content to just curl up in her bed and sleep.

The night we got back, Thursday, she took a turn for the worse. She started with diarrhea in the middle of the night, and the next morning I couldn’t get her to eat anything. Which for her was huge because food had become such an obsession for her with the dementia. I called the vet, and got an appointment for that afternoon. We were wrecked. We spent all that day snuggling her, and telling her how loved she is.

Al built her a beautiful pine box, lined with some pretty wool fabric we had. How he did that through his tears I’m not sure. He said it was one of the hardest things he’s done. We brought her home, dressed her in her rendezvous capote, and tucked her in one final time. We put a shell from the Oregon beach in with her, and some feathers to help her fly free from the confusion and pain. Saturday Morning we drove back out to the wild horses. We had a general idea of where to take her, but waited for her tell us where exactly she wanted to be. We hiked up a hill, and found a spot.

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you know I collect heart rocks. As we started hiking, I found this huge, perfect heart rock. It’s my Roxy Rock, because I know she led me right to it. Her heart was so big, and this was her final gift to us.

The heart rock that is on her grave we found too, as well as a small one that Al will carry in his pocket.

Torrey said her good byes when we brought her back from the vet. She definitely knew something was wrong all that day.

About 45 minutes after we had walked down off the hillside, a large group of wild horses came running in.

I know they will watch over her.

And finally, just some random photos from the past, to celebrate how special she was. We miss her, and will miss her forever.