Meet Cassie.

We rescued Cassie in 2001 when she was about a year old. When we met her she was covered in ticks and was the sweetest little thing you ever saw. We fell in love with her and after a good vet visit (bye bye ticks, hello spaying) she was our first baby. We had her just a couple of weeks when we realized that she was deaf.

She’s now about 12 or 13 years old, sheds like it’s her job, and can do quite a few tricks (lay down, roll over, bark, shake hands, etc). Sadly we’ve been telling the kids that she will die one day because we are trying to get them used to the idea of it. Not that they won’t care, but I’d like them to expect it. Sadly, they have heard this for over a year now and expect it all the time. If she’s sleeping soundly they’ll ask if she’s asleep or dead. I think I went about preparing them for this wrong.

Well, in the warnings over time they’ve asked if they can get a new puppy when it happens. I’ve always told them, “maybe.” I like how I don’t commit to it, because hello puppies chew everything. (In that definition then Cheech is still a puppy because that girl still puts everything in her mouth.)

Asking for a puppy became begging for a puppy and we’ve been able to put it off by saying that Cassie is old and doesn’t need a puppy around annoying her, but that just leads to more “when she dies” questions and comments.

Those who follow along on our facebook page will already know this, but at Easter the kids each wrote a note asking the Easter Bunny for a puppy. I guess they’ve decided to take matters into their own hands and ask other people because they’re getting nowhere with us. The Easter bunny disappointed the kids because no puppy was eating their beds like a goat when they woke up. I thought all was well until Christmas because they’ve already started saying how they’re going to ask Santa for a puppy (great).

For mother’s day, this was my card. Seriously. For those who can’t read 8 year old boy’s henscratch allow me to translate…

 ”I love you because….if Cassie dies we get another dog and you are always pretty.”

There you have it, in Mother’s Day history forever, my son has proclaimed his request – nay, reminder of something that he thinks I said. He added that I was always pretty, I guess that’s the buttering me up part of the card? The oh you’re so sweet I love you and let’s think about what happens “if” our dog dies. Nothing makes you laugh more and then question your abilities as a mom like getting talk about a dead dog on your card.

For the record Cassie is very much still alive. It’s probably for the best that she is deaf so she doesn’t have to hear about all of this.