Hannah, Rest in Peace

One of our dogs died today. We adopted Hannah from a no-kill animal shelter back in November 2000. She was in heaven out here, chasing squirrels and birds and lizards. I saw her this morning before we left (at 4:30am, it was dark) and she was alive and seemed fine, but she looked at me kind of funny. Also, my dh says she was acting clingy the past couple of days, but she didn't seem like she was sick or anything.

When we got home tonight, it was after dark, and dh asked me if I'd seen Hannah since we'd gotten home. We were out milking. I hadn't seen her and when she didn't come for "milk time" we decided to "walk the fenceline" to make sure she hadn't somehow dug her way out and escaped from our yard (thus endangering our other dogs as well). We got about 1/4 of the way around our 3.5 acres, and dh spotted her. She had already passed away several hours ago. We aren't sure what happened. She doesn't look injured... it isn't really the time of year for snakes... poor girl.

All of our dogs respond differently to outside stimuli. Hannah would never bark at humans. So we knew if Hannah was barking, then it wasn't a person prowling around outside. It was most likely a dog, or it also could be someone on a horse. She wouldn't connect the person on the horse. That will be a definite loss.

Unfortunately, we were never able to break Hannah of her desire to kill chickens. We cage our chickens carefully, not only because of Hannah but she was part of the problem. She taught all our other dogs to kill chickens. They have never been like Hannah though. She was obsessive about staring at the chickens and drooling, biting at their pen, trying to break through. Hannah was also terrified of storms and thunder. When we first owned her, she would run away. And she couldn't find her way home, either. We were finally able to teach her to scratch at the door to come inside when she was frightened. Then she would be very clingy and trembling like a leaf. It was difficult to not give in to the urge to hold her and comfort her - which in dog language only encourages the poor dog to continue in the neurotic behavior.


Hannah was the alpha of our pack of dogs. It has been interesting to watch the dynamics between our dogs. It will be interesting to see how the order shifts.

Until next time.