[FionaMom]

We had to put Fiona down yesterday morning. She'd had a very bad night and we knew she wasn't going to get better so we took her to the beach one last time and were both there with her when they put her down. My heart has a big hole in it and it's going to take a long time to come to terms with losing her. Our household revolved around Fiona. She was around 17 years old. We don't know her exact age because I got her when she was about a year old.

Here are some memories of our very special Fiona:

She was found by a good friend of mine in Arkansas - she was only 4 pounds and was trembling in the middle of a street, stopping traffic. My friend got out of her car and picked Fiona up. She had a hot pink collar on but no ID. My friend ran ads in the local paper, called all the local shelters with information but no one ever claimed her. After no one claimed her, she called me to see if I would want her. I drove 16 hours from Colorado to Arkansas to meet Fiona for the first time. That night, Fiona chose to sleep with me. It was like she understood that we were going to be together.

The first time my future husband came to my house, he immediately fell in love with Fiona. And as I watched him holding her and petting her, I immediately started falling in love with him. Fiona has been with us our entire married life of 13 years. I know that if she hadn't liked him, or if he hadn't liked her, I never would have married him.

We introduced Ike, our Miniature Schnauzer, into the family when Fiona was about 4 years old. We made sure he understood that she was the alpha and that's they way it was. Our whole household revolved around Fiona, she was such a sweet dog but had a very strong will. She never really took to Ike that much, but toward the end, she would seek him out to lie near him.

Ike and Fiona hiked up a 14er with us in Colorado - that's a mountain over 14,000 feet! I bet she's the only Yorkie ever to have climbed Handies Peak. She loved to hike and she loved the beach when we moved to California.

She liked to chase bigger dogs. We usually had to keep her on a leash at the dog beach because of this. But one time, she was off the leash and started chasing a big dog - the dog went toward the water and Fiona followed him but froze in her tracks when she realized she'd landed in the water. It was really funny because she didn't like to get wet. The look on her face was priceless.

I've never had a dog that could tell me what they wanted as well as Fiona. She would just look at me and I'd know what she wanted. It's like she was talking directly to my brain without making a sound.

She rarely barked but when she did, it was usually because she could hear an animal outside. She hated the deer that would come near our house in Colorado. She loved every person that ever came into our house and would cry when visitors left.

Her senior years were very hard but that didn't stop us from loving her every second and I'm going to miss her for the rest of my life.