[ForeverPiper]

Hello all. I am so glad I've found this forum. It has been a big help.

My family lost our beloved Piper on the night of Feb. 1st. Piper was my daughter, Jessie's Yorkie furkid. We always told her I was Nanny. We have always had large breed dogs, and my daughter trained and showed her Golden Retriever, Casey, thru her teenage years. When we lost Casey four years ago Jess told me she wanted to have a Yorkie, next. So we dived into the world of Yorkshire Terriers, exploring the net, talking to Yorkie owners, reading whatever we could. After an extensive search, we narrowed down our list of reputable breeders, and went looking. We found Piper on New Years Eve Day, 2003. From the moment we met her, we were in love. What a sweetie! Always on the go and inquisitive, smart, and never happier than when she was covering your face with puppy kisses. She grew to be a five pound ball of LOVE. Six months after we got her, we added my new Golden girl, Libby, as her big sister. Piper's goal in life was to be the biggest pest to Lib and our one-eyed rescue cat, Puddiddle. She loved them both, and relished her role as the instigator.

For the three years we had her, we never had a bit of medical trouble. Her bi-annual exams went great, she was on a monthly regimen of Interceptor and Frontline Plus, and wasn't sick a day. Her sire and dam both had their health clearances. On that Thursday night we took her outside for her night time potty and everything seemed perfectly normal. All of a sudden she dropped to the ground limp and unresponsive. She still had a very erratic heart beat, but, was not breathing. As my hubby grabbed our coats and keys, I started CPR. Halfway to our local Animerge (a 6 minute drive away) her heart stopped beating. The vet there intubated her, but, there was no hope. He said he thought she had thrown a blood clot, or it was cardiac arrest. One of the hardest things I've had to do as a Mom was come home and wake my daughter to tell her that her sweet girl had died. She was inconsolable. We took her back to hold her and say our goodbyes.

The last 11 days have been so heart breaking. Wherever we walk around the house, we see one of her favorite spots to rest. The house is so quiet without her yappy bark every time someone walks up to the door. And, my heart breaks when Libby brings me one of Piper's little toys and lays it at my feet and then looks up at me while she paws and licks them. The lack of those cherished kisses we used to get, just for loving her. There is such a huge void here. I know every person who is blessed to be loved by a pet, thinks of them as the most wonderful animal in the world.....that's as it should be. I have had many dogs, cats, and horses in my lifetime, and some were more special than others, but, this lil girl was one of a kind. She was so loved.

Thank you for letting me cry in cyberspace over our Piper. It does help to know that there are others who love their furbabies as much as we do, and who grieve for them when they are gone. I know we will never forget her, and yet I also know that there will be another Yorkie in our lives in the future. How could there not be? They are just so special.