Goodbye Miss Mylie Moo Chop
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our little angel, Mylie. She left us at 9am on Sunday, Sept 22, 2024. She graced our lives for 13.5 years and gave Michelle and I and her siblings so much love – selfless and unwaivering. We will miss her beautiful brown eyes, big ears, little nose and huge heart. She was our first, and so far only, small breed dog, but she elicited a smile from people where ever she went.
Mylie, a cheweenie (half chihuahua, half dachshund) came to us from Small Dog Rescue in 2011 as a one-year-old, after the passing of our big chocolate lab, Rusty. Michelle and I have entered a chapter of our lives where we want to travel more and we thought a small breed dog would enable us to fly with them in the cabin of a plane. Mylie gazed out of the page of a website and bored into Michelle’s very soul. It was love at first sight for the two. She joined our pack of we two and Josie, our then shepherd cross.
Mylie had a rough start to her life and while she and Michelle bonded immediately, Mylie was cautious of me for almost a year, making us suspect she was abused by a male. But she finally accepted me as her dad. Or shall I say she considered me her butler. I did all the tasks to make her comfortable – feeding, grooming, walking, doctor visits, cleaning up after her, etc., while Michelle was her shining star. She would greet Michelle by dancing on her hind legs, trying desperately to reach her face to kiss her, while I got “Oh, it’s you… Hi”. Michelle and I joked of this all Mylie’s life.
But seriously, Michelle and Mylie had a very special bond. Indeed, we feel Mylie was the first of our 7 dogs we’ve had as a couple who really was Michelle’s dog. Above are just a taste to show that bond, and I accepted it. In 2012, Josie passed and we got a new mongrel pup, Munro. Mylie tolerated his energy, probably because she had been forced to bear a litter of her own pups before we got her.
These two cavorted through our life for many years, two houses and yards and tons of travel adventures. The most noteworthy being our year working and traveling through Europe together in 2018/19. It was a magical time and both dogs were caravan troopers. Here is a taste:
(l-r) Prague, the Italian Dolomites, St. Michele, St. Michael’s Mount, Chatsworth
Although small in stature, Mylie was the boss and Munro would follow close behind her on walks, wondering “What have you found, Mylie?” Indeed, Munro would sleep wanting to at least touch Mylie.
Mylie enjoyed a wonderful life with us, giving us love and always making us smile, even long after Munro’s passing in 2021. In the summer of 2021 we got Mylie yet another new house, with a lovely garden that was just her scale. She enjoyed wandering through it with many sun belly and shade belly sessions as well as naughtily creeping into her Mom’s flower beds.
Michelle also got her own Office Pod in the back yard and starting during COVID, the two would go to work together each day. Mylie would eagerly await at Michelle’s feet as she unlocked the door each morning to get to her own desk and coffee station, and the two would do their Zoom meetings and pound their computer keyboards until their early afternoon daily walks (one butler task taken from me!)
She enjoyed a relatively healthy existence and we thought, being a small breed, that she might be our forever dog (living longer than the average 12 years of all our other pups). But her little body started showing signs of slowing down 2 years ago, with failing kidneys and high blood pressure. We managed these with medication and on she soldiered. Last year, she was diagnosed with mucosele, a gallbladder desease which would be fatal if it burst.. This we managed with medication as well, but we understood her little body was a ticking time bomb. Mylie remained undaunted, wishing to stay on as Michelle’s shadow. She foiled Mother Nature for as long as she could, and we are so thankful for the extra days we shared.
We took Mylie on a trailer camping trip to Lake Osoyoos, BC, for the first two weeks of Sept. The lead photo is her waiting for me to bring her morning coffee. This was to be her last adventure with us. Though we never did get to travel on a plane with her as planned, we enjoyed so many wonderful memories together, feet firmly planted on the ground.
Last Saturday, she enjoyed a sunny afternoon with her Mom in the garden, helping Michelle weed and watched the bees in the flowers. But Sunday morning, she came in from her morning business and I placed her on our bed at Michelle’s feet. Her balance had deteriorated since returning from camping and she hobbled up to Michelle’s arms and collapsed forcefully onto Michelle’s chest. She was saying “I’m done. Please help me to cross the Rainbow Bridge….” As our own vet was closed, we went to Mountainside Animal Emergency, where Dr. Lucy and her team helped Mylie to cross over. We thank Dr. Cathy Wilkie and her team at Animal Medical Hospital in West Vancouver for her wonderful care and guidance for the latter part of Mylie’s life.
We miss her terribly and she has left a gaping hole in our hearts, but we know she is out of her pain and we imagine her as here, running and frolicking with all the other dogs we’ve had and her many late canine friends on the Other Side.
Until we meet again, goodbye sweet Mylie…….