We chose her from a large litter of sweet Golden Retriever pups because she was the one who came and laid her sweet little head on our feet. Plus she was one of the few that hadn't been spoken for! She came with "papers" and we had to follow guidelines for naming her, the name "Fire" had to appear in her title. That was easy as our military posting at the time was Fort Lewis, Washington, home of the newly built "Stryker" armored vehicle. The name of Emma was chosen by Betty for her obvious love of Jane Austin novels, so it was a good fit all around!
Her first year at Lewis in our home in DuPont was filled with sweet memories of a gangly puppy who did not like to be alone, lasted for only part of her long walks and had to be carried home, but then grew more spunky with each passing month. I do remember her getting frisky with the neighbors Australian Shepherd through a hole under the fence. They would have made great playmates, but the other dog in that yard was a cantankerous old black lab and he sent Emma yelping to our back door with a nip to her nose! She learned a valuable lesson that is good for us as well; don't stick your nose into your neighbor's business!
She and our cat Mr. Knightley sorted out the hierarchy of the animal kingdom within the household very quickly. With a few well placed kitty swats, Emma learned to respect the fat cat and the coexistence of the two species went along just fine.
We moved to Carlisle, Pennysylvania for Ward's one year War College course. Carlisle is a tiny postage stamp sized post, but it did have some great walking areas and even an area designated for dogs. We took advantage of that area to let Emma run free until one fateful day in late fall when she chased a squirrel right through an open area in the fence. Just as I called our for her to come back, she turned but was still struck by a car. She came back through the opening with a broken leg! We were mortified, and got her to the local vet. After x-rays he said he was too complicated a fracture for him to set, so he bandaged it and we made an appointment for a vet specialist located two hours away the next day. I will never forget that night as Emma lay next to our bed. She would whine with the pain, but as soon as Ward reached over to touch her, she would be silent and rest again. Her human touching her did that much for her!!
How we got through those painful months of recuperation is a blur. It was slow and cumbersome because of the pins and trips two hours away to the vet, but early in the spring the pins were out and the cast was off, but sadly her leg would never be quite healthy.
We made a trip that summer to my brother's cabin in Colorado. We did an overnight which was a few miles hike in and out and Emma seemed to handle all of that walking just fine. I remember a friend of my brother's visiting us at his cabin. The deck is raised and there are about 10 open wooden stairs to climb from the back yard to get there. His friend had his two large labs and my brother has a smaller lab, and then there was our wounded warrior, Emma. The dogs were getting along fine, but this gentleman decides he needs to clear the deck of all animals and starts shoving them with his foot down the stairs. I see this and in my mind's eye I am doing the slow-motion "no-o-o-o" but it is too late. Down they all go . . . and when Emma returns she is limping! Oy! She favors her leg for several days, and then all seems well.
After Carlisle we move to Fort Leavenworth. Emma adjusts well with each move, but we notice odd things about our girl. She licks everything in sight. It is an annoying habit! We ask the vet about it and he can offer nothing but, "probably allergies." She eats everything that is not nailed down. On more than one occasion I have to use the old trick of "one-part hydrogen peroxide to one-part water" to get her to throw up various harmful things she has ingested, to include bags of Dove chocolate (I mean the entire bag!), pans of brownies, loaves of bread, bars of soap, and even parts of chemical fire logs! Occasionally her stomach adventures lead to serious upsets so we would put her on a bland diet of chicken and rice until things returned to normal.
For all that, Emma was the sweetest dog I have ever known. Her temperament was beyond passive, especially with other dogs! When we decided to get Kip, our black-lab-hound mix pup, I became concerned that this little two month old Kip was too aggressive to Emma!! Kip was just too Alpha for our Emma. With help from a trainer, I learned to become the Alpha in our home and got control of the situation.
I can't believe that just a little over a week ago Emma was her happy, sweet self. We had noticed some odd things, just a bit of drooling and took her to the vet on a Friday. Early Sunday morning she died. The vet was as shocked as we were. He had done blood work, checked her lungs. He thinks it may have been a tumor. Whatever it was it came in by storm and took her with lightning speed.
This week my heart still can't believe she is gone. I am troubled by the thought that we should have done more. But I do rest in the fact that we gave her a good home and loved her well, though not as much as she loved us!!
