Three Kids and a Dog: A Tribute to Sadie

"Dogs lives are too short. You know the pain is coming, but there is such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price." - Dean Koontz

Sadie was born on February 28, 2016, and she left this world on January 3, 2025 - making her just two months shy of 9 years old. She almost beat the 7-9 year life expectancy for Bernese Mountain Dogs.

Always Crossed Her Paws

As soon as we brought her home we could tell she didn't like the sun. She sought shelter beneath the toddler slide. She was a crazy puppy. Tore up Peyton's homework and would often be Houdini escaping her crate somehow so we had to put an extra lock/carabiner on it to keep her in. At 6 months old, she ate her own toy and had to have emergency surgery to get it out. We brought her home but she was bleeding out so she went to the emergency vet for three days where they told me they were having trouble stopping the bleeding. They finally did. We picked her up and on the way home she jumped over my seats with stitches in her belly. Guess she felt okay.

She ate the seatbelt in the back of our car that cost us $1,000 to be replaced. She tore the bows out of the girls' hair, especially when they were in front of her in their car seats. She ate the woodwork around our front windows. She nipped til she was 1, and could get out of her collar or harness to chase squirrels. She was such a ball of energy that we put her in two different puppy training classes. The second one was with a one-armed Veteran named Frank. He was mean but his training was effective. I used to sweat going to that class with her, trying to keep her under control, and when I couldn't, Frank made an example of her -but even he couldn't break her. She did pass the class as she didn't try to eat the bunny they put next to her during her final exam.

First Time We Met

She loved treats but especially donuts and would bark at us until we gave her one. My favorite story about her was when we left her in the way back of our car with a box of 50 munchkins on the floor in the front seat. We went inside. She knocked to the side the gate we had between her third row and the second row. Jumped both seats, ate the munchkins tearing up the box, stepped on my iced coffee and hopped back into her place so we didn't suspect a thing when we came out. It wasn't until I opened my passenger door and saw the box of munchkins shredded and my iced coffee spilling over in the cupholder that I knew what happened.

At 14 months old, she was diagnosed with Wobbler's Disease caused by a compression in her spinal cord that made her drag her paws til they were bloody. She underwent surgery and a long rehab and recovery period but it didn't improve.

Berners are the Cutest!

At about 3.5 years of age, I believe she tore her CCL (ACL in humans) getting in and out of our car. She went undiagnosed for a really long time as the vets were so focused on her Wobbler's. I think in the process she tore the other CCL and had trouble getting up/walking. I sought out multiple vets and opinions. After awhile, one vet landed on the CCL tears. I opted for Stem Cell Therapy and PRP to naturally heal her knees. It worked a bit but not that well. One year later, we decided to have her undergo surgery for both her CCLs with a 6 month rehab and recovery program. That was tough for us and her. They kept her longer than other dog patients because she couldn't stand on her own for a very long time and she was 110lbs. When we got her back, Tom and I had to support her to walk outside. My arms ached. Sadie tried and she never complained. Tom and I took turns sleeping with her in the basement for six weeks so she wouldn't have to do any stairs. Eventually, she did get better and was able to sit and get up on her own. But it was short-lived because she had no leg muscles anymore and even with rehab and exercise it was hard to build muscle. Plus, by nature, Bernese Mountain Dogs are just really lazy so she certainly didn't want to exercise.

These Two Grew Up Together

She continued her biweekly spa appointments for laser, acupuncture and massage. She had skin issues as well as cysts that would burst and bleed, but she never complained. She let the kids (Hailey) lay all over her. She was the sweetest dog who showed you so much love. In fact, I loved laying on her on the couch at night.

She would contort her big body into a pretzel and rest her head on the bottom part of a chair ("How is that comfortable?" we would ask her). She loved going for car rides, and until she left us, she was going for them almost daily. I was not going to deny her those even though hoisting a 110lb dog into the back of my car every day certainly took a toll on my shoulder. She loved to hang her head off the couch or off her dog bed - maybe it felt better for her. She would snore and fart. We would laugh. She loved her ear rubs - Austen gave the best ones with Hailey a close second.

There's So Much Love There

There are so many things I miss about her. During the day, I miss her being under my desk while I knocked out some emails - often sleeping on my feet or the shoes I had kicked off. I miss her sleeping next to me at night and her whining at me in the middle of the night to move her. I miss her on the couch next to me at the end of the day and the warmth of her body on cold nights. I miss seeing her little head pop up in the back of my car when I would take her out on my daily errands. I miss setting our house alarm to "stay" because she was in the house. Now, it's only set to "away." I miss her barking fits when she wanted something but couldn't move to get to it (mostly food) so she would annoy us with her barking. I miss her lying under our dinner table when we would eat dinner together as a family (somehow when she was under the table, she wouldn't bark for food). I miss giving her huge hugs and her burying her face into my arm. Which reminds me that she used to knock your arm with her nose if she wanted something you had in your hand (namely food). I miss her freckle at the base of her nose. I miss smothering her with kisses and about 1,000 other things about her too. She was my girl, my Sadie monster, my Miss America, my Sade. And she was so loved.

Always Close to Me

We've received lots of cards and gifts from all the people that loved her. There were many. Even Hailey's friends who didn't like dogs loved her. How could you not? She was the most laid back, easy to love kind of dog with the sweetest personality, and the most stunning looks.

I will be forever grateful for the time we had together and all the love she bestowed on our family. Love you forever my Sadie girl. Run free now.