(aka Lekky)
(1987 - 1999) |
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Randy was working out of town and I had
spent a night out on the town, when Apple's first litter
arrived. Waking up, still drunk and peering through the
bedroom door, I first saw what looked like a fuzzy black
ball rolling around on the living room floor. As my eyes
focused, I realized it wasn't a ball but a puppy -
Elektra had been born! |
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| As I began to search the apartment, I found another pup on the
water bed and another in the corner of the bedroom. Frantically,
I gathered up the pups and while Apple finished delivering her
litter, I threw a ton of towels and the bed covers into the
wash. What a mess, but it was all worth it. |
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| Just like her mom Apple, Elektra
was a handful. During her puppy years she developed a fetish
that I must have had something to do with. She began to chew and
shred leather items in the house, including belts, shoes, coats,
harness, and various other items not to be mentioned here. LOL
I've had to wonder if we didn't influence her even more, since
she didn't take after we tried to bred her and seemed just a
little too butch. |
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| But being a "dikey-dog" didn't
mean she was fearless. Actually, her fear made her my most
misunderstood dog. Everyone has considered Elektra to be aloft,
and stand-offish when, in reality, she was quite frightened.
Elektra and I have lived through many incidents that were
traumatic. One night as Randy brought the dogs back in from
their nightly outing, a strange man followed them in and began
to attack Randy. Lekky was only about a year old and was quite
upset. Later, her crate (we had learned our lessons, and crated
the dogs whenever we left the house) was only inches away from
the air conditioner/heater when it caught fire. The fire caused
$25,000 of damage, including burning up one side of a buffet
which collapsed on Lekky's crate. Thankfully, and amazingly, the
crate was totally undamaged! My first-born doggie was also
present during the three burglaries that occurred. And of
course, she has been with me through the deaths of Randy, Apple,
LBB and Hershey. She's even gone through surgery! |
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| In December (96), Elektra, had to
have an operation to remove some cancerous tumors. Deciding on
surgery for a pet is an unbelievably hard issue to decide; but I
got the proof that I made the right decision - she came through
with flying colors! (Except for the sounds of Elektra's coughs
from bronchitis.) I think Randy was looking out for me since I
would have been devastated if I had lost another dog so soon
after his death. |
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| It wasn't until Aug of 99, that I
lost another one of my babies. I awoke very early on Saturday,
knowing that something was wrong. Elektra was huffing quite
loudly and behaving oddly. I thought perhaps she had had a
stroke (similar to my old family dog, Belle, back when I was
still in high school). I debated calling the vet all day until
they had closed; but Elektra seemed to be improving, until about
midnight that night, when she had another episode. As I held her
in my arms, I was certain she was gasping for her last breath.
However, after several hours, she got up and seemed somewhat
better. After watching her all weekend and speaking with all my
friends and family, I kept vacillating on what to do. However, I
had to acknowledge that Elektra's breathing was much more
labored than it had ever been, her eyesight and hearing were
going, and she was more lethargic and many times just not quite
"with it" anymore. I broke down and finally called the vet to
make arrangements to have her put to sleep. I decided that it
was much more humane to help her then than to wait for another
attack, knowing she would surely suffer at the end. |
