Our Beautiful Ginger

A little into our second year of marriage, 12 years ago, we came across this beautiful Husky - German Shepherd cross pup. We both instantly fell in love and without hesitation adopted our Ginger. We lived up North in a small and quiet oil town with a large yard. We also did a lot of hiking and camping, and we knew she would make the perfect companion on our journeys. We already had two cats at home, but that wasn't a problem for any of them. They took well to each other quickly, and you could often find all 3 of them napping together on the doggie bed.

Ginger loved to be constantly by our side, and if I didn't kennel her during the day, she would soon find her way to where I worked and sit outside the window. In a thunder storm, she would come into the house, press her head against my leg, and go wherever I went until it ended. She is terrified of storms until this day, and will do things out of character when one in approaching. She even went missing for nearly 2 weeks last year, after she decided she could outrun the storm, and got lost. We were all fairly certain that was the end, but she was found, and was very happy to be returned home.

In the summer of 2000, after many camping and hiking trips, we moved to a small but busy city. Seeing that it would be too much for her, we took Ginger to my Husband's family farm. His farm had already housed a couple of German Shepherd pets and the family has a natural affinity toward this breed of dog. We missed her a lot, and she was always excited to see us, but the farm was a great home, and we could she was happy there.

Today our Ginger is 12 years old, and age has not been kind. Her arthritis is obviously painful, and she has an immune disorder called pannus, that has affected her eyesight dramatically. Regardless of these facts, she still greets all of us with excitement, and she constantly keeps an eye on the kids when they are outside.

It is very hard to say how much longer we have with her, but the entire family will miss her greatly when she does decide to pass on. Hopefully, she can hold on through this winter and into the summer of next year, because we are moving back to the area in July and will have a lot more time to spend with her.