Chani 12/1/2001 - 11/17/2009

Our poor little Chani died on Tuesday. I guess she had something quite a bit more serious than what we initially thought. She became very anemic and thin and we finally had to put her to sleep. We got that cute body suit for her because she was having trouble staying warm and her hair was always standing on end. She seemed to actually like the suit, and it did keep her warm.

We were thinking of some funny stories about Chani, and I remembered that she barely made it past her childhood. When we first got chickens, I forgot to shut the gate to the back area where the chickens live and did not secure the little wire mesh gated area to their coop. Chani (and Findlay) went out there and killed 8 or 9 chickens before I caught them, but it was mostly Chani who did the killing. I thought Paul was going to kill Chani on the spot. He said she had "blood lust" and would never be a good dog after that. It took weeks for him to forgive her.


Findlay and Chani always slept right next to each other. Chani had been sleeping alone for the past few days because she didn't feel well, but on the day that she died she once again curled up right next to Findlay. When I got up in the morning to shower and get ready for the day, Findlay stayed right next to her on the dog bed and didn't leap up to get his breakfast as usual. He must have known she needed him to be with her.

In the last couple days since she died, things have been considerably calmer around the house, though. I always thought Findlay was the one waking up several times per night to go out (on those nights we kept them in). Now that he is on his own, he stays asleep all night. I think he was responding to Chani waking up, and then he in turn would wake us up, making him look like the bad dog.

On a side note, I thought I should mention that the vet actually turned out to be quite good through this whole 2 months. After that initial visit and the remarks about Chani's lack of socialization and needing Xanax, Dr. Ferris was actually very patient with Chani and took good care of her. I could always talk to her on the phone about Chani, and she even called to check on Chani a time or two.

We buried Chani under our bamboo. I guess we'll have some lush new growth in that spot next year.