Lossing Hope

Today Dear Readers,
             my 15 year old faithful Friend, Protector, and the smartest dog I've ever know, Hope, will die. In 2004 I was going to my first day of volunteer work at the Lincoln county humane society shelter, I was 11 and my mother and I had shown up on the wrong day and it turned out the shelter was closed it was one of the coldest Decembers in southern Tennessee with lows in teens, it was not ideal weather to be a puppy on the side of the road. So when a man pulled into the parking lot with a small brown-black puppy I knew it couldn't stay in the drop off pen over night so we called one of the humane society bored members who gave us the okay to foster her for a while, and as I tucked her into my jacket I decided that her name would be Hope, and when on the drive home she threw up a mix of cat food and bacon grease I knew that she was feeling a little better. when we got home we spent about an hour setting up a pen in the barn with a heat lamp and blankets food and water it was a great spot, but after the third time that she beat us back to the house we decided to let her stay in the house for a bit to tire her out but then this weeks old puppy ran to the door and started whining and when we opened the door she ran out and did her business before returning to the door to be let back in.
Fast foreword several months and Hope and I started obedience school and after graduating that we did a bit of agility, (which did not last long because she was to smart and would refuse to do parts of it). Hope went to one 4-H dog show and even went to a school with me once for one of my meany educational talks, she did not really enjoy the travel so she got set up as the first and only house dog of my family. She lived out the rest of her life as the family protector and no deliver driver would leave there car if she where outside, she would greet me at the door every time I came home from collage, and more recently vet school.
Recently she has been slowing down and over the last break I built her a ramp since she was having trouble using the stares to go out side, a few days ago she suffered a stroke, which she looked like she might pull though but unfortunately she just does not have the strength to keep going. Hope has had a powerful and lasting effect on my life and I can honestly say that without Hope I would not be where I am today, I would not be the same person as I am today.
"Hope I will miss you but gods going to need you back now, Go to him with no pain"
I love you Hope.