Corky - Mom's Girl Had A Sixth Sense!!!
A Happy Time
General had five siblings: Nikita, Top Gun, Beeper, Dub Dub, and Corky. When these pups got their first shots, some developed serious problems. Top Gun died. Beeper and Corky developed neurological and cartilage problems. Corky had the most difficulty walking and needed Pam to help her through the day. Fort Dodge paid for a specialist to evaluate the cause of the dilemma. Like the rest in her litter, Corky was affected by her mother being given a live virus vaccine while carrying pups. In about three or four months, there was some improvement for a year or so, but then her walking began deteriorating each year. Corky was my wife's special little girl. Corky had trouble walking all her life. By the time we moved from Washington State to Virginia, Corky would only be able to walk enough to relieve herself and would struggle to return to a place where she could lie down. We eventually got her a walker, but she did not have the strength to make it move. It was just a device to hold her off the ground.
It was 1999 when we moved to Virginia. My wife Pam stayed in Washington with the horses while I took the dogs and prepared our new home to receive Majo and his gang. It took two trips to get our twenty one dogs across country. Corky was in the second load. So she was in Virginia several weeks before Pam left Washington. Finally it was time to pick Pam up at the airport and welcome her to Virginia. Pam had not seen the new home yet! It was more than a two hour ride from Richmond Airport to our new home. When we arrived in the Shenandoah Valley, there was Corky at the gate at the end of the driveway! She had managed to travel down a steep, winding driveway over a block long, and was sitting there waiting! That distance was at least ten times further than any walk in her entire life, and she did it on the day her "mommy" came to Virginia. How did she know? How did she manage to do the impossible?
Corky lived a long life. For thirteen years she told Pam what she needed. She never could run, but in spite of it, she was a happy girl. I was away on a trip when the day came for Corky to stop telling Pam what she needed. Pam had spent thirteen years rushing home from work every day to take care of of her precious Corky. Now the thought of not having Corky to care for in the evening devastated Pam. Pam did not have a reason to rush home. Our dear Corky was not waiting at home. There were other dogs to care for, but the rest were not as dependent on Pam as Corky. It goes without saying Corky and Pam had a unique bond. I have no idea how Corky knew her mother was coming home. I have no idea how she made it down the steep hill all the way to the gate. Our other dogs did not come down the hill to the gate. Pam could not have been given a better welcome to Virginia. It is the only Miracle I ever witnessed.
