Tara - My Dog Saved My Life

From: Sharon (skb_8@hotmail.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: Essex, England
Source: Form Submission

This is a personal experience which happened to me in 1996/1997 ~ I had a lovely dog called Tara. She was faithful, kind, loving and I adored her. Many times I would lie on the settee and she would jump up beside me, crawl up between the back of the settee and my body,and lay her head on my shoulder with her cold wet nose pressed against my neck. Tara also had an 'endearing' habit of, when I gave her and the other dogs big marrow bones, she would chew on it for an hour or so and then lug it out to the back garden when she would dig a deep hole and bury it. She would often come back in with her front paws and muzzle covered in dirt and grinning all over her face. A month or two later, she would unearth the bone, blue with mould and lug it back into the house, across the lounge room carpet (leaving big dollops of mud in her wake) and transport the less then 'delicious' item up the stairs and put it on the floor beside my bed.

It was also during 1996/1997 that my nan, who had retired to live in Spain became terminally ill with cancer. We never knew that she was dying until about a month before she passed away.

It was also during 1997 that I slowly began to fall ill with ME.

Tara got sick that year too. For nearly a whole year I nursed her with everything I had; she was eventually diagnosed with a brain tumour. After 6 weeks of radiotherapy, I finally knew she had had enough. I made the decision on 30 June 1997 to have her put to sleep. I was devastated, and by that time I was quite ill myself. My nan died, and my health spiralled out of control. The depression with ME is terrible, and the fatigue and pain is beyond description. I missed my dog very badly, and spent most of the time sleeping. One day I had been out taking a short walk with my other dogs. When I arrived back, I went into the lounge and couldn't believe what I saw. There were large dollops of mud leading from the back door, across the carpet, through the kitchen. I followed the trail, upstairs and into my room. And there beside my bed was a large mouldy bone. I knew none of my other dogs had ever buried their bones or dug holes so the first culprit of this event that I could think of was Tara. A few days later, I was in the bedroom and out of the corner of my eye, I was sure that I saw Tara, or the tuft of Tara's tail (which was white with a curly bit) going through the spare bedroom door. I ran into the room but there was no sign of her.

As time passed, my illness became worse. The depression began to take hold and all I wanted was to curl up and sleep and never wake up. One afternoon, I lay on the bed and fell asleep. And I dreamed. I was in a small field with grass that was a bright green. Surrounding the field was a white picket fence with a gateway at the end of the field. Beyond the fence at the end of the field was green hills.

I was standing on a path and the path ran in a straight line through the gateway at the end and wound its way around the hills. Standing by the gateway at the end of my field was my nan. Standing a couple of feet in front of me was Tara. She looked wonderful and healthy. I called her name and she came towards me wagging her tail furiously. I looked at my nan and she waved her hand and smiled at me. I crouched down and cuddled Tara and stroked her, and she licked my face and nuzzled into my neck. I was crying and saying her name and saying "how much her mummy had missed her".

Time past and eventually she began to back away from me. I called her name but she turned and walked away a few paces, then looked over her shoulder and wagged her tail. She walked a couple more paces, turned and wagged her tail. I kept pleading with her not to go, but she kept walking away from me. All I wanted to do was be with my dog and my nan and so I started walking after her. I heard my nan's voice say "No Sharon! You mustn't come". I stopped and knew that if I followed them I wouldn't be waking up, ever. I let my dog walk off down the path, every so often, she would turn and look over her shoulder and wag her tail. I wanted to go with her so bad. Eventually, she reached my nan, who bent down to stroke Tara. Then one last time, my nan smiled at me and Tara turned and wagged her tail, then they both walked through the gateway and disappeared into the hills.

I woke up crying as if my hear would break, but somehow I knew that I would start to pick myself up and get on with my life again. I have my wonderful memories of my dog and my nan, and I will forever be in my dog's debt for what she did: I believe she saved my life.