Good Bye Yoda, We Love You
In his final days, nothing brought Yoda, more joy than creating a mud puddle for himself that he dug, and then spent half the summer in.
Tragedy struck our farm not long ago… Yoda, our bestest boy ever crossed the rainbow bridge. He was a loved and adored member of our family. For me, he was the closest thing to a child that I am likely to ever have. It has taken me a long time to process losing this good boy. it has been amazingly difficult. Yoda, lived to the ripe ancient age of 16. Which is…. substantially over 100 years old in dog years. he had old age dementia by the time he was ready to go. His old joints were giving him trouble. He had begun to dribble unable to control his bladder. He couldn’t see. He was deaf, but my god until the very end that beautiful tale wagged often and joyously. The only things that worked were his stomach and his nose. One day, I let him know it was time to go out. Normally that excited him. That day, he lifted his head, wagged his tail, but declined to rise and come with me. That was it. He was done and he was letting me know he was done. We went to the vet, one of his tumors had ruptured They said he didn’t seem particularly uncomfortable just yet, but more tumors would soon be rupturing and it would start to cause him intense suffering.
Our wonderful vet over at Great Road Veterinary Hospital, in Acton, drove something like 30 plus minutes to do what needed to be done. Then came the hardest day of my life. The day we said good bye to our Yoda. He sits now in a box on the mantel. Sometimes I talk to him, or hug the box for a while. He is bitterly missed. A piece of me is in that box with him.
Yoda, also known as The Doodle Poodle, Dudeson, The Doodles, Darth Poodless, Dudes, etc, lived a long life for a dog his size. He was born 16 years ago. His mother was a pet on a farm, his daddy, was a working border collie. He was the product of a WOOPS. The farmer was upset when he found Yoda, and his siblings. He was going to drown them. Thank god, his kids saw what he was up to. Because he couldn’t do it once his kids were looking at him. Instead, he took Yoda and company to the Humane Society, near Brandon about 6 hours into the boondocks from Winnipeg. He will never know who ever he is, that his choice in that moment was the greatest gift that I have ever received. I wish I could express my gratitude to him for sparing my dog son that day. The humane society, posted his photo on Pet Finder. I saw him and I fell in love. I informed my husband, who then was my fiance, that his name was not Calvon, it was Yoda. I told Dr. Farmer Moomin, that Yoda, wanted to live with us. That he was a good dog. His favorite food is kibble and his favorite colors are black white and grey. I told him that Yoda, loved us very much and really wanted to come home. It took months. Soon my husband had memorized the story of Yoda, what his favorite food was, that he wanted to come home, his favorite colors etc…. Took several months of making my husband view and repeat the whole long winded story every night. Finally, we went to the Humane society. They tried to send us home with Yoda’s sister by accident, but we said no! It must be our Yoda. We adopted him, brought him home and he was a member of our family for life.
Yoda starts his mud hole. Look at that smile. I should have been angry but seeing my old boy so happy, I just let him destroy the yard so he could enjoy every remaining minute of what time he had left.
Yoda, was brilliant. He got his border collie daddy’s brain. In Vienna, he once sat unmoving for like 3 weeks staring at the neighbor’s ledge across the street because he had once seen a cat hanging out there. He would con his rocket scientist daddy out of his spot on the couch daily. He ran around outside with his friend Pepper. Loved the mud. He saved my life in Canada, down an old logging road when some drunk men with guns got an ugly idea in their head. he along with the other dogs I was out there with put themselves between those men and me. They risked their lives to keep me safe all of them. Including my hero Yoda. He made several trips by car to the USA, then he finally flew across the ocean to spend 4 years in Vienna with us. In Vienna, we adopted a puppy. He loved his brother immediately. But Avery was tiny by comparison. Avery, would play attack Yoda’s head and Yoda, would make faces at him too gentle to respond physically realizing the little guy was too delicate and could be damaged. The best was the phantom poop.
Every morning we would wake up. There would be a tiny poop next to the bed. But both dogs would be in bed with us. Avery, was too little to get out of bed by himself it was too high. He certainly could not get back into bed by himself from the floor. And the distance between the bed and the poop was too far for him to have been pooping off the edge of the bed… The poop looked like standard dog variety but too small to be Yoda. Dr. Farmer Moomin and I spent a month accusing each other of being responsible. Accusing each other of putting the puppy on the floor to do it’s business. We would get so mad when the other one would deny it. Because, what other explanation could there be? One night I woke up. I need to use the toilet, so as I am getting up, I notice a dark shadow and realize it is Yoda. And there is something hanging in Yoda’s mouth…. What is that? Oh my god! It’s Avery! Yoda, put Avery down gently. I got up and just barely managed to avoid stepping in the phantom poop. I touched it. It was warm. Yoda, was the one lifting Avery down to poop in the middle of the night. Not me, or Dr. Farmer Moomin. Then once the puppy had relieved himself, Yoda, was picking him up in a gentle mouthed grip, and carrying him back up onto the bed where they would then go to sleep again and pretend in the morning that they had no idea where that poop had come from.
Yoda, had a little bigger sister named Pikku (dog with diaper.) He also had a little brother. (Small dog. He loved them almost as much as he loved his daddy, who was located right behind that door. They used to go together to visit Dr. Farmer Moomin in his office through Covid lock down.
Yoda loved his puppy. Once we went to a park that had a pond. Yoda, an avid water lover made a B line for it. Anywhere Yoda went, little Avery, went barreling after him. They had gotten ahead of me. I couldn’t reach Avery in time. He had never seen water before. So he didn’t realize that only Jesus, can walk on water. Poor little man tried to keep running after Yoda across the pond and landed with a splash. It was a shock for him. he didn’t know how to swim. Yoda, who had swum out to the middle of the pond turned around as soon as he heard his little brother crying. He scruffed Avery by the back of the neck and brought him safely to bank and pushed him back onto dry land with his nose. Another beautiful moment we had every so often, was at feeding time. Avery, would scarf his food. Then he would go to where Yoda, was eating and he would sit down next to him in front of the bowl. He would make no move towards it. He would just sit there and look at Yoda eating with sad puppy eyes. Yoda, would take a large mouth ful of food and would drop it on the floor in front of Avery. Sharing his food with his little brother. Yoda, was incredibly special.
Yoda, would open the door all by himself when ever he wanted his dad. The other two would follow him.
For many years before the farm, he was the reason I got up in the morning. My purest happiness. Who actually climbed up on my lap an hour after we brought him home and peed all over me. A day later he would mistake my ankle for a fire hydrant… Once again, I got peed on. Once he understood I wasn’t a toilet, our relationship improved and became very good. We spent a lot of time walking together over the years and even more time cuddling. Losing him was like loosing the sun. He was my baby. And the only reason I can live with him being gone, is because I know we gave him such an amazing life so full of love. And for all we gave to him, he gave us so very much more. Our world will never be the same. Yoda, was one of the driving forces behind the purchase of this land and the invention of Wildflower Farm. We bought this place, in part for him.
Pikku, and Yoda, do Christmas in comfort. One lays on the floor not far from the wood stove, the other takes over a comfy fluffy chair. This was Yoda’s final christmas.
He is deeply missed.
Thank you so much for reading dear reader.
Remember, every moment we have with those we love is so precious.
I am so very grateful to have had the opportunity to have a dog like Yoda in my life.
16 years I was blessed with the greatest best friend that any person could ever have.
Treasure those moments with those you love.
They may not last forever… But in your heart they will last for always.
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
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