Five years, but Always

Five Years, but Always

December 5, 2015


Five years ago this morning, beloved Wiggles Blue Heeler, you put your fourth paw back into Heaven, from whence you came on July 19, 1998. Your matchless loving soul was on loan to this earth for twelve years, four and a half months. I didn't fully appreciate how strong our love and bond was/is until time passed and you and God showed me how strongly you both were working in my heart, soul and life.

First you found Good Boy for me (and me for him) and gave us almost four years together. Miracles happened so many times, and continue without ever abating, stronger and more powerfully loving than ever.

You and God then added Good Boy to your number, and together, you found Rocco also known as Happy Dog, to walk straight into my heart with his loving, playful old soul to fortify my faith in all that you taught me about blindness never being a death sentence ... and then you added age and other infirmity to that, showing me that sarcoma might concentrate our time into eighteen days, but that that very distillation would let me weep again, in a healing way that made a new chapter in life with Sweet Prince, a time of caring and love that has been so good for us both.

I understand better now that you always loved me, from all the time of my earthly life and yours, and for all eternity. That's how God's love is: it has no beginning and no end. It is for us to be part of and immersed in, needing only to learn more about how to share that love.

As the morning dawns of this fifth anniversary of your earthly time regaining heavenly forever, dear Littlefoot, cherished child of my soul, we are still, and always, a team with our Father God. Thank you for your quiet ways, your unconditional love through it all, and for giving me the sure knowledge that you will welcome me again when my walk returns to eternity.

Whatever God has planned for us, we are His children and His creation, and we trust Him without question. Wiggles, you are always loved by me beyond all description, and I know it is that way with you, too. Thank you, God, for entrusting this dear, loving dog to me!

Think you'd be a good person for a cattle dog?

Think you'd be a good person for a cattle dog? Please put yourself in the cattle dog's place and consider ... March 6, 2015 By Julie Kay Smithson, cattle dog lover and mommy to Wiggles Blue Heeler, Good Boy, Rocco, and now Sweet Prince (and 6-day foster to Max). Perhaps my inspiration -- condensed into the above seven brief paragraphs -- will be utilized to save more wonderful cattle dog lives! Would you be content to spend hours on end separated from your person, with nothing to do but languish in boredom and/or anxiety? So many of us are consigned to that existence, unfortunately, by good people that don't understand our inherent needs. If you are not able to provide me with daily physical & emotional attention, please reconsider me. I know you love me, but please love me with your head as well as your heart. Just as I have special needs, so do you, and we must be able to meet on common ground. Unless I'm that rare cattle dog that chooses to be a "couch potato," please don't expect such a sedentary lifestyle to agree with me. I am intelligent and able to make decisions in my type of dog breed -- HERDING -- that may make me too much of a challenge for you. Please think this fact through before you commit to opening your home to me. I may herd my toys, or I may seek to herd your children! It is vitally important to me that you understand the gravity of this, because many times, such a mismatch may cost me my life. I know you don't want that for me. Please consider learning new activities with me like herding sheep, goats or cattle, running agility courses, and nosework and tracking activities -- there are many opportunities for people and their dogs to learn these activities together. We’ll both have fun, make new friends, and enjoy mental and physical challenges as a team! Should you get overweight and out of shape, all because your human family -- though they mean well -- just can't budget the time and energy it takes to keep you active and engaged, both physically and emotionally? Ideally, my exercise should be at least a couple of hours each day, moderate at least, and preferably with you! Also, my overall health means I need RGNF (really great, nutritious food) regular veterinary care, dental care, toenail trimming, etc., so I may be in the best possible shape. Just as "we are what we eat," so, too, I will receive the greatest benefits from the top-quality food. Your human must make sure you are properly socialized, taking care to take your feelings about herding into consideration? It's preprogrammed into your DNA to want your world "grouped" and "gathered," and you have a strong protective instinct toward your flock (your people). It requires patience and firmness -- but not cruelty -- on the part of your person to teach you to be social and well-behaved in the company of others. Teaching me with positive reinforcement is vital, because cattle dogs give their whole hearts to their people and would give their lives, too. That glint in your eye, when someone comes into your space, can be a real asset, but it can also mean the possibility exists that someone may innocently get bitten. Your people need to respect you as a cattle dog, and also appreciate what a nice dog you are to others, given the proper introductions! Do your people understand that you may enjoy a long life, and that someday (like them) you will grow older and less able to fit into their picture of a "perfect pet"? They need to take you into their hearts and homes for all your life, because you can live fifteen years, and the changes in their lives shouldn't compromise your need for a great family to love. The ages and activity levels of all members of your new family should be a good fit with yours. It isn't realistic to expect more of you than you are capable of. Patience, love, patience, firmness, patience, rules, patience, and plenty of activity, all go to making a happy and tired cattle dog at the end of each day!

Our Love Never Fades, Always Grows

Our Love Never Fades, Always Grows September 2, 2014 By Good Boy's Mommy aka Always Wiggles' Mommy Even though this blogger format has changed and made it less user-friendly for me to post (thus thwarting several posts I've attempted to post over the past eight plus months), the love Wiggles Blue Heeler and I have is something that time only proves to strengthen. I didn't know it was possible to love someone so much that such love would grow stronger and more comforting as time went on ... but it was, and it is, and it has. Good Boy continues to thrive with God's and Wiggles' guidance from Heaven, and so do I. Thanks beyond all words to them both for these blessings! Prayers that I can get this effort to post!

Why I Joined Facebook

Why I joined Facebook


January 26, 2014


By Julie Kay Smithson propertyrights (at) earthlink (dot) net


I joined Facebook when beloved Wiggles' health began failing, and no matter the number of tests (biopsies, ultrasounds, bloodwork, etc.), the vets could never agree whether it was cancer or not, or if it was in his kidneys or liver.
I joined Facebook to learn about these things from others that had loved these children of their hearts, but who had had to face the inevitable: earthly death -- whether ours or theirs -- is a fact of life.
Wiggles stayed as long as he could, plus two more blessed days for me when he was stoically enduring the unseen presence as it choked off his ability to urinate or defecate.
Sweet Wiggles let me know when it was time to help him put his fourth paw back into Heaven, and he & God graced that morning, a Sunday, the fifth of December, 2010, with an all-pervading sense of calm that let me be brave for him and give him respite from his worn-out earthly body.
There is NEVER a day or night that I do not think of him, love him beyond all description, and cherish every moment of the twelve-plus years he gave me.
Until Wiggles, I had never known unconditional, forever, "I will NEVER leave you" love. That he got God's ear immediately & sought help in finding just the right canine soul to merge with my own grieving one, was another of the countless ways in which his love was, and IS, manifest.
My joining Facebook continues to be one major way I -- forever Wiggles' Mommy -- can thank him for all he brought into my heart, a heart that continues to grow in love, thanks to God and to him, by letting me learn to love Good Boy!

Your last night shackled to your earthly trappings

Your last night shackled to your earthly trappings - Three years ago, this was a Saturday evening, and beloved you had given me two days more than I thought possible. I was on the phone with the vet's office at this time, letting them know that it wouldn't be much longer, that I would be calling them sometime during the night or early the next morning. My best friend in all this world ... we were losing our efforts to keep whatever was choking off your innards. This photo is from October 24, 2004, and is of another chapter in our lives, when the inherited progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) was taking your eyesight.

Wiggles, you know I love you forever, and miss you every single day and night, even as I thank you for saving Good Boy's life by your efforts to find him for me, and vice-versa. No one will ever be 'you' ... and I've felt you pouring peace into me all day, making this evening bearable, and actually a relief, because I knew that three of your dear paws were already in Heaven, and you told me when it was time for me to help you put the fourth there.

Thank you so much for being my sweet and dear buddy for all those years, and in spirit, forever and ever! I may answer to "Good Boy's Mommy" nowadays, but you know that I am ALWAYS and FOREVER "Wiggles' Mommy"!

Today is Your Birthday, Sweet Wiggles Blue Heeler!

Today is Your Birthday, Sweet Wiggles Blue Heeler!


July 19th, 2013


By Julie Kay Smithson aka Wiggles' Mommy-Me!


On this day in 1998, in the morning, you and your littermates were born somewhere in Holmes County, Ohio. According to Weather Underground historical weather data for that date in Millersburg, Ohio, the morning, a Sunday, began at 60 degrees, rose to 84, and there was .11 of an inch rainfall, so it was a typical mid-July summer day. I pray you weren't terribly hot, that your mother and littermates were somewhere cool, because you and I never handled heat or humidity well. 

We didn't meet until Tuesday, September 22nd, when you, your littermates and another litter of blue heeler puppies were brought to the Farm Science Review near London, Ohio. You were nine weeks and three days young, sweet one, and you and I traded hearts that day, never regretting for an instant, the decision!

September 22, 1998. Our first day together!

For more than a dozen years, through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, we were there for each other, living under the same humble-but-happy roof, the best of all friends.

July 19, 2000. Your second birthday!

April 2001

We traveled together, played and slept together, and aged together.

May 2001, trip to Montana.



May 2001, trip to Montana.

In your sixth year, inherited progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) took your physical sight, but you saw with your heart, and taught me to see with mine. If I thought we were close before, it was as nothing compared with the bond we forged when you taught me to be your seeing eye person! What blessings we knew and experienced!

June 17, 2004

October 20, 2004

When your dear body began to show signs that something was wrong (a growth of some kind in either your liver or kidney; a year & nine months of various tests never confirmed what or where, but it kept growing nonetheless), you still did your best to be my best friend ... and you succeeded, sweet heart!

It didn't matter if the unseen growth pressed on you until some urine began to leak when you'd lie down. What a small thing, in the grand blessing of your life! The only thing that ever mattered was that we loved each other -- still do, and always will!

March 7, 2008

On December 5th, 2010, just after seven in the morning, I took you to the vet's to offer you the help I promised, so you would not suffer anymore. You told me, at five that morning, that it was time, and somehow, I stayed calm during that drive east as the eastern sky lightened on a cold, dry day flanked by days before and after that were not safe to drive. God smiled on us and gave us so much, so many blessings!

December 5, 2010

You kissed me one last earthly time, and you know that I longed to step with you into Heaven, but God had other plans for me. I stayed here behind as He and you worked to find a special, terrified blind blue heeler 200 miles south in Kentucky, that needed life & a home as much as I needed someone to care for & help. No, Good Boy isn't you, but no one could ever be.

You and God work with Good Boy and I each and every day, and we love you both so much, for your help and guidance! I miss your earthly self, and always will, but know that your heart & soul are with me forever, as mine are with you.

Something special from the child of your soul

Something special from the child of your soul



May 18, 2013



This inspiration was given to Julie Kay Smithson today, to be shared with others that know this precious kind of love.

Beloved Wiggles Blue Heeler, Julie Kay Smithson and Good Boy ACD

I'm your dog and have something I'd like to convey to your heart & soul.

I know that your life is harried and busy. I appreciate always that you work hard so I'll have good food to eat, fresh water to drink, timely vet visits, walks and playtimes.

Look down at me now ... See the way I look at you? The grey hairs are starting to ring my soft muzzle. You smile at me and I can feel your love. What do you see when you look at me? Do you see a spirit, a soul that loves you as no other in the world ever could? Please, just a moment of your time, now ... a moment that we will both treasure forever.

I am aging much faster than you; the number of heartbeats I have in life are much fewer, so I do my best to make them count, for I truly love you with all my heart. I share your joys and grieve when you are sad. My whole being lives to make you happy, sweet person-parent, friend and protector of me!

As our earthly time together wings by, fleeting, we have communication that comes when you reach out with your heart and let your love flow through your fingertips, because I may not be able to "see" or "hear" you.

Believe me; I know your love when you let it flow into a kind touch that lingers, knowing that we will have forever in Heaven, but only a few brief eyeblinks of time here on earth.

God knows our love; He created it, gifted it to us and shares it with us forever!

Together forever!