Anabelle chose Mike and Traci Tenhulzen when she was just 6 weeks old in 2006. After spending nearly a year in training, her attention was eclipsed by the birth of a little boy.
Her favorite activities included donning her backpack for a long hike, and chasing a tennis ball in the water. When walked, she would find the most private and discriminant place to do her business.
If you were fortunate enough to see her smile, she obviously liked you.
Being part lab and part border collie, she was prone to seizures. For the last 4 years, she was on a steady diet of phenobarbital to reduce the brain activity that causes seizures. When they did occur on a bi-monthly basis, she would return to normal within about 30 minutes after a 5-6 minute episode.
On July 19, 2017 at roughly 10:15 PM, Anabelle experienced a series of 7 seizures over the course of an hour. It was feared that internal organ damage may be irrecoverable and that a brain tumor may likely be the cause of the sustained episodes. As a family, we made the difficult decision to end her suffering at 12:05 AM.
Our personal Facebook post from 12:49 AM read: “Tonight we celebrate Anabelle’s life as a practice baby, family member, travel partner and best friend a boy could have. After multiple seizures at home, a local 24 hour vet received her with a core temperature in excess of 105 degrees for over an hour. Given her significantly reduced quality of life, we made the difficult decision to ease her pain and invite her back into our lives in another form. We will miss our favorite dog forever. And so will many of you whose hearts she touched.”
The next evening, neighbors descended on our home to share in the loss of a wonderful animal. The kids who played with her most left their mark on the back patio chalkboard.
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