Heartbroken— Rest in Paradise, Snaps o’ Ginger Tempest of B’sharri’s Breeze Newfoundlands

Tragedy struck our kennel last night when we lost our beautiful Ginger.
This is a very new wound. The only reason I am writing this now is so I don’t want to have to keep talking about this.

6 days ago I posted her on my private Facebook for the first time to feature her beauty and introduce her as the new Breezy/Bash’r generation. She was chosen from birth to carry the torch. When she came out of her mama, I knew she was mine. She was everything I had been waiting for. We bonded immediately and I was so incredibly proud of this girl. She had SO much of her grandma in her. She also had traits of her mama, daddy and grandpa as well. She was just perfection. She contracted Lepto. Unfortunately, our beautiful, safe neighborhood has taken a rush of rats after a nearby recycle dump caught fire. They’ve been everywhere. Our vet was so sympathetic but matter of fact when she said, “Unfortunately, the metro Detroit area is dealing with this on a scale we’ve never seen before. The vaccine is not fool proof for it, but it’s still important to get. There was nothing you could’ve done.”

She died in the arms of her family. She went peacefully. Only 5 months old and already so loved by her family. I know she felt that for her whole life. Start to finish and that makes it a bit easier. Her Newfies loved her, too. Even Aunt Grace. There is a quietness in our home today. The Newfies feel it. I think they could smell it. There is a feeling of ‘something’s missing’ and it’s heavy.

We are in the grieving process, as you can tell. For me personally, there is a feeling of throwing in the towel. Maybe I should just take a break. I know this is my heart talking and it’s so broken right now that I cant trust it. So, everything is up in the air right as the future. The planned litters for 2025 and 2026 will go on as planned and then we are going to take a break. That is the only thing I know for sure. I have waiting list and an obligation to our puppy families to do that. I dont really know past that, yet. When the time comes and that path has been chosen by us all as a family, I will let everyone know.

For now, we just need to grieve our girl. The feelings are immense and we just want to get through this. Lepto is contagious so a massive, disinfectant cleaning has taken place so the other dogs don’t pick this up. It’s contractible to humans as well, so this has been an inside and out disinfectant clean for sure. We have been holding our babies super close. We dont want them to even go outside. This was extremely traumatic and we’re all just trying to get through.

I’ve tried to explain in a way that ends the conversation. Please respect our privacy and grieving process. Do not reach out to ask questions. This is what we have to say about it. From here on out, we will remember our Ginger girl in the amazing memories, pictures and videos we have of her. No more sadness.