Hasty, a seven-year-old golden retriever who died after touching a downed power line in Ann Arbor during storms on Monday, Aug. 29, will be remembered by her owner as a "silly goofball" who delighted in anyone's company.Provided by Emily Evans
ANN ARBOR, MI – As power is slowly restored and downed trees cut and carted away, traces of the powerful line of thunderstorms that swept across Michigan on Monday, Aug. 29 are slipping away.
But for one Ann Arbor woman and her family, moving on is not going to be easy.
It will involve coming to terms with the loss of a beloved pet, Hasty, a seven-year-old golden retriever described by her owner as a “silly goofball” who delighted in peanut butter, chasing rabbits and keeping children company.
Emily Evans, who got Hasty when the dog was just a puppy, was summoned to her house in southeast Ann Arbor Monday evening by a frantic call from her mother, placed from a number Evans didn’t recognize.
“I guess in one part of my brain I assumed it was a downed tree limb, or I didn’t know what to think. But the fact that I’d heard what sounded like my mom crying as she was hanging up was confusing,” Evans said.
The moments after Evans got home were a blur. The street was filled with fire trucks and police cars.
Evans remembers a police officer telling her Hasty was dead, saying she couldn’t go into the backyard where there was a live, exposed electrical wire.
As far as they could surmise, Hasty, normally afraid of storms, had slipped outside the back sliding glass doors as Evans’ mother went to talk on the phone after the power went out. The retriever was electrocuted after touching the power line, Ann Arbor firefighters said.
“We’re struggling with trying to figure out what to do,” Evans said. “For me, it’s really painful. We’re just in shock. I don’t believe it still.”
Evans wants Hasty to be remembered as more than just the victim of a tragedy.
Hasty’s name comes from a line in William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” Evans said. In the comedy, the male protagonist Petruchio arrives late for his own wedding, dressed in ridiculous clothes, and insists on leaving before the matrimonial supper.
“My haste doth call me hence,” he proclaims.
For Evans, the name fit the boisterous puppy, her first dog, and the pet lived up to the moniker.
Hasty, a seven-year-old golden retriever who died after touching a downed power line in Ann Arbor during storms on Monday, Aug. 29, will be remembered by her owner as a "silly goofball" who delighted in anyone's company.Provided by Emily Evans
“She’s ... characterized by ... endless love and very giving of that to even any stranger who wanted it,” she said.
That meant anyone Hasty met on her walks through the area, including neighborhood children, other dogs and even Evans’ cats.
One of three felines at Evans’ house was initially afraid of the dog, Evans said, but Hasty won her over. Another of her cats worshipped Hasty, Evans added.
A ball of joy and excitement, Hasty would spin in circles anticipating her breakfast and dinner bowls each day and took great care of a stuffed animal toy called “Woofer” as well as a pair of pink bedroom slippers she claimed as her own.
She showed no signs of slowing down and was often mistaken for a puppy.
“Her spirit felt young to people,” Evans said.
The backyard was also special place for the dog, who would run in patterns in search of rabbits.
In the future, Evans and her mother had planned to put Hasty through training to volunteer at the hospital, visiting patients, such was her temperament and ability to cheer people up.
Now, Evans is left to mourn her canine companion. She’s donating unused food to the Humane Society and is figuring out what to do with Hasty’s toys, bowls and bed.
“We thought she was going to have many more years to come,” Evans said.
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