R.I.P Dixie

Ok, so yesterday ended up being a pretty sad night. Yesterday at about 10:30 my sister called me to see if their dog was over here. She is a miniature dauchsund, named Dixie and she is about 11 years old or so, and she will walk over to my house every once in a while - because I'm exactly .33 miles away from my mom. She wasn't here, and so they went looking for her. No sign of her, so they started making signs for her, incase someone found her, or took her in, and they started calling animal shelter/control places to see if she had maybe been dropped off. Anyways- at about 5:30 PM my sister was having a bbq at my mom's house and swimming and so we came over to eat and swim. When I got there, I had asked if they had heard anything about Dixie or found her. They were like- no- nothing yet. Apparently my mom had just gotten off the phone with my dad, and he told her the last time he heard barking was in the garage that morning before he left for work, and my younger sister who had left that morning for the beach, said the same thing- that she had heard Dixie barking like crazy in the garage at around 8:15-8:30 AM. Anyways, they had already checked the garage, and my mom asked me and my older sister to go check again- maybe they missed her, or maybe she got stuck somewhere. Apparently- there is this baby oppossum that lives inside the walls of our garage, or in this one little part of it, and he gets in through this little hole in the back. So, Dixie has been trying to get this oppossum forever- like 2 months now. So, my sister walks to one side of the garage and is looking where some bricks can be pulled out and something can get back there- and she was gonna see if maybe she went back there, and I thought- well I'll just go over to where she normally is barking by the oppossum. I looked behind this big green bucket, right, pretty much pushed up against the wall, and I saw her feet and her tail and I was like- I can't look! I yelled, "I found her", and ran out of the garage. My sisters husband and friend went back there to check on her, and see if she is ok or dead, or what needs to be done. She was dead- and apparently had been so by 8:45. I went to my moms that morning at 8:45 AM and I did not hear barking- but they didn't notice her missing til around 9:30, because usually she will take up sleeping in the house somewhere under anyones blanket, so it is normal, not for her to always be right there in the kitchen area or downstairs even. Cause of death- electrocution. When they pulled the green bucket away, they found an extension cord in her mouth that is plugged into my moms extra fridge and freezer in the garage, and she had bitten straight through it. Since she had been chasing and barking and trying to get this oppossum for so long- we were like- what made her bite the cord this time? It was against the wall- so it wasn't like out in the open, or anything... so our only guess is, that as she was chasing and trying to get to the oppossum, it ran back in there pretty quickly and she had its tail in sight and thought she was going to bite the tail, when she ended up biting right down on the cord.
We got Dixie when I was about 15 or so as a puppy.. and I loved the dog- but she was only really "my" dog for a few years before leaving for college.. so it wasn't as hard on me- as it was my youngest sister who has had her since she was 5! My dad and my youngest sister were hurt the most! We had a little funeral for her, before burying her in our back yard. I started to cry during the funeral- but not much before or after. My kids were upset, but didnt really understand.. and Dante (6) my oldest- kept saying, but she'll come back right? But she'll come back.. and I explained to him, that yes- someday we will all be together again with Dixie and that she is in Heaven now. So- that was the shock of the day yesterday! But- she was doing something she loved- chasing animals as dachsunds are hunter dogs, and she thought she had her "prey" in her mouth.. and it had to have been really, really quick! So - that was pretty much that- and I'm good today- it is just weird thinking that she won't be there anymore when we go over there. We did have her spend the night recently while my family was in Nashville, and she slept with the kids- so I feel like we had some good time with her before she left.