ZdogZ
06-15-2007, 10:16 PM
My MIL emailed this to me. Just thought I'd share with all of you. Sorry for the length.
PUPPY BREATH
by Earla Jean Hollon
In early March, the day after we sadly put Bear, our 14 year old Goldie down, my husband had to go out of state for work.
Abby, our 11 year old Lab/Shepherd mix, was sad. In two days she had lost Bear, her life long companion, and then my husband. I tried to compensate by taking her for two walks and two car rides a day instead of one, but overnight Abby started acting old. She moved slowly and stiffly, turned her nose up at her doggie treats and just seemed depressed.
I took her to the vet for a checkup, and we put her on arthritis medicine but she continued moving slowly.
On June 9th, as a lark, I looked on the website for available dogs at our local Animal Shelter. There were three nice looking dogs -- a Golden Retriever, a female Lab and a two year old male yellow Lab. I thought to myself, and said, "No, no more dogs."
On June 10th, I took Abby to the vet as she did not seem to be improving. He said he thought that Abby was depressed. Abby and I left the vet's office and I drove straight to our local Animal Shelter and asked to see the Goldie, but he had been sent to the rescue group three days earlier. Then I asked to see the black Lab, but she had been adopted. Finally, I asked to see the yellow Lab. After a few minutes, the door opened and in walked some of the biggest paws on a dog that
I had ever seen. Then I noticed huge head and long skinny body. I first thought, oh no, don't think so. But to be fair to the dog, I thought I'd give him a chance. He started sniffing Abby, she sniffed him back, slowly wagging her tail. She liked him. I said OK, I'll take him. I drove him straight to Petco and had Cody engraved on his name tag. Once the cashier found out Cody was newly adopted she gave me a nice little coupon book that was full of free and/or discounted stuff for dogs.
It was fun picking out different treats for Cody. Abby and Cody were friends from the start, and sure enough, Abby
got back a little spring in her step.
But it's not the end of the story.
Even though Cody is 2-years-old, he is all puppy. Neither Abby nor I can match Cody's energy. I was whining on the phone to my husband about how Cody was so energetic, that he wanted to play all of the time and I just needed some down time.
The next day, I woke up to drizzling rain and thunder. I bundled the dogs into the car for our Starbucks run. I get a coffee
and the dogs share a bagel. I hadn't gone far when I noticed a small yellow puppy running down the middle of the road. By the time I got close to her, she had veered off of the road and into a yard. I turned around in the next driveway. I pulled to the curb and opened my car door. She started running for the car, trying to climb over me to get inside. I took her home and spent the next few days looking for her owner. I called every vet within a 10 mile radius and the Golden Retriever Recovery Program, because she looks like a 3-4 months old Goldie. No one had reported missing a puppy. So now I have three dogs. I've named her Millie. I don't know why I couldn't just drive on past her. Maybe because I've seen how
afraid Cody is of thunder. He tries to hide whenever it thunders, and he's now a 90 pound dog and and she's just a small 15-20 pound puppy. Maybe it's because I knew chances were that if I didn't stop she might be dead before dark. A lot of cats and dogs get killed on that road. Maybe it was because I know how my old, run-down neighborhood has an overabundance of Pit Bulls and I know that many of the neighbors purposely draw out their aggressive behavior. Or maybe, it's because I somehow knew that I would love how Millie will run and jump in my lap after playing rough house with Cody for several minutes -- looking at my face afterwards, with her mouth open and her tongue hanging out, reaching up and kissing me.
I can smell a faint whiff of puppy breath and there's nothing else like it in this world.
-- Earla Jean Hollon
___________________________________________
Earla says, "I live in Pasadena, Texas, with my very patient husband and a small zoo -- dogs, cat, turtles, parrots, and sugar-gliders. I have loved animals all my life and have rescued, adopted many of my pets and found homes for several others."
PUPPY BREATH
by Earla Jean Hollon
In early March, the day after we sadly put Bear, our 14 year old Goldie down, my husband had to go out of state for work.
Abby, our 11 year old Lab/Shepherd mix, was sad. In two days she had lost Bear, her life long companion, and then my husband. I tried to compensate by taking her for two walks and two car rides a day instead of one, but overnight Abby started acting old. She moved slowly and stiffly, turned her nose up at her doggie treats and just seemed depressed.
I took her to the vet for a checkup, and we put her on arthritis medicine but she continued moving slowly.
On June 9th, as a lark, I looked on the website for available dogs at our local Animal Shelter. There were three nice looking dogs -- a Golden Retriever, a female Lab and a two year old male yellow Lab. I thought to myself, and said, "No, no more dogs."
On June 10th, I took Abby to the vet as she did not seem to be improving. He said he thought that Abby was depressed. Abby and I left the vet's office and I drove straight to our local Animal Shelter and asked to see the Goldie, but he had been sent to the rescue group three days earlier. Then I asked to see the black Lab, but she had been adopted. Finally, I asked to see the yellow Lab. After a few minutes, the door opened and in walked some of the biggest paws on a dog that
I had ever seen. Then I noticed huge head and long skinny body. I first thought, oh no, don't think so. But to be fair to the dog, I thought I'd give him a chance. He started sniffing Abby, she sniffed him back, slowly wagging her tail. She liked him. I said OK, I'll take him. I drove him straight to Petco and had Cody engraved on his name tag. Once the cashier found out Cody was newly adopted she gave me a nice little coupon book that was full of free and/or discounted stuff for dogs.
It was fun picking out different treats for Cody. Abby and Cody were friends from the start, and sure enough, Abby
got back a little spring in her step.
But it's not the end of the story.
Even though Cody is 2-years-old, he is all puppy. Neither Abby nor I can match Cody's energy. I was whining on the phone to my husband about how Cody was so energetic, that he wanted to play all of the time and I just needed some down time.
The next day, I woke up to drizzling rain and thunder. I bundled the dogs into the car for our Starbucks run. I get a coffee
and the dogs share a bagel. I hadn't gone far when I noticed a small yellow puppy running down the middle of the road. By the time I got close to her, she had veered off of the road and into a yard. I turned around in the next driveway. I pulled to the curb and opened my car door. She started running for the car, trying to climb over me to get inside. I took her home and spent the next few days looking for her owner. I called every vet within a 10 mile radius and the Golden Retriever Recovery Program, because she looks like a 3-4 months old Goldie. No one had reported missing a puppy. So now I have three dogs. I've named her Millie. I don't know why I couldn't just drive on past her. Maybe because I've seen how
afraid Cody is of thunder. He tries to hide whenever it thunders, and he's now a 90 pound dog and and she's just a small 15-20 pound puppy. Maybe it's because I knew chances were that if I didn't stop she might be dead before dark. A lot of cats and dogs get killed on that road. Maybe it was because I know how my old, run-down neighborhood has an overabundance of Pit Bulls and I know that many of the neighbors purposely draw out their aggressive behavior. Or maybe, it's because I somehow knew that I would love how Millie will run and jump in my lap after playing rough house with Cody for several minutes -- looking at my face afterwards, with her mouth open and her tongue hanging out, reaching up and kissing me.
I can smell a faint whiff of puppy breath and there's nothing else like it in this world.
-- Earla Jean Hollon
___________________________________________
Earla says, "I live in Pasadena, Texas, with my very patient husband and a small zoo -- dogs, cat, turtles, parrots, and sugar-gliders. I have loved animals all my life and have rescued, adopted many of my pets and found homes for several others."