Birthday Girl
Posted by Dory @ Lucky Dorito on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
Another dear friend of mine is celebrating her birthday today, right on the heels of SweetPea’s big day.
This friend is warm and reliable. Calming and steadfast. She has been a constant presence in my life for the past 6 1/2 years and I love her dearly.
We met by chance on the Friday after Thanksgiving in 2001 when she was just a young thing, in need of a home. She had big expressive eyes that stole my heart the moment we looked at each other. She walked with a definite limp and had a long surgical scar on her hip. I couldn’t imagine what had happened to her and why she was alone, without a family anymore. It made me sad for her, to see her in that place, separated by bars from me, as if she was a criminal. I let my heart rush ahead of my brain and I asked to walk with her outside. They gave me a leash and off we went. She was overjoyed, bouncing around my legs with every step - totally ignoring whatever pain caused the limp.
It was a done deal.
I filled out the paperwork for adoption on the spot, before consulting my husband at all. Believe me, it became my mission that weekend in life to convince my husband our home had room for one more soul. He was not happy about the way I’d handled the situation (leaping without looking) but when he met her, he saw her eyes and knew it was fruitless to argue with me.
I was hers and she was mine.
Would you like to see a picture of this fabulous friend?
This sweet face belongs to Lillie, my beloved dog. She is turning 7 this year.
I later found out her story, there not being many of her breed in our area. (And me being lucky enough to have a friend that works at the vet’s office.) She had been hit by a car and suffered a broken right femur. A week later, her owner had her chained to a tree and the the chain had wrapped around her injured leg, re-breaking it, shattering the head of the femur. She had a second operation, a Femoral Head Ostectomy and was only 5 weeks post surgery when I found her at the shelter. It turned out that her owner had been arrested on drug charges and was in jail. No one was caring for the dogs at her home and this one had ran away, later to be picked up by animal control and placed up for adoption when she went unclaimed for 5 days. Eight other young puppies, from another litter, were found dead from starvation a month later at the womans home. My girl was lucky to have gotten away when she did.
She no longer walks with a limp at all. She is happy and healthy and dearly loved. I consider myself fortunate to have happened along at just the right moment to have been able to take her in.
Happy Birthday noseygirl!
