Regarding Dolly: An Update

 

Just a quickpost here to honor a dog and her human.

Three yearsago, in August of 2021, I took my neighbor Linda on a day-long jaunt to find adog. Her beloved pug mix, Abbey, had passed away some months before, and sheand her husband were feeling the absence of a dog’s magic in the house. Youknow, that quality they have of somehow brightening everyone’s spirits. SoLinda asked me to help her find the right dog.

We wentlooking for “a younger dog” and came home with a fourteen-year-old. Yep. Youcan read that story by clicking here.

Linda and herhusband Bob took that old dog that had been uncared for (and unbathed) for solong, and they scrubbed her up, brushed her out, gave her warm, soft bedding, andstarted feeding her cooked chicken breasts every night. I kid you not. (Thusthe roly-poly Dolly you see in the photo above.) I remember Linda telling me atthe time that they were committed to giving her a great life for whatever timeshe had left, whether that be days or weeks or months or—if they were lucky—years.

And years itwas. Nearly three exactly. Dolly passed away this week at the age of seventeen.Seventeen, y’all! And that dog…. Boy howdy, was she a happy girl in herlast days! Oh, not at first. She was quiet and reserved and withdrawn (and verywary of Bob). But her humans were patient. And they had chicken. And daily loveand encouragement. And that dog finally began to respond, so much so that shefound her happy feet. I will never forget stopping by one day and Linda tellingme: “Every evening after dinner she goes into the den and dances around.” Dollymight have been too old to do zoomies, but she was never too old to dance.

A good lessonfor all of us who are easing into the silver muzzle stage of life, I reckon.