Re: [PyrNet-L] In Memory of Melissa

[Joy Mccarron <joym@monmouth.com>]

Stephanie,

So sorry for the loss of Melissa.  What wonderful memories you have of the
kindnesses you gave her!!
              Joy McCarron (Maggie's Mom)
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephanie W <srwhitney@earthlink.net>
To: <pyrnet-l@pyrnet.org>
Sent: Monday, May 03, 1999 11:24 PM
Subject: [PyrNet-L] In Memory of Melissa


> We adopted Melissa about ten years ago from a rescue organization.  She
> was said to be a
> one year old Australian Shepherd.  Since that was one of the breeds I
> had always admired, I
> couldn't resist.  When we saw her, she was hardly what I expected,
> skinny and shabby
> looking, not the dog of my dreams.  But, somehow, hearing that she had
> been abandoned,
> left to starve in an empty house with a litter of puppies when her
> family moved out, I
> couldn't turn away and leave her there, so she came home with us.
>
> She growled at me once in the first day or two.  I had come near her
> when she had a rawhide
> bone I had given her.  Terrified, I took the rawhide away from her, gave
> her a lecture about
> how everything she had came from me, and gave it back to her.  She
> looked at me so
> seriously, as if she understood what I was telling her, and she never
> growled at me again.
>
> For the longest time, she crouched and peed if we raised a hand or even
> raised our voiced.
> Who knows what she had suffered before she was abandoned.  We found out
> many years
> later from an x-ray that she had had a broken bone in that first year
> that had never been set
> and never quite meshed.  She also had a very strange, muffled bark.  I
> asked the vet if she
> had been debarked.  She said no.  Her bark eventually became strong and
> normal, so
> something had been done to make her unable to bark nornally for at least
> a year.
>
> She must have known kindness, too, though.  She loved to be combed, even
> if mats caused
> pulling.  She never complained.  She also loved to lay with her head on
> your shoulder.
>
> Through the years that we had her, she was the most obedient dog I've
> ever known.  She
> seemed to try to figure out what you were going to want her to do next
> and do it before you
> could say it.  She would always run up to bed a minute before I went up,
> regardless of the
> time.  I finally figured out that she had figured out that we went to
> bed after I turned off the
> computer, so she ran to the bed when she heard the off button click.  I
> discovered this when I
> turned off the computer in the afternoon one day and found her in bed
> when I went looking
> for her.
>
> I regret not being aware of obedience competition while she was well.  I
> know that she
> would have loved it, because she always seemed to long to have something
> to do for me.
>
> As she got her health back after being starved almost to death, she
> developed a beautiful coat
> which was quite easy to groom and she had the most beautiful face I've
> ever seen.
>
> She didn't like other dogs, and she was harsh with Ciaran (IW) as a
> puppy, requiring one
> trip to the vet's, but when he reached adulthood, she changed her mind,
> and would sit and
> gaze at him with admiration.  Although she was so sick, she was much
> more patient with
> Anais (Pyr puppy) in the last few weeks.
>
> Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with kidney failure almost a year ago
> and began the long,
> slow deterioration with some ups and downs, and lots of support from
> special diets and
> subcutaneous fluids once or twice a day to flush the toxins from her
> body.  She never
> complained, and at her sickest would try to position herself between me
> and whatever she
> perceived as a danger.
>
> Over the last few days, she refused to eat and began throwing up quite
> often.  It was getting
> harder for her to walk and her breathing sounded laboured.  She still
> met me with a wagging
> tail when I came home.  We realized that we had to make the decision we
> had hoped not to
> have to make.  We had to let her go.
>
> I know that tonight I will miss having her curled up at my feet.
>
> Melissa was a wonderful, loyal, faithful dog and I do miss her already.
>
> Stephanie, Anais (Pyr puppy), Ciaran (IW), Midnight & Smedley
>
>
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