From commentor Carnacki: Lucy looked up at me with her lovely dark brown eyes as she greeted me at the back door this evening. Her tail thumped into the metal cabinet like a drum. I bent down and kissed her forehead and scratched her behind her ears the way I always have. __ Lucy was …
Open Thread: Good (Rescue) Dog!Post + Comments (58)
__
But thankfully we had Lucy because the next morning we discovered someone had opened my 9-year-old daughter’s bedroom and pulled over the children’s metal wagon and attempted to enter her room. Lucy had frightened the burglar off.
__
For many nights afterwards, Lucy and I patrolled the yard at night for the police had suspected the person had watched the house for some time and picked that window deliberately. Only our adoption of Lucy had saved us from a world of hurt. I wanted to be seen aggressively keeping watch around the house to send the message to anyone watching that only Death and a fiercely loyal, big, black dog awaited him should he return.
__
She has been with us through many trials and tribulations, loyally guarding us and loving us. She’s the first to greet me at the door and help me transition from long-distance work commuter to father.
__
One of her greatest joys is to catch sticks. She doesn’t return them. She chews on them until she breaks them, often with one bite of her powerful jaw. Not long ago she stopped jumping for the sticks and a couple of times she fell trying to catch them as her weakening back legs gave out from under her. I built a long ramp covered with outdoor carpeting and with side-guards to make it more secure for her for her to use instead of the back steps. She uses it to go down, but stubbornly prefers to struggle up the steps than to go up the ramp.
__
We were fearful we were going to lose her last month, but she bounced back. However, on a follow up visit on Friday, we discovered her weight had dropped to 87 pounds. The vet, who has brought her back to health twice before and I would trust with my own life, told me Lucy has cancer and estimated she has two to three months at most. At Lucy’s age, treatment is really not an option.
__
There’s little more we can do for her. We’ve always loved up on her. We’ve always spoiled her (though she remains a very polite dog). So we just have to keep treating her the way we’ve always treated her to make the most of the time we have left with her. We have pain pills for her and I’ve picked out the spot where we’ll bury her and plant a memorial flower garden.
__
For $15 we adopted Lucy. I wouldn’t trade her for all the money in the world. She’s made me the happiest dog owner ever.
__
(I originally wrote this on July 20, 2009. Eleven days later, Lucy, who faded fast, died as I held her at the vet’s and whispered in her ear how much she was loved. I miss her very much.)