Molly was serendipity. We went to the shelter to look at a
young coonhound. The coonhound was very hyper and I knew still being on chemo I
couldn’t keep up with her. Mom and I walked around and noticed this chunky
beagle with her super sad hound eyes huddled in a corner. We couldn’t leave
her. They got her out of the kennel and her actions completely changed. She was
bouncing around and so happy. Mom told her to sit and she sat up like a little
circus dog. We were told we had to pick her up the next day after we were
checked and she went back to super sad when they took her back to her cage. All
of our hearts were broken.
The next day she knew who we were, especially mom, when we
came back. When mom was driving me home Molly (for Molly Weasley) was laying in
my lap. When we turned into my drive she jumped up and put her paws on the dash
board and looking at the house and then to us like OMG THIS IS MY HOME?!?! It
was an amazing thing to see. She helped me through my last few months of chemo
and has been such a sweet gentle dog.
We were told she was about 5-6 but with the super cold last
winter it took a toll on her. When we would let her out, within 60 seconds she
was crying and visibly in pain. Since then she has been achy and seems like she
is more of a 10-12 year old dog. No matter what her age, she has helped me
through a very painful time in my life and I will gladly pamper her through the
last years of hers.
Molly seemed very depressed at times, especially when she
heard high pitched bells. We think there was another small dog at her former
home. We decided to get another dog for her to play with last Jan. I found a
Blue/Red Tick Coonhound female that was rescued from a shelter in central
Indiana. She was adopted out 5 times and always returned. We were told she was
2-3 but she was still teething so she was more like 9 months to a year. The
first few weeks we had a lot of problems with her chewing things up and going
potty inside and jumping on people. We still have accidents at times and she
will chew up shoes if left on the floor. We see it as a way to keep the house
cleaner because there are no parental threats to the girls about keeping their
stuff on the floor; Maggie (from Rod Stewarts Maggie May) will take it into her
own paws and remove any item within reach. Mom is amazed at how Maggie now runs
up to her and submissively sits and scoots towards her instead of jumping up.
Maggie is a big strong dog and can easily hurt the girls or mom when jumping up
but she has learned how to be gentile and act like a lady.
Since the public sewer has been installed this past summer
we plan on fencing in the back yard asap. This will especially help with Maggie’s
pup energy and to allow Molly to roam the yard at her leisure and enjoy the
sights and sounds.
There are pure breed dogs and mutts in shelters. A shelter
dog may have some habits the former owner was too lazy to address. But I will
tell you that you are saving a life and the dog knows it. If you take the time
to teach them how you want them to behave they will do their bests to be what
you want because they know what it is like to have nothing, to have the ones
they love abandon them, they know loss.