1994
- 2009
Lilly's passing leaves
a huge empty
place in our hearts. Yet we must
celebrate her long life.
14.6 yrs. old – Good girl, Lilly
I belong
to two of the largest Boxer newsgroups on the Internet. Recently
the topic of discussion was “homeless people and their
dogs”. That topic really hit close to home for me.
I waited
several months before bringing another dog into my life after
I lost my beloved Boxer, Petie, after over 11 years (he’s
waiting for me now at Rainbow Bridge).
I learned
that there was an 8-year-old female Boxer at our local San
Diego shelter who was probably too old to be adopted, and
the local rescue was over-flowing at the time. I decided to
go down there and spring her myself. Her background was so
interesting that I'm always happy to share it. Lilly Rose
(her new name) was owned for a very long time by a homeless
couple. The lady who brought her into the shelter for them
said she used to see them walking with her a lot over the
years. She had told them that, when they could no longer care
for their dog, she would take responsibility for taking her
to the shelter for them. The day finally came when their dog
could no longer keep up with them (they had to keep on the
move constantly) because her arthritic knees were too painful.
Without
ever speaking directly with the owners or the lady who brought
Lilly to the shelter, I knew very quickly that this dog was
loved and cared for. On the outside, she was at a perfect
weight, good muscle tone, beautiful coat, perfect health and
still strong. What my husband and I came to realize quickly
was that Lilly had the most perfect "Boxer attributes"
anyone could ask for: She was sweetly confident but not aggressive
to people or animals, she was obedient almost to a fault (knew
the standard commands, plus a few tricks), she was completely
housebroken, "asked" if she could get on the couch
or bed before she ever did so...until she knew she actually
had the run of our house/property, no food aggression at all.
We soon learned she had a "cast-iron" stomach (likely
from the diet she ate with her former owners) after she showed
us her one questionable talent: She nonchalantly flipped up
the kitchen trash lid with her nose soon after arriving and
proceeded to help herself a few times before we convinced
her this wasn't acceptable. Later, once she knew mealtimes
were at the same two times every day, she never returned to
the trash can again.
It was
always obvious to us that Lilly had been loved. I only wish
that we could tell that homeless couple how happy Lilly is
today; that she's loved very much; that her knees are kept
as pain-free as possible and that she ran with her buddy,
Moses, every single day until recently; that she's a vocal
(sometimes bossy) girl with plenty to say to us; and that
for over six years Lilly has been a blessing to us.
Sometimes
it bothers me that her former owners may not even know if
the dog they had to give up made it out of the shelter.
She certainly was not a good adoption candidate due to her
age and bad back knees. I sure wish they knew that fortune
did smile on her with a wonderful home to "retire"
in. And I sure would like to thank them for loving and taking
care of her for as long as they could.
We celebrated
Lilly's 14th birthday on Aug.20, 2008. A very grand
old age, and most unusual for a Boxer. The picture below
was taken when she first came to our home at age 8, over 6-1/2
years ago. She's my personal "best girlfriend",
my office receptionist and constant companion ... she doesn’t
let me out of her sight. What a great feeling.
Enjoying the sunshine
out in the patio room.
