Molly

This is going to be a lengthy post about my dog -- if you are not an animal person just move on and come back and read my blog another day. I promise I won't hold a grudge. Well, at least not for long anyway.On March 12, 2007, I made the incredibly difficult decision to have my dog put to sleep. She was an almost 12 year old shih tzu and we brought her home when she was 7 weeks old. She had a heart murmur that was causing her to struggle to breathe. She'd been on all sorts of medications for the last six months of her life but nothing was helping her to be comfortable so my mom and I took her to the vet that last time and said our goodbyes. It was absolutely horrible. So with a stack of kleenex close at hand, here's a list of Molly memories:

1. She was a tiny little 4 pound furball when we brought her home. I think the pic above is her shortly after we got her. She was so little that she'd cry for us to pick her up and help her move from the grass to the patio - that little step was too big for her.

2. We decided on the name Molly right away. I think we even named her before we got her but the name totally fit her and her personality. She had a ton of nicknames over the course of her life but the one that pretty much stuck was LaLa, which had evolved from Lolly (as in Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here!) But at times she was called Feesh, Norman, Ubu, Molly Lou Modesty and more.

3. She didn't like kids. And okay, truth be told, she didn't like a lot of people. period. Well, she liked people if they would ignore her. She got better with kids if they'd give her space and time for her to get used to them. But pretty much she loved me and my mom. I was the only one who could pick her up and hold her like a baby though - she'd growl at everyone else.

4. She loved chasing flashlight beams on the floor and stalking the squirrels and cats in my mom's backyard. It was hilarious watching her run out toward the tree where the squirrels were and then go right on past them, completely missing them. She was not the smartest dog in the world but she made up for it in cuteness. (I think shih tzus are like #70 on the intelligence list!)She also loved her rope-rope (a big rope ball that she'd put in her mouth and almost knead with her feet - kind of weird but like a pacifier almost.) She was really good at fetching and she loved chewing those throw-away plastic pots that plants come in. She also would dribble a tether ball around the backyard when she was younger. Seriously.

5. She loved treats of any kind, especially plain old milk bones. She also loved cheese, cookies, pineapple, and chicken teriyaki. Sometimes she'd run over to the neighbor's house and wouldn't come back and the only way you could get her back is to yell "want some cheeeeeeeeeeeeeese?"

6. She LOVED the snow! She'd put her nose down and run all over the backyard and then come in with snow caked all over legs and belly. You can kind of see the snow on her chin in the pic below.

7. She made this funny noise in the back of her throat when she wanted something or was excited. I wish I could communicate it via this blog but I will just be happy knowing my sister Jenilee is making that noise right now as she reads this!! lol

8. My 3 year old niece Makenna loved to walk Molly with me. One day Molly stopped to smell a shrub and Kenna wanted to know what was so special about it so she went up and smelled it herself. I wish I had a picture - it was hilarious.

9. She was the perfect dog for my condo-living self. She didn't shed, she could stay inside for almost 10 hours without needing to go outside, she waited to be invited onto the furniture (most of the time) and she didn't chew stuff except for her toys. I'm reminded of how good I had it with Molly when I'm around other people's dogs.

It was not always easy being a pet owner with my busy lifestyle and I was frequently guilt-ridden that I wasn't home enough or annoyed that I had to stop at home before going out again to take her for a walk but she was truly a great pet and companion. I know some would say "she was just an animal" but she loved me and I loved her. Having her in my life made me happy. I miss her, less now a year later, but I still wish I could come home and find her waiting for me.