Fred's Watching Over Me!, My new beginning with Lucy Options

[patricia]

it's been a while since ive posted. my life has been slightly chaotic ever since my little lucy has come into my life. she came exactly one week after fred got sick. i didnt want her at first but how can we say no to any furry creature that needs a home. shes a little terrier (or as i prefer to call her: a terror) mix and shes about 7 1/2 months old now. she was rescued from a kill shelter in LA, at about 4 months, and then the new owner decided that it was too much for him so he released her into the streets. her foster family found her laying by the side of the road as she'd been hit by a car. they rushed her to er and paid for all her medical/surgical bills. when she was finally ok to go home, her foster family found her owner. i guess he felt remorse and posted missing signs everywhere. they met with him and asked him to help with half of the payments and he refused and in fact rejected her again, saying he was single and didnt have time to care for her. her foster parents took her in but unfortunately could not keep her. my fred sent her my way and now shes found her forever home. it wasnt easy. the first day i cried and cried because i missed my fred so much. and i was angry! how could i take in a dog so soon afer my little cat had died? but this was all part of freds master plan. it came to a point where i called some friends and confessed that i would not be able to keep her. that was the pivotal moment: because i remember lucy looking at me with her beautiful sad eyes begging me not to give her away again. at that exact moment, i knew that i couldnt do that to her and i would have to make it work. it didnt take long for me to fall absolutely head over heels in love with her. missing fred? its still not easy. i come to work and turn on my computer to freds sweet little face and i will just lose it. or i listen to one of his songs and i sob. i dont know when that pain will go away. but i do know that as the clock tics daily, i look forward to getting home because i know my little lucy goosey is waiting for me. she loves to go on her walks, just me and her. and she loves coming back home and turning into what i call "lucy-fur" where her eyeballs start spinning and she goes a little crazy. then she settles down right next to me, hopefully i will have treats for her, and falls asleep. i have to wake her in order to go outside one last time and then she runs into her crate for the night. well, she runs because she always has a little cookie in there waiting for her. i love waking up in the middle of the night to hear her little snoring. and in the morning? well its hard for me no to open her crate door immediately. i think im more excited to see her than she is to see me. shes my little monkey. people tell me that little rescue animals know they are rescued and are doubly grateful to be with us. but i say, im the one thats grateful…to have her in my life. she makes me laugh again, and smile and when she wraps her little paws around my neck and lays her little head on my shoulder, or tries to eat my earring, well, i couldnt ask for more. my wonderful fred: i love you so much and i will never never never forget you. thank you for giving me lucy. she will never replace you but she makes me happy again just like you always did my little sweet. momma loves you forever!

[lynette]

How sweet.

I have a similar story. We lost Lily, 8 years-old last June 24 suddenly and totally unexpectedly. It was extremely devastating. We rescued her April of 2001. She had been found on the streets of Winnipeg. No one seemed to know her past, only that no one had come looking for her. We adopted her and like you said it's like they know. She was the sweetest thing ever. So loving. All she wanted was for someone to love her and in return she gave back tenfold. She knew what love was, so I've always wondered since her death if she had had the love of an older person who had passed away. And poor Lily got lost in the aftermath of that death. I like to believe sometimes that she is reunited with that person, because I'm sure that they loved her too.

Anyway, Lily flew to heaven June 24, 2008. On that very same day, a puppy mill owner had surrended his beagles and spaniels to the local humane societies, over 90 dogs, a couple were pregnant. We ended up adopting Izzy just 11 days later. She was one of the puppy mill rescues. She was estimated to be 4 years old. She was so terribly afraid of absolutely everything. She had no idea what to do with love or affection. She was scared of her own shadow. She bolted on us several times and there were a couple where we thought we might never see her again. She found her way home an hour or so later. Thank goodness. And I have to admit there were times in the first month or two where I doubted if we'd made the right decision in adopting her. I would never have given up on her, but it did cross my mind a few times.

She certainly has come a long way since then. She still has her days, but thankfully they are becoming fewer and fewer. I know she may never be 100% but I think she'll come pretty close. Hunny, our other dog when we adopted Izzy took her under her wing. Unfortunately, Hunny had just been diagnosed with cancer at that time, and she wasn't able to get around like she would have wanted to. But Hunny, a golden retriever, looked out for her. She showed her it was ok when someone wanted to hug and kiss her. Hunny taught her a lot about love. And then in November, we got a 10 week old beagle boy, Barney. He proved to be priceless in helping Izzy. He showed her how to handle affection and how to give it back too.

Izzy certainly has made great improvements. She comes looking for love and affection. Like I said she still has off days, but we're getting there. Unfortunately, we just said "so long" to Hunny April 4th and all of us, including the pups, and Casey, another beagle we got just two weeks before Hunny left (another dog someone didn't want!) are missing her so, so much. But we all know she's in a better place with Lily.

I think Izzy is happy to have found us. I know we are glad she came to us.

Maybe Lily thought it was time for us to share our love with another precious baby. Lily had a wonderful life with us and I knew she knew how much she was loved by all of us. Maybe she wanted to share that with Izzy. Lily was such a good, kind-hearted little angel. I hope she and Hunny are happy and healthy up there at the Rainbow Bridge. I just wish Lily had met Izzy, because I think they would have been great friends too.