Remembering Lily
Lily. LilyCatherine. LilyCat. Kennel Cop.
Our little Independent dog born on the 4th of July.
Little Lily came to us as a rehome. We said we would find a new home for her, but we decided she would stay with us and be part of our family. I’m glad we did.
This cute, funny, charming little Yorkiepoo had a way of wrapping herself around your heart before you knew what was happening. Oh, how she loved to play “escape artist” and she was very good at it, too! And when she managed to escape she was so proud of herself she danced around in circles egging you on to chase her. You see, Lily had a very bad case of separation anxiety. It didn’t matter if you were standing on the other side of a gate and she could see you. Oh no! She wanted to be on the same side of the gate you were on. And there was one style of gate she figured out how to climb and get across. She was smart! The first night we had her we put her in a crate at bedtime, but she wasn’t having any of it, and next thing we knew she was up on the bed dancing around! Back into the crate little one. Nope! Didn’t take but 30 seconds and she was out again! The third time, though, was too much of a charm and darling Lily got her foot stuck in the door and I almost had to break her foot to get it out. After that Lily slept on the bed with the rest of the crew. And let me tell you, if she ever got out the front door it was next to impossible to catch her – she was quick on those little four feet!
As charming and sweet and lovable as she was, she also could swear a sailor down to a whimpering mess at her toes. I don’t know where she picked up that language, but boy could she swear! And she would tell you off in no uncertain terms, too. She would swear until she spit, sometimes. Honestly!
All Lily wanted was to be loved. And she was definitely loved by everyone she met. That was the charming side of her. It was hard to not love her; the moment you saw her, you were hooked. But she was really conservative with her kisses, unless she wanted something. Of course, she would never tell you what she wanted, so you would have to guess. It was her game! I guessed a lot! I figured out her favorite treat was teeny Greenies. Perfect sized for her little mouth. She had a prominent underbite but she could chew things with the best of them!
I have to say that sleeping with her, once we were on our own, was a hit and miss thing. I kept a bed pillow next to me where she would sleep sometimes, but it was always special to wake up and find her little head resting on my shoulder and hearing her little “congested” snoring sound in my ear. Those were the times I hated having to get up because I didn’t want to ruin that special moment with her.
In the beginning we used to take “chair naps” where she would lay on a pillow on my lap for a couple of hours. And oh, how I heard about it when I would put another dog on my lap for one of those naps. After a while I got to where I would just hold one in my arms while the other slept on the pillow. It beat the cussing out!
As much as she liked to escape, she did not like going for walks. I hate to say, but I called her “slow as a slug”. It wasn’t that she wanted to take in all of the smells. Nope! She just didn’t want to go for a walk, either by herself, with Bentley, or with Bentley and a friend. Those walks were basically “carries”. She loved being out, just not out on a leash going for a walk. The best part of a walk with her was her getting back home. But, she did like one thing being outside …..sunbathing. And she really loved doing that, even in the heat of the Summer. I could be melting, but she was just happy sitting in the sunshine – until Daddy nearly would faint.
Kennel Kop. The vet learned early on that Lily was an escape artist and had to take extra measures to block her cage door so that she couldn’t open it. Nothing like looking around and finding a little Yorkie at your feet when you were sure she was in a cage a minute ago! I never saw it for myself, but the vet’s told me that Lily would “direct traffic” so to speak when she was there. It was probably more like demanding that she be paid attention to and wanted petting. Oh, she could be annoying, but heartwarming at the same time. It was hard to ignore her! She wasn’t tiny, she was small, but she had a very large presence in everyone’s life.
Shortly before Bentley crossed the Rainbow Bridge Lily was diagnosed with diabetes, and that meant that she had to have shots of insulin. Oh lucky me, because I tend to feel faint around needles. It did not get any easier for me giving her the shots, either. It had to be done, but it was not easy, even using the pen. Eventually I had to go to using syringes for her, but that was hard on both of us. She took it like the trooper she was, though. Especially since she knew a treat would follow. God bless her, she always held so still for me, making it just a wee bit better for both of us.
But, after Bentley crossed, a little bit of Lily went with him. Because I wanted to spend some time alone with him, Lily was at the vet at the time he crashed and had to be put down [remember, he had lymphoma of the spleen]. After he was gone we brought her in to smell him so that she would know he was gone. She was 12 at the time. And for her it was a slow decline afterward. So, while she had diabetes, her thyroid also decided to give up, so we added medication for that. And six months after Bentley left, her eyesight began to go, a result of cataracts, but she wasn’t a candidate for surgery, so over time she she became nearly blind as well.
I knew she was lonely, so six months after Bentley’s crossing I started looking for another dog, mostly as a companion for her, but for me as well. I thought I had found a Schnauzer at a rescue group and Lily felt very comfortable around him, even laying next to him while his foster mother and I talked. It wasn’t to be, though, I suppose because I live in an apartment. I felt so sorry for her because she had never got close to another dog like she did with him. So, I kept looking, and several months later Roby fell into my lap.
I think that getting a puppy wasn’t a good thing for her, but it was a very good thing for me. Roby, like any puppy, wanted so much to play with her, and I think she would have loved to have played with him if she could have seen him, but he was more of a burden to her instead. Even with two days a week at the “vet spa”, she just couldn’t really cope with him and I couldn’t get him to stop pulling her ears and tugging her around like a mop. Lily finally decided it was time to go find Bentley.
So, a year ago, our precious little Yorkipoo that looked like a Yorkie crossed the Rainbow Bridge leaving behind lots of tears and broken hearts. Oh, I have missed her so. I still look for her, and tear up when I think of her or see photos I took of her. A little dog that was bigger than life that only wanted to be loved. And I love her still.
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Perspectives, Pets, Reflections by Jason with no comments yet.
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