I have only written briefly about the love that developed between Molly’s little chihuahua cross Dolly and myself when I came into Molly’s life, see “Just An Old Cap” . I became little Miss Dolly’s hero because through my influence she left the other two dogs outside and became a dog who lived with the humans in the house. Dolly was devoted to me and would follow me around constantly when I was in the house. She would sit with me in meditation and as the photo above shows, she would sit near the front door in the late afternoon waiting for me to come home from work. I loved her wholeheartedly in return, she made my heart sing.
One day we noticed something a little off about her and the vet diagnosed her as having spinal meningitis. Within a couple of days it progressed rapidly to the stage where it became necessary to end her suffering, one of the hardest decisions Molly and I had to make. A week or so later one of our daughters was concerned that we were missing Dolly so much and she suggested we get a replacement direct from one of the online breeders she knew of. After a bit of soul searching and online research we settled on a little West Highland/Poodle cross from a breeder in South Australia which would be flown across to us.
In bed the night before our little puppy was due to arrive I was just starting to get to sleep when I felt this cold chill settle around me as if from a draught coming through an open window. I sat up trying to see where it came from and as it continued to swirl about me I asked Molly “Can you feel that?”.
“No” she said “What is it?”.
“It feels like something cold coming through the window but the window is shut tight” I said, “And I can sort of sense Dolly.”
“Oh get away from me with your spirits!!” cried Molly and rolled as far away from me as she could.
I still can not put my finger on why I said that about sensing Dolly, it just came out.
We collected our little puppy from the airport safely the next day and brought the gorgeous little fluff ball home. Ruby was her name we decided. But little Ruby had trouble settling in and kept trying to find somewhere to hide away from us. When we went to bed we set her up in her little bed beside us in a bigger box that she couldn’t get out of, hoping that she might feel safer in there.
During the night Ruby let out this heart rending little howl and I had to get up to check on her. I found her dead in her bed for no apparent reason. We were heart broken again. On reflection we think that she was perhaps separated from her mother a little early and the long wait at the airport, the flight across then meeting us was all too much for her. We subsequently got another puppy as a replacement from the breeder who became our Miss Rosie. Molly insisted though we get the last remaining pup from the same litter as a travelling companion for her and that is how we came to get Miss Daisy as well.
When we finally settled on the new puppies our daughter looked at them on the website and proclaimed “Did you notice the date they were born? It is the same day Dolly passed away.” Was the mysterious chill I felt that night really Dolly telling me she was back as what became Miss Daisy and that we should wait for her? A number of Miss Daisy’s actions and mannerisms we discovered were exactly like Dolly’s. Poor Ruby’s fate may have been decided for her before she even arrived.
Staces Place 