Molly

Molly is a 12 year old spayed female. She is light-medium golden color with a distinguished white face and white tufts of fur over her whole body. Molly is housetrained and had free run of her previous house and has free run here too. She lived with kids and cats and gets along fine with our dogs.

I write to you with incredible sadness to let you know our sweet sweet Molly, who we were blessed with adopting almost 2 years ago to the date, went to doggy heaven on Tuesday evening. She was just shy of her 14th birthday, and had really enjoyed good, though slowed health over the 2 years she was with us.

She was the absolute sweetest, easiest, most lovable dog to everyone who knew her. The word everyone used for Molly was sweet and it was just so fitting. We feel so blessed to have her for a part of our family, and even though it was a short 2 years, she is the best, most innocent of spirits and she will certainly live in our hearts forever.

This was mine and the kids first dog and I knew we loved her, but I had NO comprehension of the level of grief I could feel with losing my Molly. The sadness equals the grief I felt when my first baby boy was born stillborn.

I realize now how much of a constant companion she was, always there for us. And although Molly loved the whole family, my daughter would always say, "Mom, Molly thinks you are a movie star or something." Molly would get so excited every time I came home and her tail would wag, and she knew she had a real good chance of going out to play catch with the tennis balls, her very favorite thing when I came through the door and up until the last few months, often would not stop until I did.

In looking back, I may have been in denial, but I realize her health deteriorated after the first of the year. She began having a lot of difficulty getting herself up from a sitting position, she was panting a lot with little exertion, and didn't pester near as much to go out. I did take her to the vet and had a full senior workup done. Her pain med for her arthritis was increased, we started giving her some new medicine for her coat, as it was feeling brittle and dry, but her thyroid medicine remained the same. She was starting to have trouble with bladder control, but the vet thought that was just due to the cold, the arthritis and her age, as her urinalysis came back normal.

Last Tuesday, the day was different. You could just see it in her eyes. They looked very tired, and she couldn't get up no matter what we did to coax her. We even would pick up part of her, say her front, but when we picked up her back, her front collapsed. She couldn't get up to to outside to do her thing, she wouldn't eat, not even with special gravy on her food which she loved and snubbed her treats. By late afternoon, I knew we had to do something. We took her into the vet and with extreme sadness we had to make the decision to put her to sleep. Molly had just given all she could to us and was just too worn out to continue.

My son is 14, my daughter 10 and Molly taught them so much. She taught them how to love, responsibility, even when it's not convenient, and the sadness that equals the amount of love with her loss. They were 12 and 8 when we adopted Molly, innocent, energetic, excited but oblivious to the responsibilities of dog ownership but they have grown up a lot and learned some beautiful life lessons through Molly and we can't say thank you enough for providing us with this blessing.

Your organization does incredible work for these most beautiful of all dogs, the Golden Retriever. Thank you again so very much. In addition I wouldn't think twice about adopting another senior Golden. They are just so easy to please, happy to quietly sit beside you and really demand very little from you. Those who choose not to adopt seniors truly do not realize what they are missing out on.

Everything is just GREAT with Molly. As you saw, she hopped right in the van with us. She did initially want to sit in Dean's lap and was shaking a little. Our first stop was at the Pet-xpress. We picked her up a collar and leash, some treats and more of her senior food. Oh and a ball just like the one she liked at your house.

We put the collar on her right away and bribed her with a treat to go to the back of the van and sit with Landon, which she did and happily rode Velcroed to Landon the whole trip home. She still shook a little, but seemed very happy to have someone close and petting her.

We had a great first night. She seemed right at home. She did not seem nervous one bit. She ate all of her food and took her pills like a trooper. She stayed pretty close to Landon the whole evening, but came around to the rest of us to see what we were all about too. Eventually, she rested next to Landon with her paws lying across his arms, while we all watched TV together.

She slept in Landon's room on the floor next to his bed. At some point she got up and went downstairs. My husband got up at 4:00 and she heard him and came to him and then went back to Landon's room and finished sleeping.

She was adorable this morning on our walk. It was pretty cold, so I wasn't sure how long we would stay out, but she seemed unaffected by the cold. I walk almost everyday and at a good clip, but I could not keep up with Molly and Coltyn. I kept saying "Grandma Molly wait up, I can't keep up with you." She walks great on the leash, doesn't pull at all. And when she and Coltyn would get a little ways ahead of me, she would stop, turn around and look at me, as if to say "Listen Lady if you want to shed a few of those pounds, you better pick up the pace, you are pathetic at that slow rate." You could see in her face, she instinctively knew we were all together though and she didn't want to leave me in the dust completely.

As Sunday afternoon came around, Coltyn had a little friend over and they played with the ball with her for awhile, then you could tell Molly just got tired of all their shenanigans and found herself a spot under the dining room table and it looks like that is her little den where she can go and find some peace. (No one understands the need for that more than me.) I wished I'd a thought of it. Ha!

There's been no barking, no growling, no signs of being unhappy in any way. Quite the opposite. She seems very happy and content. I was laying on the couch reading the paper today and she did come over and nudge me, like "Hey you haven't petted me in the last 15 seconds, what's up!"

We just love her. She is so easy and so mellow. She is very much a people person dog. She follows whoever and is curious as to what everyone is doing, but not intrusively so.

We are working on the Gentle Leader with treats and for the most part she did really well (it's hard to be patient all the time).

Tonight, I left for work and she was asleep on Landon's old comforter on his floor next to his bed again. So, I would say we have a match made in heaven.

Thanks for taking such good care of her while you had her. We want to thank you and RAGOM again for all that you do and giving us this opportunity to bring a new family member into our home.

Let me know when you hear from the vet with the test results. I will be calling tomorrow to make a follow up visit for Molly with the stitches etc. I will give Molly a hug from you.

3/8/03: Molly was adopted today by a family from Inver Grove Heights. They have two children that Molly gets to play with and a minivan that she can easily step up into without help. Molly left our house, pottied in the front yard and got in their van like she's done it a million times.

When Molly came to stay with us, I assumed that she would be here for several weeks, if not months because she is a senior. I was kind of looking forward to lounging with this mellow, laid back girl during that time! Instead, within a couple of days of her being her, a family expressed interest in her. I was flabbergasted to say the least. Someone was actually looking for a senior dog? A dog that many people won't even look at because they are 'too old?' Well, this family was looking for a dog that could walk into their home and enjoy immediately. No potty training, no teething, no endless puppy energy. They got a wonderful senior gal and Molly got a wonderful family that she can have all to herself.

2/22/03: Well Molly is here and she is sweet, sweet, sweet! She came home with Robert last night and thought she needed to ride on his lap. He had to stop once and convince her that the backseat is where dogs ride! She met our dogs and cats without incident. She does bark at them if they go by her bowl or even the community water bowl for that matter. Once Molly had given herself a quick tour of the house, she helped herself to the toy basket. This girl is the biggest toy hog I have ever seen! She can get 3 balls in her mouth at the same time and still look for more. She also likes stuffed toys, but balls are her favorite.

Molly went to the vet today for a HW test, an exam and senior blood work. She weighed in at 76.8 pounds and could stand to lose a good 10 of that. She does have a couple of lumps and a sore on her neck that we need to take a look at, but otherwise she is in perfect health. Molly also had a bath today and was a perfect lady through it. I'm pretty sure it wasn't her favorite activity, but she certainly didn't complain. Now that she is dry she has softest bunny fur. You would never know that this girl is 12 years old by watching her behavior. She was tearing around the yard with our two four year olds like nothing tonight. She enjoys a good game of Frisbee, but isn't real good about giving it back though.

Molly would love to be an only dog with a family to love all by herself. She certainly has enough love to go around. All Molly wants in return is a nice soft bed, a good meal and lots and lots of petting.