Lady

The McCann household is an animal abode. It has always been that way. First it was fish, because we weren't allowed to have any other pets in the apartment we were in. Then we got a black cocker spaniel named Sable. Jennifer loved her. But we moved to Charlotte and again couldn't have pets.  We gave her to a friend of Tony's Dad. Once we moved, we missed her so Much we decided to pay the pet fee and got Domino, a black and white cocker.

Domino got really aggressive, and I was afraid he was going to attack me or Jennifer. He knew Tony was the Alfa male of the house, but we, on the other hand, cowered when he showed his teeth. We ended up giving him to my parents. He was such a joy for my Dad.

We went a long time without any pets. We once had a cat that ended up moving to the neighbors, because they let him inside one time when we were on vacation. That poor cat got bitten by a snake and they spent untold sums on saving him. When they moved, we told them he was more their cat than ours, so please take him. Just recently she told me Whiskers died. He lived a LONG and loved life.

One Christmas, we decided it was time for another dog. Tony was working from home all day then. He had done all the research to find out what breed was the best foot warmer.  Everything pointed to a male chocolate lab. He did some searching and found a pup that had been returned, because the owner couldn't take his puppy phase anymore. It was perfect timing as we got him two days before Christmas. A neighbor helped us with his name, Mocha. We lovingly called him Mo.

We loved Mo to pieces. He held true to the foot warmer predictions. He never played favorites with any of us as he loved most whomever was patting his head at the time. He contracted Lyme's disease a few years back. To make matters worse, he was attacked by a pack of dogs and nearly killed. We nursed him back to reasonable health for his age. But he kept deteriorating, and we unfortunately had to put him down a couple of years back. We miss him terribly. We did however breed him to carry on his blood line.

Currently, we have three labs, a coon hound, two bunnies, and a cat. Cassidi is always yammering for more. I am constantly on the defense of adding to the brood. She now wants to get a female lab to breed Hunter. All I need is 10 puppies to add to the mix!

But try as I might, I have a soft spot for animals, too. The last couple of days that I've gone to work, I noticed a golden retriever laying in an open field beside a house on the way to work. It couldn't have been more than 8 feet from the side of the road. I've seen the dog wandering in the road on that stretch for a while now. The dog is older and moves at a senior pace. I've always been very patient with it and often thought something bad might happen to it.

The dog was laying there Friday morning when I went down. I just caught it out of the corner of my eye. I thought it odd because it was so cold. But then it was in the exact same spot when I went home and it was even colder. This morning when I went down, there it was again - same spot and colder still. I told myself if it was still there this evening, I was stopping. I just couldn't believe the owner of the dog wouldn't check on it.

The little house by the dog put me in mind of being owned by someone elderly. And that made me worry that they didn't even know what was going on with the dog. So, again, I vowed to stop. Around 2:00 I headed up the mountain. And there was that poor dog. That was it, I stopped.

I approached the dog and it was clearly not capable of moving on its own. I did the presentation of the back of my hand and let it smell me. The ears were down, the eyes were sad, and it wouldn't have bitten a flea. I petted the dog and tried to let it know I was its friend. I had hope me stopping would draw someone's attention. But alas, no one came. So, I put on my big girl panties and told the dog I was going to see that it was taken care of. 

I have a friend from high school that has actually become a "real" friend via Facebook strangely enough. She is an animal lover like no other. She posts some difficult pictures and stories at times, but her heart is an animal loving heart through and through. She was my inspiration for standing up for this sweet dog's life. Thank you Jena for guiding me. You were the confidence I needed to do what came next.

When I approached the house, I wondered if I'd be met with a shot gun. Or stone cold silence. But whatever the case, I was determined to get to the bottom of this dog's story. I rang once, heard shuffling, waited. I rang twice, more shuffling, waited. I wasn't going anywhere. I heard a television and would not be ignored. Finally, the door opened. As I imagined, it was a little old lady on oxygen and a walker.

I apologized for the interruption. I asked if it was her dog and if she knew it had been there two days in the cold. She was sort of oblivious, but said the dog belonged to the neighbor. Well, not exactly because it was really a stray. She went on to say that the owner was sick, had checked on it a time or two, but couldn't do anything with it.

Secretly, that was what I was hoping for. I wanted to load her up and take her home! I asked her if that would be ok. She didn't see any problem with it. I gave her my name and number to contact me if there was a problem. She watched me head back to the car and wished me luck. She also said not to hurt my back lifting her. Oh, and I asked what her name was. She said they just call her Lady.

Armed with all the ammunition I needed, I moved the car back to her. I tried to lift her up, but she definitely couldn't stand to help me. Always improvising, I remembered a blanket I had in the car. I got it out, shimmied her on top of it, and used it to lift her up. I got her in the car in no time, afraid the little old lady was calling the neighbor to come and stop me. I assured Lady she was going to have a much better night than she had previously, and we were on our way.

Even though I couldn't see her as she was in the back, I jabbered to her the whole way home. I told her how we were going to get her warm and something in her belly and some water. I told her about animal loving Tony and Cassidi and all the sniffing she was about to endure from our dogs. I had on my best sales voice trying to convince her all was going to be well. All the while, she never made a peep.

I called Cassidi to meet me at the garage with some food. I got her transferred into the garage with no problem. She wasn't interested in food or water. I figured it was best to leave her alone until Tony got home to evaluate her. He should have been a vet as he has a way with animals. Actually, he has the same way with people. He's truly an angel!

Tony took longer than I expected to get home, so we went back up to check on her. It was still cold and she was actually shivering. We built a fire and moved her close to it. All the while, we petted her head, spoke lovingly to her, and tried to get her to take nourishment.

When Tony still hadn't gotten home a couple of hours later, I went up alone to to check on her and the fire. She was in the exact spot we left her. All this time she had never made even a whimper. She has the sweetest eyes that have some sort of green infection goo and are matted. I can only imagine it's from being out in these brutal temperatures. Her head also felt warm, but I couldn't figure out if it was from fever or the fire.

I got down on the blanket with her and we started talking. I apologized that she had had to endure this ordeal. I apologized that I hadn't stopped sooner. I told her that I knew she was in a lot of trouble and hopefully she'd get to go to doggie heaven soon. The little old lady that looked to be one hundred herself had described Lady as being OLD, probably 100. I had to chuckle.

But I told her I was sorry that she probably had not gotten the love she had deserved her whole life. And that soon she could be chasing butterflies again. I told her she could find Mo and the two of them would make fast friends. I sobbed and sobbed with her, my tears mixing in with her beautiful golden coat. I finally told her that Tony would be home soon, and he'd figure out what we needed to do.

Tony finally did come home. I had told him about her and he went straight to the garage. They got acquainted and he thinks her spine is broken, probably hit by a car. He says we're going to let her get warm for the night and see what tomorrow holds.

Lady lives up to the class and dignity of her name. I hate our meeting had to come in this way. I don't know how her story will end, but I guarantee it will be with more love and caring than laying in that field freezing to death. Our fur friends hold as much space in our hearts as our human friends. When the time comes Lady, may you rest in the peace of chasing butterflies in doggy heaven.