old friends and rewarding endings

Old friends came for supper last night.   We met these people almost thirty years ago through strange circumstances.

They adopted a dog we had stolen from the neighbors.

David with Thor and Josie

Normally we are not thieves or dognappers, but this dog was in trouble.

The neighbor kids and ours played together and on a July afternoon I noticed their little golden retriever was gone.  She usually was tied to her dog house in the back yard.   The lady told me they'd put her in the garage because the flies were biting her.

I said, "That's weird.  I wonder why?"

"Well, we put a collar on her when she was little and now we can't get it off, so she's got a sore spot."

Oh, wow. I didn't know that could happen.   I could see Josie in the dim light in the garage, tail wagging

I asked what they were going to do.  "Todd's going up north this weekend and he's going to take her up there.  His buddy has a bolt cutter so they can get the collar off."

Good idea.

Well, the weekend came, and they were obviously not away for the weekend, coming and going.  The dog wasn't seen.

(Their previous dog had died of neglect, so I was worried.)

I appealed to Jay to go over there and check on her, see if she was dead or what.

Josie, the next morning

 He didn't really want to, but after I bugged him a bit he wandered down there.  In a few minutes he was back with the dog. He said she was there without water, tied to the bumper of a broken pick up truck. Now she was in our back yard running around, drinking from an ice cream pail.

The neck was way bad--way worse than I could have ever imagined, and the dog was skeletal.  Goo full of maggots hung down and when she ran around the yard she started to bleed.   We debated what to do for a little while, then it seemed obvious--she had to go to the emergency vet and be put to sleep.

Jay called Paul to please come help, and the two of them drove off with the dog, and came back without her.

The vet said he could take care of it--knock her out, remove the collar, clean the wound and she'd be fine.

(The humane society did eventually prosecute this case against the owner.)

The guys picked her up later in the evening, and carried her down to a bed in our laundry room.  At first she was so puny and sick she couldn't walk up and down the stairs, and she was pretty pitiful being carried like a baby, but she loved chasing tennis balls.   I can picture her cute face now over Jay's shoulder tennis ball sticking out the side.

It took scrubbing with Lysol and days with the windows open to get the odor out of the car.

party at Jeanne and David's

 Within just a few weeks her energy was better and she was healing fast.   We put out an ad to find her a home, and these people who came to dinner last night are the people who took her home to be a friend to their other golden, Thor.   Her hair grew in thick and curly red, hid the scar around her neck almost entirely, and she lived a happy life in their home--lived to be fourteen years old.

 Josie and Thor above, Dan and Thor below:

We've kept in touch mostly by Christmas cards and phone calls, and when I was at Metro State University, coincidentally Jeanne became my advisor, which was very nice for me, having an advisor I loved and admired.

Last fall we went out looking at houses with Jeanne's daughter, and we decided we wanted to get together and spend some real time together, so the four of us have.   They brought their current golden retriever Buddy along last night.  He's a tall, long-legged boy with a pretty face. The kids were excited and the dogs had fun.

And that is the happy ending of that fine story.

Josie's graduation from obedience class

Jeanne and David,  thank you for all the happiness your friendship has brought us.  We are so lucky to have you.    love,  Val and Jay and everybody