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Saving Julia
The dogs in our lives find us in mysterious ways but they always
come along at the right time. Whether it’s a lost one who
ends up in your backyard at dinner or one that calls you back
after you’ve passed them up at a shelter, they know way
before you get there that they are yours and more importantly,
that you are theirs.
About a year ago my favorite dog, an Australian Shepherd named
Katie, was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer on a routine check
up. Though her last visit six months prior had been clean, the
cancer had appeared in the interim and when we discovered it,
had already won. The last three days of her life were spent with
me in my office, with her companions Roxanne and Zack, and sitting
quietly on a deck drenched in spring sun that we would never see
together again.
I had a business trip at the beginning of the next week that would’ve
taken me away for several days. On the night before she died I
remember looking at her and saying, “If you are going to
go you have to do it now. I cannot be gone when you leave. “
She crawled up on the bed beside me and we drifted off to sleep
curled against each other . The next morning she began bleeding
from the incision and we both knew it was time. On the way to
the hospital she sat in the backseat and had her paw on my hand
as if to say, “Don’t worry. I’ll be waiting
for you at the door when it’s your time to come home…it
won’t be long…it won’t be long.”
I wept openly in my vets office as she and one of her assistants
prepared the syringe that would end her suffering and my time
with her. I held her in my arms and her face in front of me and
looked into each others eyes until hers could look no more. We
left each other just like we had found each other..totally in
love with one another. I grasped like never before the impact
of the poet Emily Dickinson’s words, “Parting is all
we know of Heaven and it’s all we need of Hell”
I applied on line to an Aussie Rescue group partly to save one
and mainly to ease my own suffering. Two days later I heard from
them saying that they had gotten this e-mail from Animal Control
in Charlotte about an Australian Shepherd they had available.
I opened the file and the minute I looked into her eyes I knew
that the file and she had not arrived by accident. I phoned Animal
Control at five in the morning from Chicago and was told that
she was going to be put down that day because it was the end of
her third day and she had heartworms as well.
My vet, who is really an Angel on temporary duty here, was awakened
with a call that morning to intervene and save the dog I had seen.
She went over after work and put this dirty, bedraggled, trembling
creature into the back of her luxury sedan and brought it back
to the hospital where she is Medical Director. A quick examination
revealed that she did have a bad case of heartworms, was undernourished,
and would need treatment that would require her to be still for
two months while the heartworms dissolved. I gave her the name
“Julia” after a great friend of mine in Toronto who
has taught me more than I can ever recall or repay her for.
Over the next two months I went to see her every day and we began
to come to know each other. I would just take her outside in the
walking area at my vets and sit on the bench while she lay at
my feet. Slowly, ever so slowly, she began to look at me when
I talked with her and take the tail that was tucked underneath
her legs and bring it out in the open. As the weeks passed the
brightness in her eyes so common to dogs of great intelligence
and love began to return. Sometimes eyes are all the voice you
have. We began to find a language with each other in our looks
and our touch.
When I am not traveling with my various business projects I work
out of a huge office that occupies one entire floor of our home.
My two other dogs, Roxanne and Zack are constant companions there,
either curled up in the chairs or sprawled out sleeping and snoring
as only Labs can do. Julia took her place with those two except
that she insisted on being right at my feet…moving only
when I did or on the bathroom breaks for the snoring kids.
Rescues are interesting animals. Like children from the wrong
side of the tracks who always looked at a better life from afar,
rescues get immediately that they are lucky. They ooze with gratitude
and appreciation. They know where they’ve come from and
they have no desire to go back. Julia knew that she had avoided
the long green mile by the right combination of fate and time
and circumstance. She came to know over time that it was me that
had saved her.
Over the long hot summer and into the fall of 2007 we grew closer
and closer to each other. She slowly became less afraid and less
startled of sudden noises and movements. She slept curled up by
the bedroom door at night as if to say, “ Go ahead and sleep.
I’m watching out for things here.” No matter how hard
we tried, she would never just jump up on the bed and join in
the furry dog bedtime cuddle that Roxanne and Zack have mastered
as an art form
Then one evening as I lay half dozing on the bed, the other dogs
on their mats, she came around and jumped up, curling beside me.
No big deal. No fanfare. Just jumped up, turned twice, and lay
beside me with her back touching my legs and her head beside my
feet. Christine came into the room about that time and I motioned
for her to stand still. I asked, “ What is THIS about?”
Chris smiled and said, “This is just about love”.
The bedtime thing is now ritual. Between the fur and the sloppy
kisses, going to sleep with them almost requires a second bath
before retiring for the evening. I am never happiest than when
I am with the three of them and Christine…all curled up,
safe and warm with breathing and hearts all in rhythm with each
other. I could swear from moment to moment that Katie is there..
It’s a misstatement to say that we save dogs like Julia.
The truth is.... they save us.
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