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| Name: |
Rosie
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Age: |
Seventeen years old
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| Gender: |
Female |
Breed: |
Cocker Spaniel, Terrier Mix |
| Home: |
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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Rosie
came to me as a lost and bedraggled, confused old dog (the vet
estimated her age, almost three years ago, at fourteen!). A friend
found her wandering through the [very large] intersection of Ponce
and Piedmont in Atlanta. She had infections of the skin, eyes and
ears. She had three tumors, including one on her left side that was
over two inches in diameter. She was almost blind, mostly deaf,
severely arthritic and had terrible teeth. She looked like she had
been lost a long time, but honestly, it's a mystery to any of us how
she could have survived on her own for very long! The vet wanted to
put her down immediately, but my friend offered to pay for some basic
care while she looked for the owner.
Incredibly, all of Rosie's infections responded to inexpensive
penicillin, and her looks improved weekly. She came to stay with me
while my friend placed ads and posters. After many weeks, my friend
came to take her to be put to sleep. No one wanted an old, hobbling,
deaf and blind dog. The aspect of Rosie's personality that has
impressed everyone the most is that she radiates a self-knowledge
that she's special. Even at her most bedraggled, she had a way of
letting you know that she knew you thought she was cute and precious
and entitled to the best treatment! She soaks up affection like a
sponge. I don't know how Rosie came to be a stray, but somewhere,
sometime, Rosie was fawned over and adored. Somebody lost her, and
somebody grieved. Somebody must have prayed very hard that she would
be found and taken care of. "Let her stay here," I said,
"she won't last more than six months, and she deserves to live
out her days in dignity."
Well, that was almost three years ago. Like the Everready bunny in
slow motion, Rosie keeps going and going. I have had her tumors
removed (the big one was cancer, but well-encapsulated), and her
rotten teeth pulled. She's had acupuncture and chiropractic
adjustments, and I give her regular massages. When her last tumor, at
the base of her tail, was removed, Dr. Hooten at Loving Touch even
gave her a butt-tuck! (She has the hiney of a young dog again.)
Recently, Rosie has been slowing down even more. She doesn't like
walks the way she used to. She stops to rest halfway up the ramp I
built for the front steps. She gets cranky and authoritarian with the
other dogs. But I wanted to celebrate her with all you "Dog of
the Day" people, because I knew you'd understand. Rosie has
given me the gift of knowing that I was the answer to someone's
prayer. This is Rosie's special portrait, thanks to Jeannie at
Petfolio Photography.
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