On Saturday my husband and I said goodbye to our dear Molly. I want to share her story because she’s a perfect example of ElderDog’s importance. Molly, a who-knows-what, and Nikka, a purebred Keeshond, came to live with us as ElderDog fosters five years ago. Their home life, which had been rather grim, ended abruptly with a family tragedy. They decompressed with us for four months, then the ElderDog rehoming team found a wonderful family with breed-specific experience in Ontario for Nikka. She blossomed there and is still doing well. But no one applied for Molly. She was 10 and reactive, with little training. Severe allergies were just one of her health issues that had never been addressed. Thank goodness for ElderDog because she would probably have stood very little chance in the shelter world. By then we had fallen in love with her silly frilly ears and big smile, so we adopted her, problems and all.

Amazingly, she held no resentment or suspicion towards people despite the tough times she’d known. As an only dog, she also blossomed. She loved everyone. The wonderful Silvia Jay helped us with the reactivity issues. Thanks to the skill and compassionate support of the team at Fairview Animal Hospital, most of her health issues were eventually tamed.

We miss Molly greatly but know we were lucky and privileged to be able to give her a second chance and five good years. She left at age 15 with a tummy full of liver treats, which she coveted but which had always been off limits – and half a donut with sprinkles from the clinic’s lunchroom. We hope that felt like winning the jackpot. Molly’s story had a happy ending in so many ways.