I first met Chloe and Molly when they were five years old at the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies. They were were litter mates, or more accurately – twin sisters. They entered this world together in October of 2000 and were sold to the same family. For the first five years of their lives, they lived in eastern Colorado as outdoor only dogs where they were left alone in the yard in all sorts of bad weather until they were abandoned in the back yard when their so called family moved to another neighborhood that did not allow outdoor only dogs. There was also a black lab, but I don’t know anything else about that dog, other than that he was also abandoned and went to the all breed rescue.
Before Molly and Chloe came to live with me there was Shelby. Chloe never met him, but he blazed a trail for her. After he died I almost gave up on having dogs, it was just to hard to go through loosing him. One day a little over year since Shelby died, a stray dog came up on my deck. I gave him some water and as he made that all too familiar sound when he drank, I realized how much the energy in the house had changed after Shelby died. There was no laughter, no humor, no silly play, no love and happiness. I pondered that for a while and eventually I decided to get back on the horse so to speak. I realized that no matter how much I missed him, and no matter how much it hurt after he died, life was so much richer with him in it. So I decided to dip my toe into the water and volunteer at the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies. And that is where I met Molly and Chloe when they were five years old in 2005.
When Molly and Chloe were 7 years old and had been with me for a little over two years, it had become apparent through the many social events we went to at the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies that those two girls really need a boy in the house. At events they both followed the boys around all the time and fell all over themselves over them. In late August of 2007, little Meeshika came to live with us. He was only 8 weeks old, and the girls who had gone wild over every boy we met at all those social outings, had very mixed feelings about this new intruder who had come into their home. Molly went off on him several times. I always managed to race to them before Meeshika got hurt. Chloe was a lot nicer to him, but interestingly he gravitated more towards Molly. Go figure! He had a lot of energy and would play first with one of the girls and then with the other until they were both totally worn out, and still had energy left.
In December of 2010 Molly got very sick . She had developed bone cancer in the middle of her spine. The first vet we went to was sure it was not cancer as her white count was fine, and said to go to a neurologist after the holidays, but Meeshika with his super good nose kept sniffing the middle of her back, so I decided to explore that area and I noticed a lump right where he sniffed, and that lump turned out to be cancer growing into her spine and it took away the ability to move her rear legs. I’m sure it was very painful for her, even though she was trying to hide it as much as she could. She had little quality of life left, going to the bathroom became very hard. I had to lift her rear up with a towel. It was awful for all of us.
The vet had come to our house, so Molly could die in her favorite spot and with her history of abandonment I am very glad that she never had to leave her forever home. All three dogs, me and the vet piled onto the king size bed which was Molly’s all time favorite spot in the house, and where she spend her last hours. It was hard on the ones she left behind, not just her mom. Chloe keeled over and passed out after Molly got the first shot, I didn’t notice because I was holding Molly tight, but the vet did. I’m guessing as her “twin” she was very connected with Molly. I never even knew that a dog could react like that. Meeshika had to be held back by the vet’s hubby who had come to help, as Meeshi wasn’t going to let the vet near his beloved Molly, somehow he must have known more of what was going on than we gave him credit for.
Chloe and Meeshika were not the same without Molly, we all missed her terribly. Everything was different without her there. It changed the pack dynamic a lot and even though I had waited almost two years after Shelby died before getting another dog, it was clear this time it had to be different. Meeshika and Chloe were close, but the hole Molly left was just too big. They were very susceptible to intestinal infections, in the transition time, things were just no quite right and after many long debates, Chloe and Meeshika got their wish – a brother.
The end of August of 2011 Jenson came to live us. He is Meeshika’s half brother biologically. They have the same dad – Bailey – but two different moms, so Jenson is Meeshika’s “Brother from another Mother”. The initial reaction was similar to when Meeshika first came home to Molly and Chloe, he was perceived as a bit of an intruder. In late September, barely one month after Jenson came to join our family, Chloe got very ill. She had trouble keeping up on our walks and I noticed that her poop was getting darker and darker. It turned out that she had a growth that later turned out to be the so feared Hemangiosarcoma that had killed Shelby, but it was on her small intestines, Shelby’s had been in the liver. It had ruptured and was bleeding into her poop, so the poor dog was literally bleeding to death.
I was working with the vet through the diagnostic process. but the boys figured out much quicker that Chloe was in serious trouble. She was resting a lot, but she never rested alone. One or both of the boys was always snuggled up next to her. Meeshika, who at one point had preferred Molly, was now always on Chloe’s side, showing her constant affection, and Jenson, the rambunctious little puppy who would rather play, sat quietly by her side. Miraculously she beat this horrible killer cancer, and the strong bond it formed with her brothers lasted forever.
For more detail on her brothers and sister, click on Shelby, Molly, Meeshika and Jenson.