Daisy the dog snarled and lunged at other dogs. She didn't play with toys. She wouldn't look at the other dog or the cats in her apartment. She avoided eye contact with humans. She looked anxious all the time. I was a bit scared of her.
Then I started walking her every day, along with the other dog in her apartment. My own dog, Albi, had died, and I wasn't quite ready to get a new dog, but I missed dogs, and her owner had trouble getting around. When I would arrive to walk Daisy, she would howl with delight. Sometimes I howled too. She started prancing when I walked her. A firm "OFF" at the first sign of a growl stopped her snarling and lunging at other dogs. After bringing her into my backyard just once, she veered towards my house every time I walked her, wanting to return - and stay. When I would walk her back to her apartment, she would fall behind me. Her reluctance to return was obvious.
After several months of this, her owner, my neighbor, died. There were five cats to find homes for, and two dogs - one of them Daisy. Four of the cats were adopted quickly. The other canine, a trained therapy dog, was quickly adopted as well. I took one of the cats, despite promising my husband once upon a time we would never have a cat. But he said no to Daisy: she looked too scary, she was overweight, she was older, people would avoid us when they saw us coming with her.
Other neighbors, with a house full of cats, said they would foster Daisy until they, or I, found a forever home for her, but after just a few months, they announced they were keeping her.
Daisy still howled whenever I arrived to walk her or just to visit. I stopped by once just to say hi with my new dog, Lucinda, on our way to the vet, and Daisy insisted on going with us. She had dog toys and she played with them. She started rolling in the yard on her back, doing that happy roll that most dogs do. She loved the pit bull, Bella, next door. She would fuss at Lucinda like a cranky, beloved aunt, and Lucy LOVED it. Daisy would come for a visit and lay on the back porch, just hanging out, surveying the yard, watching Lucy be crazy. Twice I caught my husband bent down rubbing the "scary" dog's belly. When one of the cats in Daisy's home had kittens, she patiently let them crawl all over her. She lay quietly as the pet rabbits hopped around her, a look of amazing contentment on her face. She enjoyed being cuddled.
Daisy lived for four years in a house where she was loved and adored. A house in stark contrast to where she had lived before. A house where there was no screaming or constant angry chaos. A house that was sometimes lively and loud with joy but more often quiet with love and contentment. And in October 2018, Daisy passed away quickly and peacefully in the home she loved and that loved her oh-so-much.
Love you always, Daisy Dog.
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