One Last Chance.

by Stefanie
(Richland,WA)

We found each other a little over a year ago while I was working as a petsylist at my current place of business. She was old, rather scraggly looking, and had been diagnosed with Addison's disease many years prior. Her owners were an older couple who were getting ready to move to a retirement home. They couldn't take their beloved pet, and since they trusted their groomer so much they opted to drop her off with us in hopes that we would find her a loving home.

We tried to place her 3 or 4 times, but each time she was returned with her little pink blanket and stuffed pig. It started to weigh on me, watching her come in and out of the grooming shop. She would lie on the floor all day as the rest of us worked, with nothing to do but wait in hopes that someone would love her and take her in.

At 24 years old I didn't believe that I was really ready for the responsibility of owning a standard poodle. I already had a smaller dog that I'd adopted 6 years before, I was living in a one bedroom apartment and could hardly pay my bills. How could I possibly afford to care for this sick old dog? Even though I knew it was crazy, I couldn't stop imagining what it would be like to have such a sweet dog, and after awhile of thinking it over I knew that I had to have her.

Things didn't start off perfectly. She had bladder and bowel problems, her pills had to be given 3 times a day. At one point I gave her away to someone else for a trial period that lasted exactly ONE day before I begged to have her back. I wasn't sure she wanted to be with me, I didn't have much to offer, but spending a day without her drew me to tears. I had bonded with the dog almost instantly, and we couldn't be seperated.

Over the next year I was kicked out of my apartment because of Chances's incontinence problems. She couldn't always make it to the potty area, and there was always some bitter grounds keeper to tell on her. Maybe if they'd known her situation they would've been more lenient, but then again there are so many people in the world who aren't animal lovers. I've never quite understood it, and even though it was hard to find another apartment willing to allow two dogs it was the BEST thing that could've happened to us. The new place we lived was beautiful, right on the river. Chance would have a place to run, and we could start over and have a place where everyone would feel they belonged.

My little dog, although extremely anti-social, began to like Chance. She was patient with him, often licking out his ears as he snarled at her to stop. Watching them was comical, my little dog fed off of Chances's positive energy. She did a lot of good for him, and whenever we had to leave the two at home I knew that Mojo felt safe with her there to protect him. He never barked when we left the way he did when he was a lone dog.

Her health problems became increasingly worse. The pills for Addisons and the medication for her re-occurent bladder infections forced me into working 6 days a week. What I didn't realize was how happy I was becoming to work so hard for her. Everytime I took her to the vet I found myself with a warm feeling inside. I felt that her and I were cheating time together. I was making her better, she was looking better everyday. She'd taught me to stop being so selfish with my money, I didn't really need to get my hair done as much as she needed those pills every month, I began to realize the importance of life and the meaning of the word priority. I was becoming a mature adult, and she was getting old.

I spent 8 months at my new apartment with her, taking her for walks along the river, grooming her every 5 weeks so that she looked like the classy lady that I knew she was inside. I bought her the best food, the best dog beds, the best of everything that was within reality. Everytime I did something nice for her I felt 100 times better than if I'd done something nice for myself. She brought so many smiles to my face, and all I wanted was to have a heart as big as hers.

Chance passed away on the first of this month from a stroke. The night before she passed I knew that she wasn't feeling well, so I slept with her in her dog bed the entire night. She went to the vet the following afternoon, but there was nothing that they could do for her. She was a 10 year old standard poodle with Addison's disease, she wasn't a good candidate for recovery. I took her home, along with a few syringes of valium, and placed her on her dog bed fit for a queen. I wanted her to be with me, in the home that we had made, so that she would know how much I loved her. She passed away 5 minutes after we arrived home.

Even though it hurt so much to lose her, I couldn't help feel this intense love inside of myself. I cried and cried and cried. I thought of everything I'd done for her, everything she'd done for me. I thought of how cruel time is and how I'd really hoped to have her longer. But it wasn't so, and I gave her all that I had in me to give.

I guess what I want to say is that it's not easy to accept a new pet into your home. It alters your life, it changes your priorities and gives you enormous responsibility. I'm just sooo glad that I got past all that, that I took a chance on Chance. She was the best thing that could've happened to me, and I don't regret a single second that I spent with her. There's something behind the eyes of a poodle, and those who have never owned one will never know what I am talking about untill they too find themselves falling in love with one. They are not what they are depicted as in movies, they are loyal and true. They do not complain or turn up their noses. They are noble and graceful, a true companion to the end.

I can only hope that more people will realize how a pet can change their life for the better.