A Tribute to Molly ________________________________________________ We adopted Miss Molly, a rescue Silky Terrier, on the last day of July in 2015. Molly was 9 years old at the time — we were fortunate to have her for 7 years, until we had to let her go and help her over the Rainbow Bridge on the first day of Autumn, 22 September 2022. Molly was very sweet and also had a strong and opinionated view of life! She was a delight. We will always miss her and talk about her. For the first 7 years of her life, Molly had been kept outside, and probably used for breeding. Molly had been dropped at the shelter and her owners admitted that they had not taken care of her. An older lady adopted her from the shelter, and had her for about 1-1/2 years. Her elderly lady had tried to care for Molly, and had bought her little clothes and groomed her, but did not know about her chronic dry eyes. When her elderly lady had to go to a nursing home, Molly was taken in by a small rescue organization in central Florida, and we were fortunate to find her on Petfinder. My sense is that Molly had been abused as a young dog; she was very protective of her stomach, and when we first adopted her, would crouch whenever we approached her — one of her foster people commented that she had been ‘caused to become submissive.’. So sad. But after a while, Molly stopped crouching and became her true self! Molly was sweet, funny, and a really happy dog. She was playful, loved her food, found a way to escape from our back yard which she would never show us, so we had to observe her whenever she was out there. Molly used her bark/voice to let us all know her preferences. Molly’s care involved both natural and traditional approaches. We had a wonderful veterinary opthalmologist in addition to our local vet who worked with me to provide natural remedies and quality traditional care. Molly received a variety of supplements, eye medicines, CoQ10 to support her eyes, teeth, heart … after oral surgery when she had to have many teeth removed and her tongue began to hang out, she was given her own cutting board so that she could lick up small bits of meat and juice, and it actually strengthened her jaw muscles so that her tongue began to stay in her mouth! I have shared that idea with other dog lovers. Molly’s vision continued to fail, and she became unsteady on her feet and began to lose her balance … I would carry her up & down the stairs, and outside to the grass … although her little body was weak, her spirit and her heart were strong — her heart was so strong, even on the physical level due to the the CoQ10, that when our Dr Ortiz administered the medicine to help her leave her body at the end, her little heart did not want to stop but continued to beat weakly and he needed to give her a bit more to set her free. Such a tender and emotional time.

After Molly crossed the Rainbow Bridge, the next morning she sent to me a Double Rainbow —!! I like to believe this was a message from her to let me know that she was alright and would be close whenever I needed her.

Molly had such a strong personality and is in our hearts, and in the hearts of her dear friends … so strongly. Molly was the 3rd of our Silky Terriers! That ear, which started to stand up after I asked the groomer to make the hair around her ears a bit shorter so they could move more, began to stand up, and was like a little radar dish! She knew everything that was going on around her.

Miss Molly — a small body, a big personality, a very happy girl.

# # #