Hello All - I thought I would join this board as we just adopted a Labrador puppy two weeks ago and are relearning what we did 12 years ago. We decided to adopt a new puppy, as our senior Labradiva had recently been diagnosed with HSA, and was recovering from an emergency splenectomy. She had been doing pretty well, until we started chemo and about 4 days after her first chemo treatment (doxorubicin), her red cell count went way down and she didn't have the strength to walk. Her appetite was pretty good and she was drinking water, but over two weeks she was losing so much weight. We tried everything from cannabis oil to golden paste/turmeric and chinese herbs/mushrooms/yunnan baiyao. We thought, maybe a puppy would help motivate her to keep fighting. In fact, it seemed almost predestined for us to get this puppy, as when we left the vet after our Lili's post chemo checkup, she walked out on her own, made it half way to the car and sat down, too tired to go any further. My Wife did not have her phone and I was waiting with the car around the corner and did not know there was a problem. A Catalan couple stopped to ask her (we are American and don't speak Spanish/Catalan too well yet), if they could help with anything; that they were dog owners/lovers and could see that there was a problem. They stayed with my Wife and Lili and let her use their phone to call me. When I finally made it with the car, they told us that if we were interested, they had a friend with a litter of Labrador puppies. At the time, we thought we had enough on our hands and did not realize yet, the severity of Lili's illness. But we thanked them and took their number. After a week had gone by, we were beginning to worry about our girl and thought that maybe a puppy could help. So we arranged to see them a few days later. Our new friends took us to see them, up in the hills where we used to live. In fact, the owner/breeder was someone that we had met at a party a year or so earlier. The puppies were about 9 weeks old and of course, we fell in love with the only female. We went home to think about it, and that night, made the decision. We thought it was the right thing to do, and that it might help Lili. We arranged to pick her up 6 days later, on a Saturday. But Lili didn't make it... 3 days later, she passed in our arms, at home. It happened so fast, but at least she was with us. Poor thing had lost so much weight, even while eating. Her favorite thing was swimming, and we were able to put her in the water on her last days and she kicked around a bit. She had a great life with us, and we loved her like our "furry daughter." But the house is not quiet with Lala Maisie... Lala is what my nieces called Lili when they were too young to say it correctly. And Maisie we liked because of my wife's Scottish roots! So lots of tears here over the past few weeks, but also happiness! I can't imagine what it would be like in the house without the puppy... We call this pic, "Oh, the places WE will go" after the Dr. Seuss story, which was read at our wedding. Looking forward to joining the board community here! Farley, Elizabeth and Maisie
Hello, What a beautiful story, it brought a tear to my eye! Im really sorry to hear about your loss, its such a shame that Lilli and Lala didn't get to meet each other, I does sound like you were fated for each other!! I hope your lovely puppy brings you loads of new memories, and welcome to the forum - im quite new here myself, my husband and I have an 11 week old yellow boy called Dexter. Everyone on the forum is really friendly and very helpful with any questions you have or problems you may encounter Daniella
Hi and welcome to the forum from me and my two, who are 13 months old. You've certainly had a rough time of it; it's heartbreaking to lose a beloved pet. Puppies do certainly take up plenty of time and attention, though, and it sounds like you were destined to be with your new little bundle. Where abouts are you in Spain (obviously Catalonia)? We live in Andorra and my Catalan is sadly quite lacking, too, although I get by in Spanish. I hope you find the forum a useful and friendly place to be. There's a wealth of experience on here, and everyone is always happy to help wherever there are problems, to provide a shoulder to cry on if necessary and to congratulate you when you have successes. If you want to post pictures, you need to use a service like Flickr, Photobucket, Imgur etc and then paste the BBCode (which looks like [ IMG].....[/IMG]) in to your post here. Looking forwards to seeing pictures of your little girl
Hi and welcome to the forum from me and Juno, my nearly 15 month old chocolate girl, from Normandy, France. So sad to hear of the loss of your lovely girl Lili. Hopefully Maisie will help your hearts to heal. Look forward to seeing some photos soon.
Hello and welcome to the forum from Poppy and me, who live in Germany. So sorry about your Lili; it is so difficult to lose a much-loved dog... Your puppy sounds delightful, and will help you to bear your loss and look to the future with your new little bundle of mischief.
Hello and welcome from me and my Lilly, based in Scotland near St Andrews. So sad to hear about Lili - I think Labradiva paints a lovely picture though. Wishing you much happiness with Miss Maisie. jac
Hi and welcome from Fred and me. Sorry about Lil. I know you will miss her. Lovely to have a new puppy and I am sure you will have lots of fun with Maisie.
Thanks, all, for the kind replies... We are healing here, with Maisie. But of course, so many memories trigger such a flood of emotion. Just last night, I was at an event for the city of Barcelona and met a fellow expat American. He is an ex Navy seal, and one would think... a tough guy! Turns out that he also lost his yellow Lab girl recently, so after exchanging stories, we were both bawling... lol! The pic I was describing in my OP is now my avatar photo and I will put some more up on Flickr so I can share them. Right now, we are using Facebook to share with the people we know and enjoying building the next chapter of "The Life of Maisie!"
Hello, and the warmest welcome to you. Thank you for sharing your story - and so very, very sorry to hear about your loss. I hope your new puppy helps you get through a sad time, it does sound like it was meant to happen.
Hello & a warm welcome. Very sad to hear about Lili, we lost Scooby last month to the same horrible condition. Heart breaking to see them struggling to just stand. It was with a mixture of terrible sadness & relief that we let him go. We welcomed Coco, a boisterous 16 month old dog, into our home 2 weeks ago, he certainly helps to fill the huge gap.
Hi and welcome from me and 2 year old fox red girl, Harley So sorry for you loss . Sounds like she was very loved. Enjoy your new bundle of love x
Welcome from me, Wispa (yellow lab, nearly four) and Tuppence (black lab, just two). So sorry to hear about Lili. Losing a pet is always so difficult, but it sounds as if Maisie was destined to arrive at the right time. I hope she brings you as much fun as Lili did.
Hello there, So lovely to read your introductory post....what a roller coaster you've been on. So sorry about Lilli,sounds like she had a wonderful much loved life with you and I'm glad you were with her when she passed .... Lala Maisie sounds like a character....our first dog is Dexter ,a yellow boy of nearly 3 .we live in Dubai and er,my Arabic?....even less than your Catalan! Angela
Welcome to the forum, I have Hattie 8 years and rescue boy Charlie 4 years. So very sorry to hear about Lilli I hope Lala Maisie helps to heal your sadness. Enjoy the forum. Helen x
