| Our family has a lot to say about our Mimsy. She was a beautiful Rat Terrier who was courageous, fast as a rabbit, the Love Bully and just so dang cute. But we have a good story of how we found her so we will start with that. My husband and I had already lost our sweetheart of a dog, Rambo, earlier that year. We had been mourning his loss for several months. We still had a young black lab mix who was about a year and a half and full of puppy energy. She was really athletic and we thought she needed a sibling to bond, play and generally rough-house with. We thought a yellow lab would be a great match, so we started the search. We knew we needed to adopt a rescue pup as we never go through breeders. There’s plenty of fur-babies that need homes without going that route. Our pups come into our lives by chance (or Devine Intervention we like to think). So we set out looking online through the usual searches. We went to Denver Dumb Friends League, area shelters and adoption clinics but no doggies tugged at our hearts in the forever sense. All of the pet rescues that we knew of didn’t have the right dog for us. Yet. One day we went to Petsmart by our house for some supplies and there was a different rescue there holding an adoption event. We hadn’t heard of this rescue group before. As we entered, there were 4 kennels with 3 dogs in them the middle of the store. In the upper right kennel was a little Rat Terrier, white with heifer spots on her back. She had her ears down and had such a sweet look on her face. “Pixie” as they were calling her, was so little, only 14 pounds. Our lab was 70. We’d never had a dog less than 65. I wasn’t sure this was the right dog for us, but then I talked to her and held her and fell in love. We wanted to see if she would get along with Hannah, so we ran home and got her and brought her back to meet the rescue pup. They seemed to get along and we asked about adopting “Pixie”. The employees brought the manager out to talk to us and she apologetically told us there were already 4 applications in on her so a match would be unlikely. 4 already! Man, I thought, there’s no way we’ll get her. We left without submitting our application. On the bright side, I at least had another rescue group to search for our new family member. I checked their website every day that week hoping we might find a dog that would be a good companion for Hannah. That Friday, I saw “Pixie” listed again. Only she was going to be at an adoption event at a Petsmart across town. I couldn’t believe it. Surely it was a mistake. I called the Petsmart right away to ask if they really had her; the little Rat Terrier with the black spots like a cow? Yes, she’s here, and you can come see her Saturday morning. Oh joy! I ran to tell my husband that “Pixie” is at the Petsmart adoption event and I want to go get her!! He wasn’t quite as smitten as I was so asked me if I was sure. She’s not exactly that big lab we were looking for. Of course we were at Petsmart first thing and ran to the back where they had the dogs. They had the smaller ones in the training pen running around and there she was. She was running around with those little pipsqueaks looking hopeful to play. We called to her and she greeted us. Yes, she was THE ONE. I grabbed an application and filled it out as fast as I could. I figured since it was Saturday, maybe there’s some sort of delay, they would need to process on a weekday or some red tape problem. I wanted to get our app in ASAP. She was back in the kennel when we went to say goodbye to her. Darrin says she cried for us as we left. I guess I don’t remember that. Maybe I was too much in my own misery to leave her there in a cold kennel with no family. Yet. We got the call as we were half-way home. The lady asked me several questions about our home situation. Any children? No. Other pets? One young dog and an older cat. Crate training? No. And some other questions that I don’t remember. That was 16+ years ago. She said we could come and get her. We turned right around and picked our “Pixie” up. She sat in the back and reached her front paws up to the center console on our way home as if she was so excited to start her new adventure with us. First on the agenda was a name, one chosen by her new family. Darrin was the one who came up with Mimsy, and it was perfect. Our little Mimsy. We marveled at this little dog who had such a strong little build. Her tail was docked and dew claws removed so we thought she was a well-bred Rat Terrier. Then just after we brought her home, her ears perked up. Wow! We were enthralled with her beautiful bat ears. We hadn’t realized how perfect and big they were. Mimsy was a runner. She would bounce several feet at a time as she ran. Who knows how far and fast she could have gone if given the freedom and space to go. She was a great little camper and kept up with us and her big dog sister when we went hiking. She got along so well with the cat we wondered if she was around cats as a puppy. They would cuddle together in the pet bed in the closet. Although one night she dumped the cat out of her bed under the coffee table and dragged the bed onto the couch between my husband and I and laid down in it. That’s pretty much when we dubbed her the Love Bully. The vet thought she was about 1 ½ – 2 years old when we got her. We always wondered how she ended up in shelter. Maybe she was a runaway. She took off a couple of times and ended up playing with the neighbor dogs until the neighbor called us to come and get her. Once the baby came along in a few years, Mimsy was the best little nanny dog. She’d let us know when the baby was crying. She’s in the background of just about all of our daughter’s photos. Every night when Mama would tuck her little girl in, Mimsy was right there ever watchful. As she lost her ability to jump up on the furniture, she would come over and tap me to pick her up on the bed so she could cuddle up to me, then to my husband as she got colder and needed a hotter furnace. There is so much more that we will continue to remember and treasure. She was bonded to our family so tightly that we feel her loss deep in our hearts. Caring Pathways provided us the chance to say goodbye to our little peanut in the comfort of her home with her Mom and Dad right there with her. While waiting for Dr. JoAnna to arrive, we were able to cuddle her close and love on her and let her know how thankful we were to find her all those years ago. I was able to hold her next to my heart and look into her eyes and tell her about our search for her and how we were so lucky we found her. Dr. JoAnna was an angel. She took Mimsy’s pain away and she had such a peaceful passing. Thank you Dr. JoAnna. We couldn’t have asked for a more comforting experience. |
