Once
upon a time, Julia (a.k.a. Pretty Woman) was a successful show dog, with a
championship under her, um...collar... and several litters of puppies. Instead
of going off to a well-deserved retirement, she was sent to a breeder up north.
In fact, Daisy's mother was also sent to the same place and was thankfully
rescued at the same time as Julia. So, how did we end up with Julia?...
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Michael and I were told of Daisy's mother, Elizabeth, needing a home and we went to see her. She was staying at the home of our friend and fellow beagle rescuer, Barbara Wright. Julia was also taken to Barb's house. |
Elizabeth greeted us at the gate, along with the rest of the crew of rescues
and pets. She was obviously having a blast running around and playing! We
noticed a little dog hiding in her crate, appearing to be sleeping. We asked
Barb about her and she told us that her name was Pretty Woman and that she
hadn't had a chance to take her in to the vet yet, but she had noticed that
the dog was acting rather sickly - not drinking or eating much and staying
in her crate.
| Michael coaxed the little dog out of her crate and carried her in his arms into the house. This was our first contact with Pretty Woman, whom Barb had begun calling Julia. She was so out of it that we knew that there had to be something wrong with her. She had a fever and a discharge. Barbara promised that she would take her to the vet as soon as we left because of the apparent seriousness of her condition. |  |
That
evening, we got a phone call from Barb thanking us for encouraging her to take
Julia to the vet. According to the vet, poor little Julia was only hours from
dying - she had pyometra,
a serious infection in her uterus. She had to undergo an emergency spay. Michael
thanked Barb for taking her to the vet and told her that we would definitely
like to adopt her.
I guess we had really fallen in love with her the minute we saw her cuddled
and shivering in her crate, in need of help and love. She had such a sweet personality
and charming disposition - she would fit right in with our little family.
Michael and I had played with Elizabeth too, but she seemed so energetic and
happy with life that we felt that she would do well wherever and with whomever
she was placed. Granted, she was Daisy's mom, but we felt that Julia
needed us more than Elizabeth did. So, Elizabeth found a great home - she became
a companion to an older dog on a little ranch not too far away from us.
After Julia reccuperated, we drove to Barb's, picked Julia up, and brought her
to her new home.
Daisy, Jasper, and Montana eagerly greeted their new friend. In fact, Dasiy
and Julia bonded so well that we concluded that these two must have known each
other before! As they had both originally come from the same breeder, we figured
that their lives at the breeder's house overlapped at some point. We got Daisy
when she was about 2 1/2 and Julia is around 2 years older than her.
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Julia has become such a ray of sunshine in our house. She is so gentle and loving. She loves to play with all of her little toys and would like nothing better than to spend her day sitting in someone's lap. Julia has been a delight to have and I hope she can stay with us for a very long time. |