Our Molly Girl

Note: Molly's story takes a long time to tell but she's worth it...enjoy!

Nearly a year ago, I was on my way down to the gate when I looked past our seasonal pond and noticed a couple of white blotches on the hillside. I walked over for a closer look and found that two stray dogs were there, guarding a dead deer that must have been hit by a car and died where it was laying. The two dogs seemed to be related, as they were both white with spots and looked similar. One was much smaller and I made an educated guess that this was a mother and her pup. Both of them were very skinny and nervous. The large one growled at me but made no move towards me. The little one barked nervously at me and approached with its tail under its body, ears down, lips curled up but in a submissive manner. After I walked over to see the deer and to let them know that I was not afraid of them, I returned to the house to tell Steve.

He came down and coaxed them over with a gentle voice. He was able to pet the young one and the adult came over but would not allow Steve to touch her. Then we went up to the house and he brought them food, which they wolfed down. Both of them were skin and bones and appeared to be close to dying from starvation.

Steve was able to get them to come up to our porch where we spent the night. The next day we got them a dogloo and a refilling water bowl and fed them three times, for which they were very happy. Both of them allowed us to pet them now. Steve named the young male Mugsy and the mother Molly.

As days turned into weeks, we realized they must be neutered or Mugsy would eventually mate with Molly, which would be very bad. As luck would have it, we were in time for the yearly fix/neuter drive, so we were able to save a lot of money on their bills.

We already had two indoor dogs and a parrot, so adding two more was totally out of the question. However, we figured that if we sent them to the humane society, they'd be euthanized, so we thought that keeping them as porch dogs would mean they would have a pretty good life with food and water and some attention from us.

Mugsy and Molly loved being our Porch Dogs and they were always happy to interact with us and our two other dogs, Moosey and Zoe. Mugsy got on well with our two dogs, and Moosie and Zoe loved to play with Mugsy. Molly was always stand-offish and would growl at any dog that bothered her. My opinion was very neutral. Not really interested in having two more dogs, but it felt good to save their lives. Steve and Molly began to bond right away and it was clear that she really liked him. I suspect that she sensed my neutral stance, so she was merely respectful of me but wasn't very interested beyond getting fed by me.

The pair would go off on rounds most every day, sometimes for a couple of days or more, but they'd eventually come back with wagging tails and ravenous appetites. Also, they usually reeked of skunk and often had blood on them from animal(s) they'd killed while they were away.

One day Mugsy came back limping and upon closer inspection, we saw a horrible cut on one of his front paws. We took him to a vet to stitch him up, and we all believe he'd been caught in a snare trap and released. He healed up just fine and time went on.

Sometimes one or the other would leave for days or a week. Then Mugsy just didn't come back. After a month or so, he showed up looking well fed, and we figure he found a new family. Molly and Mugsy hung out for a couple of days and then they both left. Mugsy came back after a couple of nights without Molly.

Several days later, Molly appeared and Steve found her shaking uncontrollably and laying on the porch. She had a gash on one of her back legs and wouldn't put weight on it. We didn't realize how bad the wound was until the next day when Steve saw it oozing and went to clean it up. We made an appointment for the next day. That was the day before Thanksgiving.

Steve took her to the vet and left her with them so they could evaluate the seriousness of her leg, it was that bad. There was a deep cut and the swelling on her foot was very worrisome, alone with the fact that Molly didn't even attempt to put weight on her leg. The vet called to say that Molly must have been caught in a snare trap for many days and she'd lost the blood flow to her foot. She would lose her leg, but she would live. But when we found out how much it would cost, Steve had to tell him in misery that we could not afford the surgery.

Hanging up the phone, Steve looked online to see if there was any way we could get a loan, but we didn't qualify for anything. He finally called the vet in tears to say that we must put her down. I felt so sad because Steve had fallen in love with Molly, and she with him. It was horrible to not know how to console Steve.

When we met, Steve had a black Lab/Weimy mixed dog named Bart, who he'd had since Bart was a puppy. After knowing Steve for a year, Bart finally passed away at 14 years old and since then, Steve's wanted another special dog to take Bart's place.

Well, when we moved up here to the countryside, we first got our Basset Hound, Moosey. It became apparent that he was a very sweet boy but there wasn't much going on between his ears. Not a replacement for the very smart, wonderful Bart. Next we got a beautiful Boxer puppy, Zoe. We discovered that she is the most hyperactive animal we've ever known, but she's a very sweet, silly, fun dog who is clever and can be obstinate. She also does not replace Bart.

Then came Mugsy and Molly. Mugsy is kind of like a colorful hyena, skulking about submissively and always behaving like we're going to kick him. Also, a very dim bulb...he's the one who gets sprayed by skunks. He took off again after Molly's injury and we haven't seen him again, which is fine with us; we're glad he has another family to take care of him. Molly, on the other hand...she is just right. She's very smart, she's got a great personality, and a depth of character that neither Moosie nor Zoe have. She is definitely a very cool dog, which made it all the more horrible to tell the vet that we can't afford to save her life.

So, they saved her life for us. The vet called back after about 15 minutes and through our tears we discovered that the staff and vet pitched in to share the cost of the surgery because it was obvious that we loved her and would give her a good home for the rest of her life.

Molly came home to us the day after Thanksgiving and she became our third indoor dog. Steve and I watched over her as she healed and were simply amazed at her recovery. She hopped along just fine that first day home, and every day since has been learning to do everything on three legs that she used to do on four.

Since becoming an Indoor Doggy, Steve coaxed me to bond with her, and to our delight, she has warmed up to me in the past couple of months to the point that she now comes over to say hello and get some love. Where she would never bother before, she now loves to go on walks with me, Moosey and Zoe and is bonding with them too.

For the first time in my life, I am finally having a relationship with a very cool, smart, wonderful dog. We are so happy to have this sweet girl in our lives. We will always be grateful to our vet and his staff for pitching in to save her life so that we can share ours with her.

Our beautiful Molly girl!