Holly

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted…. for those old timers who remember Holly Jolly by Golly, she regained her 4th leg and crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on July 17, 2014. She was my miracle dog – she made it 4.5+ years after her amputation, which was Dec 29, 2009. She was always a source of inspiration and continued giving her Wheaten kisses up until the end. My heart is so heavy as I type all of this…

The cancer never returned in Holly. She started going downhill this spring, although retained her happy go lucky attitude. Her walks, which she always loved, got shorter and shorter each week until we were just going a few houses down our short block. She stopped eating the Sunday before she left me. The vet ran x-rays and bloodwork and said there was no sign of cancer, although her trachea was bent and they thought there could have been a mass or an enlarged lymph node causing that. They also suspected pancreatitis from what they saw in her bloodwork. She was a trooper until the end and she is sorely missed.

She went peacefully in my arms in our backyard. Zuzu the monkeydog misses her terribly, although she is hard pressed to admit it.

Many thanks to all the fellow tripawds who helped us on our journey. I am hoping that somehow Holly’s story may help some who are just starting this journey. We never thought she would survive more than a year… and she was still hopping on 3 legs 4.5 years later! Each day with Holly was a gift and a blessing! I will always be thankful for finding this site and all of the encouragement we received, especially during those first few months.

Hugs from Angel Holly, Zuzu and Susan

Today, 12/29/2010, is Holly’s 1 year ampuversary!!  We are celebrating big time here, and hope that all you tripawds out there will get extra treats to help Holly celebrate!  As you can see, Zuzu and Holly are both very jolly today!

Thank you to all of our friends – your kindness and support through this past year have meant the world to us! Today we will be lighting a candle for the angels who share this important day with us – Angel Teyha and Angel Cherry, and a candle for all the other tripawds who have crossed the bridge.  You have all inspired us more than you can imagine.

Hugs!

PS – a BIG thank you to Grandma Kay (Comet’s and Monkeybutt’s Grandma) for the beautiful tripawd quilt!  It even has Holly’s favorite color – pink trim!!!  And pink pawsprints!

Hi!  Mom finally left the computer long enough so I can update everyone on the Monkeypoo in my house.  Look at her favorite toy and tell me she’s not related to Monkeybutt:

And… take note on what she did to it… she made it a tripawd!  (that’s the tail – not a leg).  And… the leg she removed was the right rear leg – same as me.  Do you think she did that because she loves me?  Or what???  Anyway the monkey toy screeches whenever someone throws it, or when Zuzu drops it so I really don’t like it much – way too noisy.  I prefer my squeak toys which are much more pleasant sounding.  OK… and just to be sure no one thinks she’s favoring rear leg tripawds, look what she did to her bear:

Another tripawd toy.  Coincidence?  I think not!!! AMBF agents please report to duty ASAP!!!  I’m sending out an APB!!  Or whatever I need to send out!!

Mom will tell you that we’re getting along great, but when her back is turned you should see the stuff Monkeypoo tries!  I think I need some AMBF reinforcements here please!  Just look at her… she’s like twice my size now!!!

Anwyay, other than living with a Monkeypoo life is pretty good for me.  I love it when Mom takes me for a walk, which is most days.  And I’ve been busy on squirrel patrol lately – they have suddenly invaded my yard again!  I guess that’s one thing Monkeypoo is good for – she helps me chase the squirrels away.  Between the two of us we can clear the yard much faster than I could on my own.  And I get plenty of treats cuz Mom’s still trying to train her – so no complaints about that either.

Still Holly Jolly By Golly!

Everyone’s been wondering how Barney survived his jump into the river in Pontiac, IL while visiting Ginger…  Well, Zuzu and I were walking along one day and look who jumped out at us…

Mom said we were really obsessed with Barney’s feet.  We kept telling her they smell like fritos!  We’re thinking Barney picked that up when he was in Alaska visiting Opie.  We know Opie was here with us as we tried to finish Barney off!

Help! Can anyone hear me?

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted on Holly’s blog.  She is doing great!  I keep telling her that’s why I call her Jolly Holly (or Holly Jolly by Golly) – she’s just a happy girl these days!  Which of course makes me really happy.  We visited my parents over Labor Day in the mountains of North Carolina.  In the evening we took Holly for a walk on the golf course – it was the first time she’d been off leash since we pawtied with Jerry and she was sooooo excited!  She ran up one fairway and down another.  Which we thought was plenty of exercise for our little girl.  But while Mom and I were waiting for Dad and Dave, she decided to show us!  She started running her Wheaten circles – she looked like a crazy girl!  She ended by sprinting through the sand trap, which Mom thought was ok since she’s so special.  (apologies to all the golfers out there!)  We thought the tripawd prints through the sand were cute – I should have taken a picture but was so caught up with the joyous dog that I didn’t think of that!

Now that the weather’s cooled down here we’re taking longer walks again, too.  It makes Holly so happy to be back to the old drill of checking out the neighborhood.  She has her favorite routes, and usually lets me know which one is on her agenda each day.  She and Zuzu walk really well together, which is a beautiful thing! 🙂

Holly’s still doing metronomics, but I’m not sure we’ll continue after this round.  Zuzu likes to eat Holly’s poop, and while I think I am very good about picking up after Holly she sometimes manages to be covert and Zuzu inevitably gets sick.  Anyone have any great ideas for teaching Zuzu not to eat Holly’s poop?  I scold her if I catch her, but she usually just swallows it as fast as she can before I can get to her.  (I know – ewwwww!)

Well… time to make the rounds of the neighborhood!  Sending lots of hugs to all of our tripawd friends out there!

Yesterday was Gerry’s tripawds pawty in Madison, and it was a blast!  But… my mom left her camera in the car.  At least she remembered to charge it this time!  So we have some pics from when we were saying goodbye in the parking lot.  You’ll won’t see everyone who made it, since there were lots of spirit tripawds with us having fun!

We all wore tripawds rule bandanas and we rocked!  All sorts of other dogs wanted to play with us.  Zuzu got pretty tired by the end of the pawty.  Not me!  (As an older woman I know how to conserve my energy… ha ha ha)  Here’s Gerry modeling the cool bandana, and Gerry’s roomie Biggie:

And here’s Gerry and Toby (Hopalong Harley’s brother):

And here I am with Zuzu:

It was lots of fun to see Gerry, and to meet Biggie and Toby.  We just missed GI Jack, the tripawd from Iraq.  Bummer!

After the pawty, my mom and sister went to get some ice cream.  They got me some cheese!  My favorite!  And it’s from Wisconsin – so now I know why my mom always tells me I should have been born in WI – they make the best cheese there! 🙂  I shared a little, little bit with Zuzu.  She is my sister, afterall.  I sure was Jolly Holly yesterday!

Hey – tomorrow is Gerry’s pawty in WI and my mom says we can go!  I am so excited to see Gerry again.  And hopefully get some good Wisconsin cheese.  And maybe even some ice cream!!  I can’t wait!

So it’s been pretty hot here in the midwest… although my cousin says it’s even hotter in NY.  She’s a golden so she can escape the heat by swimming, though.  We’ve been hanging on the front porch enjoying the shade and the breeze.

Mom’s been taking me for a short walk in the morning.  It’s been too hot to walk at lunchtime, when we usually walk.  Tomorrow is supposed to be perfect, though – not too hot for Gerry’s pawty!

We went to a friend’s house a few weeks ago.  Zuzu swam all day, and I worried about her all day.  Why did she have to swim out so far?  I kept running up and down along the shore to be sure I could see her.

When she got close to shore I really gave her a tongue lashing!

In this picture I think she’s trying to look like Maggie the Agile Cow Dog – look at those ears!!  This is why I call her silly Zuzu!

I even went swimming – a little bit anyway.  I waded in up to my belly twice.  And jumped in once, but mom says I shouldn’t have done that without a floatie.  Someone pulled me out right away – boy, they didn’t think I could swim!  Sheesh!

And finally, my favorite picture of Zuzu.  I LOVE it when she looks like this!!! 🙂

What on earth is my sister doing?  I wanted to be the queen of crazy poses, but today she did this:

And I may be jolly, but I don’t think I could get into that position.  Here’s how you’re supposed to lay down (unless of course you’re chillin’ to chopin):

Can someone please tell my silly sister Zuzu that?  Are dogs’ bodies supposed to be able to twist like that??

And guess what?  She’s not really bugging me anymore.  Do you think she’s trying to lull me into thinking she wants to be my friend?  I am still cautious around her – but now I’m keeping my tail at full mast even when she’s trying to give me kisses.  I am beginning to think that it’s nice to have another canine in the house – anything that goes wrong is always blamed on her and I am the angel!  AND – when my mom is trying to teach her something we BOTH get treats!  And I get one whether or not Zuzu does what my mom wants.  A pretty sweet deal, all in all.  Mom keeps calling me the big dog… which is pretty funny since Zuzu is now taller than I am.  But I think I still outweigh her. 🙂  It’s all those treats!

Today was Holly’s vet appointment to followup on her last chemo before starting metronomics.  Holly’s been a little off lately (I’m hoping it’s been mostly due to the heat).  She can’t walk very far without taking a rest.  The vet decided to do her next set of x-rays a few weeks early to be sure something hadn’t happened since she whimpered when he examined one of her front paws, and she yelped last night when someone was petting her.  But GOOD NEWS!  All of her films were clear – chest, pelvis, hips!  (The oncologist had said that since her tumor was at the head of her femur she wouldn’t be surprised to see the cancer reappear in her hip at some point.  So that’s why they were interested in her hips.)  So Holly’s Jolly and so are we!

Anyway, we are celebrating here with ice cream and cheese!  (Makes me wonder if I should try making cheese ice cream? nah – sounds too gross!)

And Zuzu is not bugging Holly as much lately – and Holly is beginning to enjoy seeing Zuzu.  Here they are today…

Holly is queen of her Costco pillow.  And Zuzu is slowly learning her manners. 🙂

Life is good.  Treats for all! 🙂

Holly loves it when her sisters play the piano.  Today was Chopin – and while she usually lies right near the piano and relaxes, for some reason she got herself into a funny position in my office and stayed there with her little crooked smile on her face.  A picture is worth a thousand words, right?  Well maybe a thousand notes?

I’m not even sure how she got into this position – her butt was on one arm of the chair and her head was on the other.  And when I looked over at her she had her eyes mostly closed and with her little crooked smile she looked so relaxed that I had to take the risk that she wouldn’t move if I got up to get the camera.  Luckily, the music had her totally enthralled and she barely even noticed that I left the room!  She stayed in this position for the longest time, too!

And she’s teaching Zuzu the art of relaxing to piano music, as you can see.

They are getting along pretty well now – still not best friends but then again it takes awhile to become best buddies, right?  Zuzu doesn’t go totally ape over Holly anymore – she restrains herself and gives Holly kisses instead.  I think someone had commented that when a dog kisses the face of another dog it’s a sign of respect. I hope that’s true, since that would be a good sign here!  Holly now doesn’t always leave the room immediately when Zuzu enters – she will hang out for awhile now, especially if Zuzu is sleeping.  Holly still has never growled or snarled at Zuzu – she’s just too kindhearted to reprimand her new little sister!  I’m still hoping that with time they will become great friends!