I retired in 1988 and moved from Ohio to Phoenix, Arizona.  The only people I knew in

Phoenix were my niece, Sandra; her husband, Rich; and their daughter, Carrie.  I was

really nervous about what my neighbors would be like and decided I needed to get a dog

for companionship and for protection.  I wanted a small lap dog.  Rich took me around

until we found a small female puppy with the prettiest face (my neighbor, Eve, always said

Joy had a face that looked like a deer).  The only problem was that she just sat like a bump

on a log, but I felt sorry for her and took her home.  I named her Joy because I wanted her

to bring some joy into my life.

 

I noticed that when I pet Joy, she would growl a little when I got near her back legs. 

When I took her to the vet for her shots, an x-ray revealed that she had had a broken left

hip that was so severely broken that she was either dropped on cement or kicked by a

large man or woman.  Because she usually sat in a corner and didn't run around, the break

had healed together, but the balljoint was rubbing against her leg.  Joy had surgery and the

vet said if I had waited another month, they would have had to amputate Joy's leg because

the bone was so brittle.  Her left rear leg was about 1/2" shorter than the right one, so she

always walked with a slight limp or slightly sideways.

 

After she healed from surgery, I would take Joy to some of the vacant lots in my

neighborhood and throw a small stone.  Joy would run after it, put it in her mouth, dig a

small hole and bury the stone.  Then she would look at me and bark for another stone.

When she got a little older, I bought Joy a small red and white ball and we started playing

fetch.  Every morning I would clean Joy's eyes and brush her teeth.  I had steps made so

she could get up and down from the bed.  She slept with me every night and had her own

pillow.  Joy loved to ride in the car wearing her harness and strapped in with the seatbelt.

However, she was so small she couldn't see over the dashboard, so I had to have  a pillow

for her to sit on.  (Or she sometimes would sit on my lap.)  We went on several trips

together and she was the best passenger I could have.

 

One morning I put on the TV and "Lassie" was on.  Joy saw Lassie and started to bark.

Every time after that whenever there was an animal on TV Joy would bark at the set.  I

had a small stuffed bird that I put on the floor to see what Joy would do with it.  She

picked it up and brought it to me for me to grab one end of it and play tug of war.  She

played with "birdie" almost every day.

 

In 1991 I got a part-time job.  I didn't want to leave Joy alone, so Rich and I started

looking for another small dog to be with Joy when I was out.  Lucky came into our lives

in August 1991.  Joy taught Lucky how to go in and out the doggie door; how to go up

and down the steps to the bed; play fetch; bark at animals on TV; watch for me through

the window until I would come home and then run to the door and wait for me to come in

the house.

 

In 2002, Joy stretched the ligament in her left rear leg and had arthritis in her hip.  She

also was getting cataracts and was losing some of her hearing.  She started sitting in the

closet under my clothes or on the blanket on the floor in the bedroom.  Joy and Lucky had

11-1/2 good years together.  On March 8, 2003, I found Lucky dead in a chair in the

living room.  Joy really missed him.  After that day, she never let me out of her sight.

 

About this time, Joy started bleeding from the mouth.  I took her to the vet who said she

had an infected gum and put her on an antibiotic.  The bleeding didn't stop and on

March 24, 2003, she was sedated and the vet said three of her teeth were lose so he

pulled them and took a biopsy.  The results of the biopsy came in on March 27th and I

was informed that Joy had cancer of the jaw.  She could have surgery and have part of

her jaw removed, but because of her age (would have been 14 on April 2nd), and the

fact that she would be in a lot of pain from the surgery and she was already weak from

not eating and losing so much blood, I decided to have her put to sleep.

 

My niece came over and drove me to the vet's office.  For the last time she sat on my lap,

sitting very straight and proud, looking out the window.  Everytime I took her to the

groomer or the vet, she would start shaking long before we arrived.  But, this time she

wasn't shaking.  She looked at me as if to say, "Yes, mommy, you're doing the right thing.

Thank you."  I held her in the vet's office and told her she really did bring a lot of joy into

my life and I loved her and would miss her, but she had Lucky waiting for her at Rainbow

Bridge.  I held her and kissed her until she was gone.

 

Until we meet again,

 

Love forever,

Mommy