After 15 wonderful years of fun,
affection, and devotion, Molly passed away today. Molly's age had finally
caught up with her. She had been having difficulty with her back legs.
Although her weight was stable, it appeared that she was thinner so much
that her bones were quite noticeable. The final straw was her complete lack
of appetite the past week. What was an active dog became a lifeless beloved
friend. We will miss Molly very much.
We got Molly from our friend Nancy. I recall when we first went to visit
Molly, she was but 3 or 4 months old. She was a small ball of level 10
energy. Molly would run around Nancy's house at warp speed. Karen and I were
not sure what we were getting ourselves into, but we happily adopted Molly.
The funny thing is at the time we had a small 2 seat Mercury Capri. We had
to take the roof down in order to get the crate into the back seat. I had to
hold Molly in my lap for the trip home.
So we welcomed Molly into our Kirkland home. We had our hands full. For the
next few months, Molly destroyed many of Karen's shoes, books, and several
wallets. Once Molly destroyed a Coach wallet. Molly knew the value of money
though because instead of destroying the money, she buried it in the
backyard for us to find days later. Nonetheless, we would come home after an
evening at the theatre and find our 1970s brown carpet littered with white
paper that had once been a hard cover book. Karen was not happy - especially
because Molly would not bother any of Lou's stuff and would occasion nip at
Karen.
Molly was always a happy dog. As a puppy, she would welcome us at the
front door by piddling on the tiled entry way. All, that was so cute. NOT!
Our Kirkland home was located at the crest of a hill. So one side of the
deck in the backyard was 6 feet off the ground while the other end was just
a foot. Molly loved to hang out on the bench at the high point of the deck
to survey her kingdom. Thus, Molly became known as Mountain Dog. Lou spent
many days playing fetch with Molly. Lou would stand at the high point of the
deck and throw a tennis ball over the low end. Molly would race across the
60 foot deck, jump under the bench at the end of the deck, out the low end
of the deck, fetch the ball, and run at full speed back to the high end so
Lou could toss it again. She refused to get tired. Most of the time Lou just
gave up and went back in the house. Molly was relentless. The fetching game
continued inside. Lou would sit in his lazy boy and toss the tennis ball
across the living room, through a door way, down a stairway into the cellar.
Molly would race down the stairs to fetch and retrieve the tennis ball.
After a few of these, the tennis ball was covered in slime. Yuck. Molly
loved it and so did Lou.
Molly was an Australian Shepherd mix. She very much loved to herd. Weather
at obedience training, other dogs, or cats, Molly was definitely a herding
breed. We had a beautiful Himalayan cat. Molly would love to chase that cat
all around the house. When she finally caught up to the cat, Molly would
trap the cat against the wall and step on her so that the cat was spread out
on the floor with all 4 legs in different directions. If you could only see
the sense of satisfaction in Molly's face.
Molly was quite a gardener. She love plants. All plants. She in particular
loved Rhododendrons. We once had a beautiful Rhododendron that must have
been 8 feet tall and 7 feet wide. Molly loved that bush. Over the course of
a few months, Molly managed to absolutely destroy that Rhododendron. She
brought it down to a few sticks about 8 inches tall. Fortunately, the
Rhododendron grew back. Unfortunately for Molly, Rhododendron are poisonous
to dogs. We had to take Molly to the emergency animal hospital to have her
stomach pumped.
We spent many days and evenings going for walks and obedience training.
Lou's buddy Rich would come over once a month so Rich, Lou, and Molly could
go for walks around the neighborhood. We all looked forward to those walks
and remember them well. Molly had obedience training for several years. She
won several first place ribbons during her competitions. Lou was well
trained. Karen gave up after a while because Molly was incredibly
intelligent and head strong. Molly loved the obedience training as she got
to dominate the other dogs.
Eventually we moved to a better house where Molly found new adventures. Her
first adventure was dealing with the muddy yard that was yet to be
landscaped. Molly would go outside and get her feet absolutely covered in
mud. We tried putting on doggy booties, but Molly wouldn't have any of that.
She would one way or another manage to get the booties off and back into the
mud. Eventually Molly discovered the stream at the back of the property. O h
my, talk about mud. Molly would run through the trees, find the stream, play
in the muddy water, and come back covered in mud. Nothing like giving a dog
a bath outside in the dead of winter.
Eventually Molly got a sister named Sam. Sam was a young, tall, skinny
Golden Retriever. Molly would run at Sam and literally tackle Sam by taking
out Sam's skinny long legs. This went on for quite some time until Sam grew
up and got some weight on her. Molly figured out she couldn't tackle Sam
anymore, so now she would run at Sam and jump on her and bring her sister 20
pounds heavier down to the ground.
Molly eventually discovered the world of bunnies. Living out in the country,
we had rabbits in the yard. The rabbits would manage to get into the fenced
in part of the yard. This was a big mistake. Several rabbits became dog
toys. Once Molly convinced Sam into dragging a rabbit into the house through
the doggy door for mom and dad to find. Oh joy!
Molly and her sister Sam went on long trips with mom and dad. We would take
them to the park so they could play in the river and with other dogs. They
loved this. Molly was always much better at playing fetch and water sports
than her sister Sam the Golden. We took the kids to the Olympic Peninsula to
Kalaloch where we would rent a cabin on the beach overlooking the ocean.
Molly loved to go swimming in that cold Pacific water and play fetch. Molly
also loved to climb and explore the logs on the beach. We took the dogs
camping many times. We have many memories of sleeping 2 adults and 2 dogs in
a tent. Oh joy!
Molly's fetching days came to an end around the year 2001 when she suffered
a sports injury. While playing Frisbee, Molly blew out her rear right knee.
She was such a trooper. Even though her leg was at 90 degrees to the ground,
she still ran back to us with the Frisbee in mouth. Apparently even a torn
knee wasn't going to stop her from accomplishing her mission in life.
We love our dogs so much that when we decided to move cross country, we
bought a mini van so that our dogs would not have to fly and could move
cross country in comfort. Molly adopted to the east coast with her usual
charm and happiness. Although she had begun to slow down, she still had more
energy than most dogs half her age. Many people would think that Molly was a
puppy even when she was 12, 13, etc. years old.
Karen and I we utterly destroyed at the loss of our beloved Molly. She is
irreplaceable and nor will we ever attempt to. Molly is the most wonderful
loving animal I've ever had the joy to have. I will miss her very much.
We love you Molly,
Mom and Dad
Molly Ross
10/1/1993 - 12/6/2008
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