POMDR In Memory

In Memory

Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really. ~Agnes Sligh Turnbull

One of the heartbreaking realities of living with, loving and rescuing dogs especially senior dogs is that they do not live as long as humans. Their precious little lives are always shorter than seems fair. We dedicate this page in memory of the dogs that Peace of Mind has rescued that are no longer with us.

Alex

7/2/10 Alex was our 18th intake. Read his story on our Adoption Stories page. Alex had a wonderful life with his adoptive family and lived life to the fullest right up until the day he died. We received this email from his mom on July 1 "We absolutely love Alex. He is a very good boy. Since you've seen him last he has gotten much stronger. No skinny
bones for him. His fur is absolutely gorgeous. It's funny, but most people think he is a puppy and are shocked when I tell them he's 16.5! I was walking him in the fores
the other day. He was dilly dallying as usual. Sniffing here peeing there - just being a boy. Then a family came by......he took off at a trot after them. He was really booking! He is quite charming. I've attached a few pictures of a recent trip we took to the mountains."

The very next morning, we got this email, "Mr. Alex died peacefully in his sleep this morning on his 16 1/2 birthday. We miss him so much! He was the best dog. Thanks you so much for saving him so he could be part of our lives."

Alex touched the hearts of everyone who met him or read about him. He will be missed and will always be remembered.

Porter

6/29/10 We were all rooting for Porter. Porter lived his life with a couple in a rural area in South Monterey County. He enjoyed being outside, carrying around his blanket and pillow and snoozing in his custom-made doggie condo. When the husband passed away, the wife was unable to keep up on the mortgage payments and the house was foreclosed. She had to move off the property and did not know where she would go let alone take along a 150 pound dog as well. Three POMDR volunteers met Porter and transported him to a foster home. He had never been in a vehicle before and was very shy with new people. We were working to socialize Porter, and he began trusting new people and walking on leash. Everyone who met him fell in love with this gentle giant.

Sadly, Porter developed bloat. He was rushed to the vet for emergency surgery. During surgery the vets found a mass on his spleen as well as a twisted stomach. Prognosis for Porter's recovery was poor. The vets believed it was more humane to let Porter go then attempt the surgeries and wake Porter to a difficult and painful recovery with a poor chance of survival.

We all wanted a much better ending for Porter. We hope he knows he touched our hearts and he will be remembered.

Grace

6/3/10 Sweet little Grace came to us from the Salinas Animal Shelter. They estimated her age at 9 years. She had several health issues that the shelter vet noted when she examined her. POMDR was asked to take her into our care. Unfortunately, when we got Grace to our vet, we found out she had advanced, untreatable, Lymphoma. She was in pain and not well so we had to let her go. We are sorry we couldn't do more for her.

Jake

4/13/10 Precious Jake passed away at 13 years old. We only had this sweet boy in our care for a few weeks but everyone that met him fell in love with his calm, gentle personality and his irresistible big brown eyes. Jake was the Belle of the Ball at the Good Old Days Celebration on Saturday April 10, 2010, just three days before his passing. He was eager to meet every dog and human that passed our booth. He soaked up the attention and pets and kisses from children of all sizes and had a wonderful time. We like to think this was his last hurrah and that he had a great day being loved and admired.

Jake spent the first half of his life as a companion to an elderly woman until her passing. At that point, he ended up at the Los Banos Animal Shelter where he was adopted by yet another senior. He was her devoted and loving companion for the last six years. When she became ill with Alzheimers his devotion to her only increased. Sadly, she was unable to care for him anymore and the caregivers in the house around his "mom" began to make him nervous and upset.

On April 13, Jake had a massive seizure and was bleeding internally. We found out he had a large, painful mass in his abdomen. Jake was suffering and we had to let him go.

Thank you to everyone who showered Jake with affection and caring in the short time we had him.

Mavis

11/12/09 Mavis was one of our first rescues. She was picked up as a stray and arrived at Salinas Animal Services on November 3, 2009. She was a sweet little old lady dog wandering the streets alone with a bulging eye that needed to be removed. She spent 5 days at the shelter waiting for her guardian to find her and take her home. No one came for her.

The shelter contacted Peace of Mind to see if we could take her in. On November 12 she finally got to leave the shelter and go to her foster home. After only a few hours in her foster home, she gave out a little cry and left this life. Mavis' story reminds us of all the dogs in need and of the dogs that never make it out of the shelter. We are grateful that she got to spend a few hours in a home being loved and fussed over and did not die alone in a cage. Read more from her foster mom.

From her foster mom:

November, 12, 2009

Poor little Mavis, said to be a 12-year old dachshund stray, ended up at the county shelter. Her right eye was bulging and pretty much clouded over. Her little back legs were wobbly, especially the right one which seemed almost to be dislocated.

As part of the charter of a newly formed organization, Peace of Mind Dog Rescue, we take senior dogs from the shelters and foster them for as long as it takes to find them a forever home.

Upon committing to fostering her, I picked Mavis up after she was brought to the Animal Friends Adoption Center last evening at about 4:30. She had been barking at the Center, I was told, and some of the volunteers had sat with her and comforted her during the afternoon.

I planned to take her for a walk with Lover Boy and Annie when I got home, knowing that the walk would be unusually slow to accommodate her seniority. I carried her to the garden area where she wobbled over to some overgrowth and plopped down, just looking at me. So I carried her to the grassy back yard, set her down, and she, again, just sat and looked at me. All the while, she was breathing heavy from her mouth and her little sides were expanding and compressing as if she had run a marathon.

So I took her indoors to the kitchen and provided a doggy bed for her. She got in and got out of it, tried walking about the kitchen, only going a step or two at a time, before plopping down, panting. Bob and I were really watching her, questioning how she could ever undergo surgery next Tuesday to have her eye removed. She actually stayed by my feet while I was preparing dinner, as if I’d always been her mom. I fixed her a yummy meal which she had no interest in.

She started moving about, stopping, staring straight at a wall. I told Bob that I thought she probably had dementia -- I’ve heard that senior dogs, like people, get dementia and exhibit similar behavior. I don’t know if she was deaf, but she did not respond to our voices at all.

Then, as we were watching her, talking about her, she sat down, she whimpered, and then fell over. We both moved to the floor on either side of her -- I thought she was having a seizure. We laid our hands on her, tried to calm her, to comfort her. She laid still, gasped a few last breaths, and stopped breathing.

All this happened within about two hours. Seemingly, not long enough to fall in love with her, but I know that I did. And the sadness is so great. I realize that it’s a lot because of her sad situation; living to an old age -- I really think she was much older than 12 -- being lost (?) by or turned out by people who should have taken care of her forever, ending up in a shelter. I am thankful to have been with her, even if only a few hours, before she passed. I really believe she felt the love.

The sadness is also because I know that there are so many others suffering in the same way and feeling a futility of not being able to help every one of them.

Say prayers for Mavis and all the others like her.