This is about our beloved Maltese Juliet.
We rescued her from HAWS (Waukesha, WI) on March 8, 2001. At the time, Juliet was about 1 year old. Her prior owners claimed she “failed to bond” with them, however they kept her crated in a laundry room over 20 hours a day, only letting her out to eat and relieve herself.
I went to HAWS with a friend on March 6, 2001 so she could pick out a small dog. I sat on a chair while my friend sat on the floor to greet each dog. The first dog came in, went up to my friend and played with her. The second dog was Juliet; she came in, ignored my friend completely, ran up up to me, rolled over on my shoes with her tongue hanging out and her tail wagging away as if to say “Pick me! Pick me!” I lifted Juliet up and she proceeded to lick my entire face! She won me over. Two days later we became Juliet’s “forever family”. My kids at the time were ages 18, 12 and 9 years old. Perfect ages to respect Juliet and her needs. As the mom, and the one who trained Juliet, fed her, taught her tricks and spent the most time with her, Juliet bonded with me and became my little shadow. The first 3 years went great! Juliet then developed a double ear infection and was treated with an antibiotic gel. The antibiotic gel caused Juliet to go completely deaf. It didn’t matter to us, we still loved her like crazy. We just adapted, using a type of sign language helped. Less than one year later I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and ended up paralyzed, needing a power wheelchair. I was in a nursing home for 4 years. Juliet kept sleeping by the back door “waiting” for me to come home. The family then brought her to visit me in the nursing home, which helped! When I returned home Juliet was so excited. Now in an in-home hospital bed, Juliet spent her days and nights at my side (my protector). At the years went by we enjoyed each others company while my family and caregivers fed Juliet and let her outside. As she grew older we took her to regular vet visits. It was at one of those visits that the vet told us that Juliet had Canine Renal Disease associated with age. Juliet’s health would fair pretty well over the next year and a half, however, she began to slowly lose weight. Drinking water more frequently became habit as well as indoor accidents, so we put doggy diapers on Juliet. It was when she became weaker and was falling while walking and bumping into walls because of poor vision we knew Juliet’s time was coming. It was Saturday, August 12, 2017. During the night, Juliet had lost control of everything and was falling in her messes and wandering like she was lost and couldn’t see. We decided it was best to end her suffering. On Monday, August 14, 2017, we all kissed Juliet and told her we loved her. My husband and my mother took her to the vet where Juliet lovingly and peacefully went off to Rainbow Bridge. Due to my illnesses, I couldn’t be there, but I took comfort knowing our fur baby Juliet, at age 17 years, 5 months, and 6 days was now at peace. This beautiful creature that the Lord brought into my life for me to save, ended up saving my life. I feel so blessed that she lived for almost 17 & 1/2 years. I take comfort knowing my vet showed compassion and empathy as did MCS of WI. My sister brought Juliet’s cremains (in Friendship urn) and paw print (in clay) home today. It was bittersweet, however when I saw how beautifully and carefully wrapped everything was, I knew it was all done with the utmost respect and care for an animal that was loved like one of our children.
Thank you so much for helping us transition during this painful grieving process that is a natural part of life. This is our first adoption, our first animal, our first loss. Thank you for what you do, I can now look at Juliet’s beautiful remberance’s and know she is truly “Home”.
Sincerely,
Laurie & Mike Davis Sr.
and Family
Greenfield, WI
