Monday, December 17, 2007

RIP Perle' 2/23/04-12/17/07


Today I said goodbye to my furry baby. A co-worker said that I shouldn't refer to her as my baby because it sounds too disturbing but honestly I can't think of anything else that is better suited.
This little fur baby was tossed away from her birth parents because she was imperfect. I thought she was adorable. I wanted her to have a shot so I commited to her that I would find her the perfect home for the perfect puppy. She was 3 days old when she entered my heart, in 300 yrs she will still be there.
Shortly after she came home with me she became ill. The first ailment was a simple skin infection. Happens often when puppies don't have their mothers to nurse. After a few days of antibiotics she was looking dramatically better. During this time I contacted Boxer rescue and told them her sad story. They seemed optimistic about placing her in the perfect home. I began to quickly realize what her name should be. "Perfect", now I am not in denial she was far from perfect. She had a horribly birth defect of her front leg and her ears made her look like Sally the flying nun,
but to me she was perfect. I broke my family pet rule of everyone's name ending in "ie" and looked for the French word for perfect. Wouldn't you know it didn't sound very good. But in the dictionary near perfect was the word pearl. Perle' was named. I still consider her name meaning perfect since that was the intention. :-)
Starting at 6 weeks of age my poor baby has battled Pancreatitis. This is an extremely painful condition that causes vomiting and stomach upset. She was such a trooper and pulled through each time with her fluids. One day I remember we had to go here and there to appointments. So I hooked up her IV in the back seat of the car and she went everywhere with us getting her nursing care constantly. At less than 4 months old she had recovered from several bouts with sickness and was ready for her surgical amputation of her club foot. We had made several attemps to correct it with no luck. So Dr Rick took her ugly leg and with that this little dog found a love for life that I cannot describe. I have never met a dog (and I have met many) that loved life like Perle'. Her zeal was contagious. She had her genetic issues of course. One of the habits that drove us crazy was the fact that she couldn't control herself. Especially when it came to people. She loved them....All of them.
She had a way of racking every man that walked in her path with her one good leg. She also lacked the brain mechanism "off switch". She would lick the floor or turn in circles before laying down for hours if you didn't tell her to snap out of it.
It was these attributed that made us fall so hard. It was quickly clear that Perle' wan't going anywhere. I remember how cute it was when she was so tiny to have her sing with me in the car every morning on the way to work. Later in life you would frequently hear us yelling..."Quiet Perle'". ----------to be continued! I need a break :'-(

1 comment:

J said...

I'm so sorry Krystal. I truly, truly am. I made you a memorial siggy that I posted on SMW for you. Pop in when you get a chance. Email me if you need to talk. ((HUGS))