Millie's Story
written by Marcia Zwilling


As Millie lays quietly resting, her body giving out quickly, I can't help but
relive the past decade with this very special red Doberman. It's 7:30 in
the morning and her vet has just called to tell me what I already know. Most
of her major organs have started to shut down now, and it's her time. It's
ironic that some ten years ago I received a different call at 7:30 in the
morning; a call that brought Millie into my life.
I had just finished a cup of coffee and completed my morning prayer and
meditation, asking for God's will for me and how I could be of service. The
moment I opened my eyes the telephone rang. It was the Santa Monica Animal
Shelter.


I had volunteered briefly until I couldn't handle the emotional pain of
seeing so many dogs being put down. Instead, I started something called "Pet
Sponsors" to raise money for veterinary care to buy animals extra time in
hopes of them being adopted. On that morning about ten years ago, on the
other end of the line, was a technician from the shelter telling me there was
a very sweet Dobie that was scheduled to be put down in a few hours. The dog
was a pregnant stray and unfortunately, her time was up. Luckily this woman
had a special affection towards Dobermans and was wondering if I could come
down and buy her, get her spayed and try to find her a home. Within minutes
I was in my car heading toward the shelter.


I brought my Australian Shepherd, Rosie along, explaining on the way that we
were going to rescue a dog that needed our help. An appointment had been
made for Millie's spaying the next day but I decided to bring her to my own
vet that afternoon. After examining her, my vet concluded that Millie was
just several days away from giving birth, and at this point it would be
better to just let her just have the puppies.
The next day I took her to her scheduled appointment and that vet said the
same thing. We x-rayed her and learned Millie was about to give birth to 8
puppies…. Several days later I went from one dog to being the proud owner
of ten dogs…


Millie was a wonderful mother and we managed to find great homes for all her
puppies. She was spayed and I eventually found her a good home as well. The
day her new owners took her away she stared out the back windshield of their
car watching me disappear in the distance.


In the following days I couldn't get over my depression of giving her up. I
missed her terribly and cried all the time. I called to follow up on her and
was told that she was howling everyday, all day long. It seemed that I
wasn't the only one crying and missing our family. The new owners also said
that when they took her to LA's Doggie Park she had seen a white jeep like
the one I use to own and took off running after it. They thought it was best
if they returned her to me. Several hours later, Millie was in the back of
my Jeep happily greeting Rosie and coming home for good.

During the next ten years she lived a wonderful life. We would go to the
mountains on weekends where she had her own sweater (an extra large) to
frolic in the snow. We went to the beach often, once to Sedona, Arizona and
several times back and forth to Texas. Millie loved to travel and for most
of her life actually believed she was a lap dog. She slept on my bed next to
me until she was unable to jump up anymore. She always had health problems,
a chronic lung disease which only cortisone could relieve. Over the years
she became quite obese but was always happy.


These past few days she has gone downhill very quickly. She knows it is her
time as do I. I tell her that I love her and that it's time for her to go
find Rosie and Amberson. I tell her that one day it will be up to them to
find me…


At the same time the new puppy I rescued from the pound is just beginning his
life with me. I try to comfort myself, knowing that I had given Millie the
best life a dog could ever have. And as she slips away from me now, there is
another fella that needs my love. Ripley was confiscated because of cruelty
and has for some reason found his way into my life.


Although I know there will never be another Millie, I am determined to make a
change in Austin's current shelter system in her name… This shelter was built
40 years ago and is still expected to handle the same city and county, though
the growth has been astronomical… That would be a wonderful legacy for
Millie.


In these final hours I realize that she was not the only lucky one here. I
was just as lucky to have found her. There will never be another Millie, but
she will live on in my memories, and in the homes of eight other families
who love her puppies as much as I loved her….Animal Tails has been created because of the many funny tail-wagging stories that have been sent to us by our friends and supporters. We wanted to share them with y'all. We hope that you will enjoy the tales as much as we have. If you would like to send us your tale (100 words or less) please e-mail it to: rtranch@swtexas.net

Thanks, Nancy

My husband's paternal grandparents were oil rich. And in the Texas panhandle, that meant REALLY rich! They built one of the first mansions in Amarillo, and raised six kids, four boys and two girls...There was always something wild going on at the Cavin house! One time PawPaw took MawMaw's brand new Packard out for a spin, and came home with a Shetland pony in the backseat...Never did get those stains out...Then one of the boys came home with a pet goat. Unfortunately, the goat loved to climb, and MawMaw shot him dead on the roof of her car. MawMaw never took kindly to anyone messing with her cars...Pioneering spirit, I guess. I always figured PawPaw was lucky she didn't go after him with her .22 in retaliation for the Shetland poop in her Packard. My favorite Cavin story had to do with Uncle John. The Cavin house always had a maid and a cook, and the maid of the month was rather popular with the neighbor's gardener...He was trying real hard to get in good with her, and one evening he brought her a present, a beautiful little white Spitz dog, which Uncle John immediately adopted and named Fritz the Spitz...Uncle John was about eight years old, and figured he could teach that dog some tricks...By the end of the next day, he had that dog walking up and down ladders on his hind legs, rolling a barrel across the lawn, and turning backwards flips in mid air! Everyone figured Johnny had a great future as a World Champion Dog Trainer! Amazing way with animals! What a talented child! Couple of days later, the Sheriff shows up at the door...He was following up on a tip about a stolen dog...Seems the circus had been passing thru town, and reported one of the stars of the show, a little white Spitz had been stolen....hmmmmm So much for the dog training career...Uncle John became a lawyer...

After Bear got his rabies shot we drove to the restaurant to eat. It was cool outside and I knew Bear would be fine in the car. Lunch was fun and as mom and I left the restaurant I saw Bear in the front seat with something in his mouth. My mother gasped as we neared my new Cadillac. A seat belt was in his mouth. He had eaten both seat belts from the ceiling of the car. I drove my mother home quickly and slowly drove back to my house.

By the time I had gotten home I knew exactly what to do. First I tugged on the straps that were still dangling from the ceiling of the car and they each rolled right up inside the ceiling. Great, nothing looked destroyed. (This happened two years before the seat belt laws) I then called my husband at work. This is what was said.

"Honey your not going to believe what Bear ate in the Cadillac," I said. There was a pause. He said, "Oh no, not the leather seats?" I said "no." He said, "Oh no, not the leather dashboard?" I said "no." Their was a pause. Then I said, "It was just the seat belts from the ceiling." "Oh thank God," he said. We sold the Cadillac two years later and Bear lived to be 13 years old.

Our Animal Tail

Both my husband and I had always had dogs when we were growing up and it
was perfectly natural to have dogs for our kids while they were growing
up. When it became apparent that our kid's "leftover" dog had to be put
to sleep because of health problems, we decided that now that it was
just the two of us, we preferred not to be "tied down" to having another
dog - so we said, "no more dogs!"

About two and a half years ago a man I worked with came running up to my
desk (everyone knew I'm a sucker for animals) and told me that his wife
had just learned that a co-worker of hers was planning to have a young
(10 months) healthy, spayed, female beagle mix put down the very next
day because she "snapped" at her kids. After a quick discussion with my
husband, we agreed that we would take the dog, at least temporarily, to
save her from what seemed an unfair fate.

"Abby" has become a joy in our life. Yes, she had a lot of (learned)
behavior problems and she was very fearful of possible punishment. She
even showed her teeth if we said "no." She showed her teeth if I tried
to hug her. She would steal things and run under the dining room table
with them and if we put a hand under the table, it got snapped at. We
quickly learned that it was better to just gently say, "Okay, we'll talk
about it when you are ready to come out."

A lot of gentleness, patience, and love paid off big time. We now have
a well behaved, loving pet who likes nothing better than a good cuddle.
We can't imagine a "not tied down" life without our Abby.