Tribute to Mollie

It’s been a sad time for our friends Alain and Jan. They only lost Owain in March, and now his sister Mollie has followed him across the Bridge. She hadn’t been well for a while, and last weekend she came to the end of the road.

Annabelle fostered Mollie when she came into GRW care 7 years ago after being found wandering the local lanes. She was thin and exhausted with patches of missing fur, sores on her skin and a bad attitude. I found her hard to live at first; this was before Pearl had landed on Planet Earth, and I was used to being the only dog. Mollie was used to fighting for survival and only felt safe when she was in charge. I’ve never liked confrontation, and I have to say I felt relieved when Jan and Alain adopted her.

Mollie thrived in their care. She put on weight and her dull pewter fur grew thick, glossy and beautifully blue. Her temper improved and I began to enjoy the time we spent together on pack walks and playdates. Things got better still when Pearl arrived on the scene and became the new target for Mollie’s ‘policing’. It was like water off a duck’s back to Pearl and at last the heat was off me.

Sometimes Pearl and I would stay over at Mollie’s while Annabelle was on holiday, and when Jan and Alain went away Mollie would stay with us. Mollie was devoted to Jan and the last time she stayed here she spent the first few days in the back bedroom, crying piteously. I felt really sorry for her. I think I realised then that she wasn’t as tough as she appeared to be.

Mollie was never physically strong. She had a dent in her skull above her eye and I don’t think she could see properly. None of us were sure how the dent had got there and we didn’t like to think about it too much. She suffered with colitis as well, probably because she was such a little stress-ball.

After Owain died, Mollie began to go downhill. Her heart was failing, and a bad bout of colitis last weekend was just too much for her little body to cope with. But she always had a fighting spirit, and she’ll be busy ‘policing’ all the dogs in the Land of Summer now.

Mollie was a small Lurcher with a big personality. She terrified me when I first knew her, but we ended up being the best of friends. I’m really going to miss her.