Our Newest Addition

Almost 3 years ago we found ourselves in a very sad predicament. Our beloved soft-coated wheaten terrier Tobey was extremely ill. He couldn't relieve himself without great pain, could barely walk, and neither his vet nor the doctors at the animal hospital could figure out what was wrong with him despite multiple x-rays, blood tests, and even ultrasounds. We had to make the most painful decision any pet owner can make: we had to have him put down. I cried for weeks.

When my daughter asked if we could get another dog, I was adamantly against it. There was no way I was going to suffer like that ever again. I had a million reasons why we couldn't: time, finances, allergies, the list went on and on. Just this month, she was begging once again, "Mom, when are we gonna get another dog?" to which I answered, "Let's not start that up again." I didn't want to even consider it. God, however, had other plans.

May 9th, my hubby J came home for lunch and commented that I needed to be careful when I went out to pick up our son E from school because there was a strange dog outside. I figured it was one of our neighbor's cocker spaniels. The house across the street has 2 of them, and they love barking at everyone that goes by. But J said no, it was a big dog. I thought that was strange, but I didn't even look out the window. I got busy serving lunch and talking with J until it was time for him to leave. When I walked him to the door, J said, "Look, there he is." In our front yard, curled up against the house and looking terrified up at us, was a pretty large dog. She looked up at us but didn't even move. I could see the fear in her eyes and felt so sorry for her, but the first thought that came into my mind was, "Wait till A sees this." Sure enough, my daughter was walking by as J and I stood at the front door and came to see what was going on. Her eyes immediately lit up. Uh-oh, I thought, this could be a problem.

We could see the dog had no collar. She also looked like she'd been out for awhile. My daughter went into the kitchen and got her some water (in one of my good bowls no less!). When the dog got up to drink, we noticed 2 things: she was extremely thin, with her rib cage pretty noticeable and her mid-section looking sucked into the center, and she looked like she'd recently had puppies. At least that was my thought. J said no, she couldn't have just had puppies. She was too thin. My daughter went back into the kitchen and found some leftover meatballs from our Mother's day cook-out and a can of vienna sausages to serve her. The dog at this point had moved to our neighbor's side yard, but it was easy enough to coax her back with the food. She gobbled up the scraps we gave her, and it was clear she was ravenous. I got her some more vienna sausages, but it was clear by her size and how emaciated she was that this wouldn't be enough. I had to go pick up E from school, so I told A I'd pick up some dog food for her on my way home. In the meantime we opened the gate to try and get her into our yard where she'd be safe. I was surprised at the fact that she came right in, as though she trusted us completely.

As I drove to E's school and thought about the dog, I found myself crying. I didn't realize it, but I still hadn't gotten over Tobey's death. At the same time, I felt strongly this dog needed us, and in my mind I began thinking of a name for her.

When E came out of school I filled him in on the afternoon's events. He became so excited! He couldn't wait to get to the house and see the dog that had found us. We began talking about names, and came up with Molly. Don't ask me why, it just felt right. We stopped at Winn-Dixie, picked up a couple of cans of dog food and headed right home. Once there, we fed her a large can of dog food and watched her devour half the can in her first bite! We noted how gentle she was, not barking or threatening any of us in any way. I was unsure if this was her disposition or if she was too weak to be rough with anyone. As we looked at her, E told his sister we were thinking of what to name the dog, and she said she liked the name Maggie. We told her we'd thought of Molly, and she quickly said, "I like Molly!" So Molly it was.

Of course, J had already left for work again and didn't know what was going on. I decided to take a picture of E with Molly and text it to him. Here's the picture we sent daddy:

J quickly called and said, "Why'd you let her in the yard? I knew you were gonna do that!" (Why did he ask if he knew I was gonna do it?). I explained that we didn't want to leave her outside where she could get hurt, and we'd try to find out who she belonged to. He was not convinced. J had also suffered greatly when we lost Tobey, and he didn't want another dog. It was gonna take more than pity to convince him to keep the dog, at least till we decided what to do with her.

I don't think J expected E's reaction. When J came home, E got down on his knees, and with tears streaming down his face, begged his daddy to PLEASE let us keep Molly. J almost began crying himself. It was enough to break a heart in two. Seeing how much this dog meant to E, daddy decided we'd keep her for one week, then figure out what to do. In the meantime we'd see if we could find her owners. He made it clear we were not to start spending money on the dog other than food, and she had to stay outside because a) we didn't know if she was house broken, and b) we didn't know if she was a vicious dog. We agreed, and started caring for Molly.

My daughter looked up info in her doggie books and figured Molly was more than likely an American bulldog, with some labrador and saint bernard in her. What worried me most was whether she was healthy or not. She was a stray, after all; we had no idea how long she'd been outside, or where she'd come from. All we knew was, she was skinny and dirty. That much we could take care of. We started feeding her, and gave her a flea bath. We kept seeing her peaceful and loving disposition. She'd only bark to get our attention. She was extremely gentle with everyone, and instead of being a big mean dog, she turned out to be a big scaredy-dog. I didn't know if this was because she was sick, though. And I knew J wasn't about to pay a vet to find out if she was or not. We prayed and asked the Lord if we were meant to keep her, and if it was His will that we keep her to make it possible. True as His word, we asked and He answered.

My daughter found a local vet that would give a complimentary first exam with an online coupon, so we called and were able to take her in that Wednesday. I had to explain that we'd found her in our front yard, because she was so skinny I didn't want them to think we'd abused her. I was again amazed at her gentleness. The vet and her assistant did a full exam on her, including taking her temperature and fecal sample, and Molly didn't even flinch. She behaved perfectly! After checking her, we found out: a) Molly had indeed recently had puppies; as a matter of fact she still had milk and some bleeding, which led them to believe her puppies had been taken away from her too early, b) she is indeed an American bulldog mix, and the vet says she's about a year and 2 months old, c) they found no fleas, no parasites, nothing to be concerned about. As a matter of fact, the vet asked if we intended to keep her. I told her we weren't sure at this point, but if we decided not to keep her we'd take her to the humane society. The vet's face fell; she insisted if we didn't want to keep Molly we could bring her the dog and she'd take care of finding her a home. She fell in love with Molly immediately! She not only gave us the visit for free; the fecal exam was free, and the deworming was also free. Then, when we called her on Saturday because Molly still had some bleeding, the doctor called in a prescription for antibiotics FOR FREE!! The medication would have cost us $40. That vet saved us over $100 with all that she did for Molly. It was proof positive to me that God was providing for Molly because He wanted us to keep her.

We had the vet check to see if Molly had a microchip; she doesn't. With no collar and no identification, we think Molly had her puppies, the puppies were sold and Molly was abandoned. My daughter remembers seeing American bulldog puppies being sold near our home on the side of the road just a couple of weeks before, so it all seems to make sense. Molly was used to make money and gotten rid of once she was no longer useful. We're so thankful God brought her to us. She's now allowed inside the house; we found out not only is she house broken, she respects everything in the house, chews nothing that isn't given to her by us, and won't go into the bathrooms or my bedroom because we told her once not to. She's an obedient, sweet, loveable, gentle and faithful dog. What a blessing to have such a sweet new addition to our home!