Millie’s Short Life
We picked up our puppy Millie from Renee’ when she was 8 weeks old. She was so cute. We had done all our homework on the breed of dog we would like to have. We read Puppies for Dummies, The Art of Raising a Puppy and Cesar Milan’s book Cesar’s Way. We also are avid watchers of his program The Dog Whisperer. We wanted to do all the right things for our newest family member. The puppy education for us was also fun as we waited for the news the litter had arrived. We were prepared! So each Sunday we would find ourselves glued to the computer… waiting for the email from Renee’ to arrive with the latest picture of Millie, our Morkie.
Finally the day came. We drove to Maine and met Renee’ and many family members. When Millie was brought out and handed to us, it was an incredible feeling she was so cute and very small.
We love to take walks and were eager to have Millie join us. The leash and collar took some getting use to but Millie had it down after a week or so. We had taken her to a couple of dog friendly parks and watched her as she encountered all kinds of new things, baby carriages, skateboards, tricycles, kids and of course other dogs. We did not let her interact with other dogs as we had read you shouldn’t until the vaccinations are done. We were socializing her, a small step at a time.
Her vaccinations were done and it was a beautiful Sunday in New England. We decided to go for a walk. When Millie saw the leash she knew we were going out and she was eager to join us. We went to this dog friendly park in Hingham, MA. We use to walk there ourselves prior to getting Millie, so we were familiar with it. All was going well and we would get the usual questions and comments about how cute she is and what is she. We were always alert when we could see that a dog encounter was ready to occur. Today was no different. We could see 3 dogs approaching with three owners. They did not look threatening at all. Two dogs were unleashed and one was leashed. Millie of course had her harness and leash on. The meeting between Millie and a mixed breed shepherd initially looked typical for a puppy and a grown dog. They sniffed each others noses, and then Millie stood up on her hind feet. All 15 inches of her. The Shepherd immediately reacted and grabbed her in his mouth around her mid section and clamped down. Millie screamed in pain as we tried to get the dog to let go. The owner was no help. An older woman that had no control of her dog. The dog finally let go, after what seemed like an eternity. Kathy was bitten in the process of trying to free Millie.
We knew that Millie was seriously injured. I held her in my arms as we rushed to the car. Kathy, a nurse, could tell that Millie was not doing well. Her breathing was shallow and her tongue was hanging out of her mouth. To me it was critical that we get help fast. We sped to the animal hospital lights flashing, speeding and acting like I was an ambulance.
We got to the animal hospital pretty fast. When we entered the building, I stated that we had a puppy that was severely injured. They responded as if we were at the ER of Boston Medical Center. A doctor took Millie from us and brought her to an examining room. We were taken to a private room next door.
After an examination of Millie, the Doctor came and told us that Millie had suffered fatal internal injuries.
We brought her home and after an absolutely wonderful 6 weeks with her, we buried her in our back yard.
We have a lot of guilt in Millie’s tragic death. She was a puppy and it was our responsibility to take care of her. We did that to the very best of our ability and knowledge. We never read anything about encounters with larger dogs and toy breeds. We know now, that to some larger dogs these puppies could look like small game, or something other than a dog.
We learned a lesson the hard way. We will never allow a dog encounter unless the other dog is of equal size and is not threatening. We won’t allow an encounter with a large dog during her puppy months. They rely on us to protect them, much like our children do. |
