Missy

Missy March 2003

Freedom Day ~June 11, 2001~

Forever Home Day ~Feb. 20, 2002~

~Birthdate Unknown - August 9, 2004~

Missy (Miss Priss) was a puppymill rescue. She was 8 years old when she was rescued.
She spent 8 years in a cage, breeding puppies for a greedy man.

This is what I know about Missy's history from the rescuer:
Last spring (2001) another rescue person paid $5 for her at a dog auction.
She came into rescue on 11 June 01 with few teeth which were very bad, open sores on her feet, infected ears (the right one was swollen shut), in season and had mammary tumors.

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Missy is a sweet and happy girl. She is still a little timid. She is my shadow, she follows me everywhere. Unfortunately she became deaf from her chronic ear infections. So I believe she may have been deaf before she came to me, or very shortly afterwards. She never learned her name, so we changed it from Miss Priss to Missy. Then realizing she was deaf, and now I know why she didn't learn her name. so sometimes she gets alittle startled if you touch her when she is not looking.

Missy loves to go for walks, at first when she would see something, she would just freeze and stare at whatever she was looking at. Now she doesn't freeze as often as before.

Missy loves to go for car rides and looks out the car window.

She will sleep where ever my slippers are. So we move them to the bedroom at night and in the living room during the day. One day I left them on the back porch (stepped in some dodo), came home after some errands and there she was out by my slippers. I knew then how much she was attached to me and my slippers. She has separation anxiety and my slippers really makes her feel better when I'm gone.

If I'm in the kitchen (for example) and Missy will come back in from outside, and if she didn't see me, she starts running through the house looking for me, searching all the rooms for me. She makes her way back to the kitchen and is happy once more.

Missy is a silly girl. For some reason, sometimes her poop will stick in her tail hair, I think she doesn't hold her tail up. She will come running back in the house going 90 miles an hour, until it falls off or she finds me to remove it. When she finds me, she squats down in front of me, looking like she's going to the bathroom. It's her way of telling me to help her.

Missy doesn't have a problem with eating, I'm thankful she isn't a picky eater. She lets me know when I'm not fast enough with getting dinner ready. She starts barking and jumping.

She has had variety of problems--heart murmur, loose knees, and slow digestion, mammary tumors, chronic ear infections, seizures and Oral-Nasal Fistula. All the mammary tumors were removed. In the summer of 2003, she lost her last 2 front teeth and the vet closed the holes between her mouth and sinus cavity. She was put on heart medications.
She now has no teeth. Her tongue hangs out the right side of her mouth. Everyone is always asking why, and I tell them the story of where Missy came from.

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Missy is in heaven now, and she is with all of her friends, who weren't as lucky as she was, as she found heaven on earth. She found someone to love her and letting her know she was special, that all men are not evil and greedy. She was older and used up by the millers, but learned to trust humans again.

My tears of her death are nothing compared to her tears and sadness, that she had for so many years, locked in a cage, taking away her puppies, being left behind. Her tears and broken heart were for life, as she was scared for life. Giving up hope that someone would love her. As the miller broke her heart and spirit, I was the one who renewed her faith in men, letting her know she was special And she was loved, and accepted her as she was.

Missy is my angel, and she will never be forgotten, as she was as special to me, as I was to her. I love my Missy girl, I'm sorry we didn't have as much time as I would have liked, But it was her time, and I made a promise that she wouldn't be alone at the end. And she wasn't. She is my baby and I'll always love her and never forget what she gave to me.

Vidal is missing Missy also. Vidal is lost without her, since they were always together. Vidal followed her around everywhere, and look to her for guidance.

Vidal-Missy(rt)

Missy-David at Yellowstone

Vidal-Missy(rt)

March 2003

Vidal-Missy(top)

Yellowstone Aug 2003

March 2003

Vidal-Missy(rt) March 2003

Vidal-Missy(rt) Destin, Fl. June 2004

Vidal-Missy(left) June 2004

Missy wanting food. March 2004

Missy wanting food, pulling towel down. March 2004

March 2004

Missy-Vidal, Missy getting some rubbing. June 2004

Below is a poem from the rescuer, who saved Missy and Vidal, also a poem I wrote to Missy.

My Old Mill Dogs

Rescue dogs come and go,
But mine? They mostly stay.
For no one wants an older dog
Just young ones who run and play.

Some are old
And some are sick,
And some are sick and old.
But wait--they're only middle aged,
My age.
And that's still young I'm told.

They gave all they had to greedy man;
Their youth, their health, their pups,
And now they need a helping hand
But no one looks them up.

So they and I will stay right here
To age with dignity and grace.
With mutual love we will attempt
The pain and fear to erase.
And when time comes to cross the bridge
I hope that I can find
The same forgiveness in my heart
That they have for all mankind.
..........Jean Ensor

My Sweet Missy

For years, no one heard her cries;
barking, hoping some one would hear her.
All she heard was dogs barking and
crying in pain for years on end
But no one was there to listen or to care.

Now she is deaf, but safe.
My sorrow is that she can not hear my sweet voice
Talking to her, letting her know everything is okay.
But she knows by my love and gentle touch that I give her.
That she is at her forever home and will never leave.

She can’t hear me,
She never leaves my side,
Knowing I’ll always be there for her.

I know someday, we will have to say our goodbyes
But when that day comes, and we meet again,
She will hear my voice and know it is me.

Martha Logue