Long Tall Sally comes home!

Long Tall Sally is a 2-year-old female Yorkie-??? maybe poodle, maybe schnauzer, definitely GAZELLE - oh, those long, long legs! She chose us when we came this past Saturday 4/10/10 to look at dogs for possible adoption.

We had just lost our beloved Li'lB, a female purebred Yorkie born on Valentine's Day 2008, who passed away last Saturday night 4/3/10 at the age of only 26 months for no apparent reason. I had been playing my harp at church for the prelude before the Vigil Mass and when I came home, Li'l B was in the dining room window waiting for us as always. She was so happy to see us and as usual, jumped up into my arms and gave me lots of Yorkie kisses. When she was satisfied she had enough attention, she wanted down and again as usual, she ran into the dining room where she usually had a toy or two stashed under the table. I headed upstairs to change out of my gown and she usually would have followed with her toy of choice for some play while I changed clothes, but this time she didn't. I called to her and she didn't respond. By the time I got to the top of the stairs and called her a second time, she still hadn't responded. My husband, who had been in the kitchen, yelled out to me to
come back downstairs because he had just found Li'lB under the dining room table, simply lying stretched out on her side, dead. After inspecting her for possible causes, we noted there was nothing to be found, i.e. nothing choking her (we even tried to resuscitate her but to no avail), and nothing causing her to writhe in pain that we could tell from her final resting position; she had simply rolled over onto her side and died. The vet thinks it was a congenital problem, causing either a heart attack, sudden anneurism or stroke, especially considering that she was such a young and otherwise totally healthy dog. We buried her in the backyard on Easter Sunday in the early evening and are all still quite devastated. It was a total shock!

Although Li'l B can never be replaced, we are so very fortunate to have been found by our lovely little Sally, another very sweet and distinctly individual dog. She spotted us when we got out of the car and immediately came over to the outside fenced area, sat down and put her head back so that my husband, sons and I could scratch her neck. Even when other people came by to look at her, she seemed to gravitate back to one of us. When my older son started paying attention to another dog which suddenly came between him and her, she barked at it and pushed it out of the way as if to say, "hey, these are my people, go get your own"! We fell in love with her immediately, and once inside the shelter, she took immediate occupancy of our laps - and our hearts! We brought her home and she has definitely filled the terrible hole in our hearts left by our beloved Li'lB. We can't thank you folks enough for letting us bring home our little "bundle of joy"!

Sally has already started to learn "sit", "down" and "heel", but her official training classes start this Saturday. Li'lB had been trained and working as a therapy dog, going with me to nursing homes when I perform to visit with the patients before, during and after the show. Hopefully Sally will fill those shoes as well - all 4 of them! Again, thank you so much - we love our Long-Tall Sally and hope to have her for many happy years to come.

Attached are 2 photos of our new baby, Sally - isn't she just the sweetest little thing? Please take note of her long legs and her new "bling", too! There is also one of our dearly departed Li'lB - rest in peace, dear heart! We know you're at the Rainbow Bridge and pray to meet up with you there someday!!!

Christine, Larry, Alexander and Nicholas Holt