Dearest Duchess

Our sweet little dog Duchess died on Tuesday, March 25, 2008. We only got to love her for 6 months, but we are glad for the time we had.

(This was taken her first day with us.)

Duchess came to us in October 2007 as a rescue dog. She had quite a story. She had been abandoned in an apartment when the tenants were evicted. She was found a week or so later. She was covered in fleas and had no hair from the middle of body to the tip of her tail. She had to have 8 teeth removed, and she was covered in scabs. It took quite some time for her hair to grow back.

She was quite the scraggly one until we got her groomed.

Her eyes seem to tell the whole story.

She never seemed to learn how to play with others. You could toss the ball and she would simply chase it and then throw it for herself. Her other favorite thing to do was to put the ball or chew toy on her blanket and then shake the blanket to throw the toy. She always made us laugh.

I think today is the first day I haven't balled my eyes out for this sweet girl. It didn't matter that she was with us for such a time, but we really loved her. She died in my arms after a nice long walk. She didn't want to come up the stairs to the apartment, so I carried her.

Those who met Duchess knew she was quite a character. She always wanted to be near everyone and was often underfoot so often that we would trip trying to avoid her. We had tons of nicknames for her...Duchess of Barrington, Duchess Kitty (you'll notice the picture of her sitting on the arm of the chair like a cat), Duchy, Duquesita, and on and on.

She loved to look out the window and would go to any lengths to get a good view!