Southern Pines Diaries: Holly, the Dancing Machine Part Two

Friday, June 7, 2013

Holly, the Dancing Machine Part Two

It has been about a fortnight since Holly’s operation to repair her damaged leg. She now performs a rigorous daily routine of mobility therapies she devised for herself after reading medical books and speaking to many learned doctors. She tries to maintain a nutritious diet of fresh chicken, fish, and vegetables to ensure her body’s natural healing process is thorough and uninterrupted. She is working very hard to return her out-of-action limb to its former glory and abilities, but, as with the aftermath of any trauma, Holly has had a case of the blues.

It is hard for a small dog in a big world. Holly has whiled away many lonely nights--even though she has been surrounded by a wonderful foster family while she has been infirm. All the thoughts in her mind revolve around her lost sense of family. She was betrayed by her jealous brother, and her immediate family is on hiatus from riverdancing and is now in orbit around the moon (they were actually astronaut dogs on stand-by for the last mission into space). Basically, her life felt like it was missing something. She loved her foster family very much, but they had a lot of pets already when she came to stay with them, and Holly longed to have a home where she could have more personal space and a little more attention. She is used to being the star after all.

But Holly wouldn’t let her head fill with big hopes like that. “I would have to be the luckiest girl in the world for that to happen," she thought as she drifted to sleep.

The next morning was a special game-day at Holly’s mom’s place of work. She worked in a large place where lots of animals came when they had nobody to take care of them. The people there were kind and always looked after the animals that were left in their care. Holly enjoyed going with her foster mom to her job, but was always glad to leave again. The large number of animals made Holly glad to get back home and burrow under the covers for a while.

On this day Holly went through the usual routine: cup of coffee and a donut with the morning paper on the side…..to pee on. She scuttled across the floor and talked with the other animals as they all cheerfully “good morning”-ed one another. She stayed there with the other shelter dogs all day, and no one stopped to see her. She begged whenever they walked by and did little dances for them, but she knew her dancing capabilities were limited and the passersby were unimpressed. So.. she limped to the back of her kennel where she waited for her foster mom to take her back home.

Later in the afternoon, her foster mom took her out of the kennel and up to the office. She seemed very excited and Holly couldn't help but lick all over her familiar face. Her foster mom sat her down on the floor in the office and turned to talk to a lady. All of a sudden, Holly felt a pressure on her dainty ribs--a hand scooped her up. She could not see who was holding her…

A tiny stranger had Holly in her arms. Her foster mom looked pensive, but smiled and spoke softly to Holly saying, “Holly, these little girls saw your picture and wanted to meet you!”

Holly was apprehensive, but couldn’t help but fall into her normal sweetness as she whimpered and licked the new faces. There was a nice blonde lady and two tiny version of her in polka dot dresses. The little girls especially were excited to meet Holly, and their mother told her that they were going out to buy her lots of fancy dresses. Finally! Holly knew these people would treat her like the star that she was!

After a brief courtship with the ladies and their handsome Yorkie Taz, Holly felt ready to commit to a new forever home! It is a big decision, and she is going to miss her foster family very much. They had lots of other dogs and cats that she had become good friends with over the months. They would be happy for her. She was happy for herself too. This is the end of one journey for Holly, but only the beginning of many more to come. She will continue to heal and love. Perhaps she will be performing again one day--we will have to wait and see.

***There are many other sweet dogs with stories just as unique and interesting as Holly's at Southern Pines Animal Shelter. Stop by and see us sometime soon!***

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Introducing…Southern Pines Diaries

If you are interested in contributing a series of diary entries, please read the information below and e-mail spasvettech@yahoo.com or call 601-954-0789 to work out the details.

Some things to keep in mind if you are interested in contributing to the blog:

Our hope is that each contributor will write a series of entries for each animal, so please make sure you are willing to commit the small amount of time it will take to do their story justice. It doesn’t take a lot because the entries can be as long or as short as you want them to be.

The entries can be written from your perspective or from the perspective of the animal. Feel free to check out what other people have done on the blog and put your own spin on it. You can check out examples from other sites as well, for example (from Friends of Fulton County Animal Services Facebook Page):

“Goodmorning! Maid service just dropped us our breakfast. They will be back around to clean our room soon. They make us leave while they do it, and when we get back in it's fresh and clean. So they finally came and got some better photos of me and my buddies. Mac has been here for 9 days. He came in with his brother. He got excited because he saw his person. But his person only came and got his brother and left him here. He knows now that he isn't getting out unless he finds a new person. I try to help him, we all stand up front and wave our tails and smile but everyone seems to walk right past. Zack is on Day 6. He knows no one is coming for him. He said the last thing he remembers was hanging out in the living room and then the police came. The police came in and had trouble walking because there were feces all on the floor. He was so embarrassed he wanted to use the bathroom outside but his people wouldn't let him. He wanted to tell them he was a good dog, and he didn't want to do that. They took his owner away and then some one else came and got him. That's how he got here. So many dogs here. We heard it is still raining out there. So glad we stay nice and dry in here. My lady is still here. I think I am going to ask her to be my valentine later. I hope she says yes.”

Remember, this is just an example! This format makes it possible to tackle some pretty heavy subject matter without getting bogged down in an emotional quagmire.