Pylon

We were living in Pennsylvania and planning to be married in New York so we had to drive to NY to get our marriage license. We planned a leisurely drive and lunch in an historic restaurant. We put Libby in a kennel the day before to see how well she would tolerate being kenneled during our honeymoon.

The evening before our trip we found Pylon. She was a lovely eight week old Lab-mix that had been tossed out the window of a moving car and spent the whole day wandering around a parking lot. Nobody helped her. She was cold, hungry, thirsty and scared. The people in the office building had seen her and some had talked to her, but not one of them helped her. We took her home.

The next morning we decided to take her with us to get our license. It didn't occur to us that having been thrown out of a car, she might be afraid of cars. I held her on my lap and we started off. No sooner did the car start moving than Pylon started drooling. I was wearing a dark brown coat that showed drool stains really well. I reached for a roll of paper towels, but soon needed them to catch vomit, seven times on the way to NY.

When we arrived, I left my coat in the car and ran shivering into the license bureau. Then came lunch. I walked closely behind Rob so no one could see my drool drenched coat. We ate quickly, wondering what the pup was doing to the car in our absence. On the way home, more drool and more vomit. I apologize for flinging the vomit filled paper towels from the windows of the moving vehicle. I don't usually litter, but this was a special occasion.

Libby and Py became good friends and I credit Py with adding a couple years to Libby's life. They loved to chase squirrels in the park and Py would retrieve anything we would throw. She never learned to relax in a car and she always hated water. She would go way out of her way to avoid a puddle and if she saw me gathering shampoo and towels for a bath, she would hide.

Py was a gentle, quiet dog that loved kids and could be trusted with the very youngest ones. I never heard her growl, but almost every night of her life she had dreams that would leave her sobbing like a baby. I would reach out and touch her and she would thump her tail once to let me know she was alright. Then she'd go back to sleep. I always wondered if she was dreaming of being thrown out of that car by someone she had trusted.

Py was almost two years old when Libby died. She became very ill and after she recovered her Vet suggested we get her another friend. We were getting ready to move to Maryland, so we put it off. Once we were settled we decided to find Py a friend and headed for the local animal shelter. I saw a cute fuzzy white dog, but I was too late. It was love at first sight between Rob and another pup.


She was a four month old dachshund mix. I told everyone that Rob wanted a long low sports car and I wanted a dog, so we compromised and got a long, low dog and named her Porsche. She was a little dog with big personality.

We picked her up on Wednesday afternoon and laughed at her antics all evening and the next day. On Friday we packed the dogs in the car and left for Ocean City for the weekend. Porsche seemed very quiet in the car, but once we got into the hotel we realized she was very sick. We rushed her to the emergency vet hospital and she was diagnosed with Parvo.

Once she was stable, we drove her back home to the emergency vet near our house. She spent the next five days there. On the sixth day, she died. We had had her for 48 hours, but she left a big hole in our hearts. And Pylon had lost another friend.