HOLLY BERRY

In the summer of 1995, Holly Berry showed up at the door of the acute admissions unit (Holly) I was running at Alton Mental Health Center. She was a small, lost, black mutt who was trying to check in and was making the most of her charms by conning the mental patients out of Doritos, skittles, M & M's and Snickers bars. The patients were delighted by her and were stuffing her with the deadly chocolate. So, I rescued her from the kindness of the mental patients.

The Administrators of the Hospital were far less kind and told me that she had to be removed from the hospital grounds immediately. I attempted to contact local "no kill" shelters, but there was no room at any of the "no kill" inns. Holly had to be taken to the local "kill" pound. Well, that was not going to happen. So, Holly was taken to my house to meet Jake and Savvy Jo. Jake and Savvy Jo had recovered from their near fatal bout with Parvo. They accepted her. I told everybody that she was only going to stay until I could find someone to take her. Well, of course, no one wanted a black mutt. But, I didn't try real hard either. So, Holly stayed.

Holly turned out to be Black Lab and Chow according to the VET. Best watch dog you could ever find. She literally patrolled the perimeter of the inside of the house hour by hour every night--all night. She sniffed every window and every door for intruders.

Late one evening when Holly had lived with me for about a year, I sitting in bed reading a book. Holly was very interested in the open bedroom window. It was a very cool evening and there was a nice breeze. So, I had the window open to the screen. Holly hopped up on the bed with me and continued to peer through the screen to the outside. With no warning, she sailed through the screen, teeth bared, growling and snarling. The teenagers hiding in the Rhododendrons while they peered through the window ran as if their life were in danger. Unfortunately, poor Holly lacerated all of her nipples on the torn screen and I had to rush her to the VET Emergency Room to be stitched back up.

Years later, when Eric and I began living together, the perimeter of the back yard was carefully guarded by Holly Berry. She guarded it so well that she completely wore a path all the way around the yard. She took Jake under her wing and taught him to walk the perimeter. Eventually, Holly and Jake taught Dakota to walk guard duty. The path is still there and now Dakota walks it alone in their stead.

Holly had a very bad heart condition and for the last four years of her life, she was required to take heart medication twice a day. She had a grade 6 murmur and an enlarged heart. The VET was quite concerned that she would simply collapse in sudden death. We tried not to let her get over heated or over excited. She had quite a temper as it related to stranger dogs and felt it was her place to protect Eric, me and the home to her death. Eric often remarked of Holly, that she would lay down her life for me any second she perceived it as necessary.

Holly had her first really bad sick spell last summer. She developed something called geriatric cerebellar syndrome where she was unable to stand, walk, or eat. It completely wiped out her balance and she was so dizzy and nauseous that when she was able to eat what she was hand fed, she threw it up. She was not able to point her mouth towards a bowl to eat or drink. She missed the bowl. I used the equivalent of a small dog turkey baster to shoot water in her mouth and I hand fed her baked chicken breast. With treatment, she got better. She did well for a while and then I found fresh scarlet blood on the floor. Holly was housebroken and literally never failed. It was as if she told me there was a problem, by leaving the blood on the floor. The VET gave her antibiotics and the bleeding stopped. A few months later, Holly acted as if she were constipated. She kept going out in the back yard and straining. Her gait was also impaired.

I took her to the VET. Within moments of an examination, he told me that he believed he had found a blockage in her bladder and that if he had, it was going to be a very grave prognosis. He needed to insert a long needle into her bladder (through her belly) and remove the build up of urine. The next morning, he needed to put her under anesthesia and MRI her abdomen. We had discussed anesthesia in regards to Holly several time for other reasons and had chosen not to anesthetize her because none of the VET's believed her heart could tolerate anesthesia. But, now there was no choice. He wanted to make her as comfortable as possible for the night, let us bring her home for one more night, and do the anesthesia the next day when he had a full compliment of staff available. I called Eric to come to the VET.

Eric arrive and was able to see Holly. Holly went into shock during the procedure to remove the urine. She did not respond to emergency procedures. We lost her March 3, 2010. We had her cremated as we did Jake last fall.

I will remember Holly Berry most for her boundless love, loyalty, courage, bravery, dignity, that left tilt of her head punctuated by those dancing epectant eyes, and that tirelessly wagging tail. Eric and I loved Holly so very much and I have been hurting so badly from her loss that I have been unable to write about her until now.