A Year Ago

For months I have been dreading June 30, 2010. That's because shortly before 8pm on June 30, 2009, I heard the painful yelp of a dog half a block away. A few minutes later, I received a phone call from a neighbor with the news: John, Portia and Bingley had been attacked by the very same dog who had ravaged Zephyr less than three years earlier.

We rushed both dogs to the emergency vet's. Bingley was able to come home that night with multiple stitches, some holding the skin of his knee together that looked more like raw hamburger than skin. The vet wasn't sure that those stitches would hold. But with careful supervision of Bingley's every move, they did. And his rapid healing potential took over.

Portia was not so lucky. She was transferred to a veterinary hospital for specialty care for her massive wound. We visited her regularly and she seemed to be improving. But the ordeal was too much for her heart. It stopped beating on the morning of July 7, a needless loss that inspired this blog.

So we enter a week of remembering Portia. Her beauty. Her deviousness. Her love of play. Her perfect deportment on walks. Her mischievousness in the house.

We miss you, Portia. And we promise to do all we can to make our neighborhood safer for dogs on leash.