Louella: 14.feb.2008 to 12.Aug.2022

Just two weeks after Joshua died in April 2016, EGRR asked me to go to Everett Animal Shelter to collect a 9-year-old golden retriever who they had determined unadoptable due to her significant health problems. Her name was "Bree". The early days were hard, but we both did so need the other, and from the beginning she was a very sweet and accepting dog. Many veterinary visits followed; among other things she lost all her upper front teeth. Her ear tumors were found to be benign, but the tissue of the right ear canal so infected, that total ear canal ablation followed. She recovered well from this, but had continuing resistant infections in her left ear and allergies leading to very sore feet and skin. However, her weight decreased from 89 lb to 59 lb and she was overall much healthier. By August, she was thought to be almost ready for adoption, but at the end of August she suffered a major seizure -- a very scary thing I had not had with any of my own dogs. Then two more, much more minor, at the end of September, and the end of October. So she remained in EGRR foster care.

I was away, December 2016 to July 2017, so for 8 months she was cared for by other EGRR members, but on my return to Seattle, she became mine, and she became "Louella". Accessing her microchip record, I found she was almost a whole year younger than originally reported. We started to do some good hikes; unlike with Joshua and Benedict she hiked off leash and always stayed close. We started taking obedience training more seriously: she was eager to please, and very food oriented. She had more health problems with ears and teeth, but overall was a much healthier happier dog.

She accepted the energetic puppy Sylvester at the end of 2017, and although they were never companions n the way that Joshua and Benedict had been, they coexisted happily. The one game they both played together was retrieving tennis balls at Magnuson Park off-leahh area, and they both enjoyed the beach area, although neither was a confident swimmer. However, walking them together was always an issue, and became too frustrating for all three of us, so by the end of 2019 I was walking them separately. They also boarded separately, with Louella going back to people who had fostered her in 2017.

COVID hit early in 2020, and Louella's walks became mre restricted as she grew older. However through the 2020-1 she continued to enjoy offleash walks at Marymoor on days when Sylvester went to Day Care in Renton, and she enjoyed wandering around in the fenced area at the cabin. She became totally deaf, and very stubborn, but continued to enjoy life. Her last weekend she was still wandering on her own at the cabin, although she coild no longer manage the steps. Even in her last week, she continued to eat well, and go (with help) out to the back yard, and had one small walk. She was still stubbornly managing, but then her back legs failed, and by the end of the week she was ready to go, which she did, very peacefully.

Whatever her first eight years were like, it is good to know her last six years were happy, and she had a good old age. At 14.5 years old, she lived longer than any except Ptolemy: I grew to realize that it was almost 20 years since I had had an old dog to care for.