Jilly, RIP

Condolences, hugs and warm thoughts to my friend Bev and her husband on the loss of their beloved dog Jilly (named after Charles de Lint's character Jilly Coppercorn) over the weekend.

Jilly was an Australian Shepherd who had been with Bev since she was three months old. She was very sweet and affectionate and loved being around people and having her butt scratched. (Whenever I was at their house, my primary duty was to make sure that her butt was properly and thoroughly scratched, and she didn't let me forget it.)


She turned 12 this year (the average life span for an Aussie) and had started showing signs of slowing down since the first of the year. She was arthritic and had a lot of trouble getting up and moving around.

Over the weekend, while Bev and her husband were out of town, a friend from our gaming group who was house-sitting noticed that she was unusually sluggish and would lay in the same place for several hours at a time. We thought that she was just feeling the effects of all of the hot weather we've been having lately until late Saturday evening, when she began experiencing respiratory problems. Her breathing was shallow and labored and we could tell from the look in her eyes that she knew something was wrong.

We took her to the vet's office and left her there for the night, and spent the rest of the evening hoping that everything would be alright. By Sunday morning she was starting to show some signs of improvement, but just before noon she had a heart attack and she was gone.

Our gaming group gathered at their house that afternoon and had a wake of sorts, just so Bev could have her extended family around her for a while. (Jilly always liked to have people around, so I know she would have approved.) The other two dogs, Zoe and Kaylee, were enjoying all of the extra attention, although it was obvious that Zoe (who had grown up around Jilly) knew that something wasn't right but couldn't figure out what it was.

(I'm having trouble figuring out how to end this, so I'll just say that I miss Jilly more than I can say and I'm looking forward to seeing her again someday and giving her butt-scratches again. Maybe Zoe or Kaylee will develop a liking for them, but it just won't be the same.)