Posted on January 13, 2012 by: WayCoolDogs

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She had a white body and legs, a black bottom and a black head with one tiny white spot on her nose, and her fur was a mass of tight curls. If you glanced at her you immediately swivelled and looked again, because she looked unnervingly as if she was wearing a pale shade of eye shadow; there was no fur immediately around her eyes, due to a long-standing skin condition, and it gave her eyes a distinct ‘come-on’ look.

In addition to that, she had a large maggot wound right across her back, so she was rather a sorry sight, but she had a delightful personality that superseded all her difficulties.   Her owners had tearfully decided to give her up for adoption, because the husband had lost his job and they simply could not afford to pay the hospital bills for her, but they were so obviously sincere and clearly loved her so much that the shelter organized a large discount for them, plus a payment plan, so that they wouldn’t have to lose her.  

Although when Lucy came in I was warned that she was ‘a snappy one’, it was obvious that this was because she had a sizeable wound and, like anyone else with an open wound, didn’t appreciate people messing about with it.  I was very careful, when taking her out of her cage, not to touch the places that hurt, and once she realized that I wasn’t going to poke or prod her, she changed her tune right away.  She would wag furiously as soon as she caught sight of me, and get up on her two back legs in readiness to be lifted out. 

Once we were outside she would get very excited and prance and jump in her exuberance (I often wondered if it was the sun that had that effect on her), and it was clear that she was really enjoying herself.  Every time I picked her up she bestowed on me a flurry of little light kisses, and I found myself doing it more and more, partly because it was such a delightful sensation, and partly to see if she would get tired of doing it, but she never did.   She magnanimously allowed me to comb out her tight curls, but she really didn’t need much work, which was another testament to how much her owners cared about her. 

Lucy quickly became a favourite because as the wound began to heal she became more and more upbeat, she stopped complaining when the dressing was changed, and she was always smiling and cheerful, fixing her seductive ‘bedroom eyes’ on you as you passed, which made everyone laugh. Perhaps because of her sunny disposition her wound healed unusually quickly, and I was delighted when her ‘parents’ came for her. I love happy endings.
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Guest Post by Cindi Scholefield, a volunteer at the local animal shelter in Kingston, Jamaica. For any donations to Cindi and her dogs, please send to:
Eunice Crompton-Nicholas
c/o
Harry Dufour
9330 Dunhill Drive
Miramar
Florida 33025-3869

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