You saw her in many posts, back in 2009, when I sojourned in Cincinnati and lived, for a time, in a little love nest with Meade. She was the dog next door, but Meade borrowed her and took her on many adventures, chasing deer, encountering skunks, and fending off coyotes. Her name was Holly, and I've made a tag to collect the 20+ posts with pictures of her.
She died yesterday.
Posts
90 comments:
Yes. Of course we (I) remember "Meade's" dog. Sorry to hear she died.
Dogs are very good companions / friends.
Even borrowed ones.
:(
A dog's time with us is so short compared to their effect on us.
We do need to look into whether talk radio or Sarah Palin had any role in her death.
I'm sorry to hear that. She was a sweetie.
Good dog.
That's too bad - sorry to hear it.
Life is temporary. So mourn the passing away and love another great dog.
You can't imagine the impact any animal can have on one's life until you've known one.
I'll bet she took a shine to you, too.
How old, may I ask?
Palladian: Heh on the Sarah Palin crack.
Holly's family, my dear former neighbors, adopted her from an agency that specialized in finding homes for hard-to-place black dogs. Apparently, orphan dogs that are black are the hardest dogs to find good homes for.
I should say, Holly adopted them. And they gave the H dog great care, comfort and couches. They shared her with me for over a year until I joined Ann here in Madison and that made me truly the luckiest dog.
It sounds like that dog had a great dog life.
They mean something, even if we don't know what.
Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really.
~Agnes Sligh Turnbull
Border Collies, followed by German Shepherds, then poodles are the smartest dogs.
God bless Holly.
Woof.
My baby (minpin avatar) is 10 now and it's sad to think she probably has less than 6 or 7 more years to share with me.
Dogs are good people.
woof: don't leave out dogs who are named "Vicki."
edu: Holly was almost 5.
Thanks, everyone, for the kind words. They mean a lot to us.
So sad . . .
How many thousand walks did we not go together, so that we still turn to see if he is following at his padding gait, attentive to the invisible trails. Not the least hard thing to bear when they go from us, these quiet friends, is that they carry away with them so many years of our own lives. Yet, if they find warmth therein, who would grudge them those years that they have so guarded? Nothing else of us can they take to lie upon with outstretched paws, and chin pressed to the ground; and, whatever they take, be sure they have deserved. - John Galsworthy
Seems a little young for a dog that size - I'm told 8 is more typical. Apparently, the smaller the dog, the longer the life span.
I've had several dogs pass on. It's incredibly hard to move through sometimes.
But someday you will see Holly's eyes looking back at you from another dog, and you will be flooded with the happy memories.
Sorry to hear it.
RIP Holly. I'm glad for the good life she had with Meade's friends.
May your black coat always be shining.
And may you stay...forever young.
Seems a little young for a dog that size - I'm told 8 is more typical. Apparently, the smaller the dog, the longer the life span.
Depends on the breed. 5 is tragically too young for any dog. My miniature poodle turns 14, April 15 and is going strong.
I remember the posts. The dog was really beautiful. Dogs teach us so much, including how to deal with the death of a beloved. Rest in peace, Good and Noble Doggie.
Whimper.
Tears from Baci, Rex, and Mr. Irene.
May Holly play happily in Paradise with our Pupa, Zule, Meshke, and Gigi.
Dog bless them all.
Sincerest condolences. I wonder what dogs come back as once they've been successful as a dog? It would be no justice whatsoever to have to come back as a human.
Dogs are wonderful creatures to love. They accept it with pure joy.
Tears from Baci
We have a cat named Baci. She's only semi-domesticated and is the worst behaved of all our cats (quite an accomplishment), but she's also crazy in love with me. She'll often spend an hour nonstop rubbing her face against my chin.
Peter
Theodore Dalrymple writes movingly about loving dogs: Metsu-Metsu
RIP dog. RIP.
Oh, so sorry. I was reading this as I was petting my own bowser. I gave him an extra belly rub.
Yeah, I remember Heidi.
If no one minds, I would prefer to think of her dying in the alps.
Who is Heidi ?
You can't lie to a dog.
She knew good people,and lived well with them.
I remember...I began reading Althouse about the same time Althouse began visiting Ohio. For me, awareness of the dog preceded awareness of the larger picture. Thank you for putting the composite together, sharing again the beginning of something good along with this ending.
I like what Dean Koontz writes, in his memoir of his own "joyful dog":
This world is infinitely layered and mysterious. Every day of our lives, we see far more than we can comprehend, and because the failure to comprehend disquiets us, we lie to ourselves about what we see. We want a simple world, but we live in one that is magnificently complex...
The life of a seamstress is no smaller than the life of a queen, the life of a child with Down syndrome no less filled with promise than the life of a philosopher, because the only significant measure of your life is the positive effect you have on others, either by conscious acts of will or by unconscious example. Every smallest act of kindness--even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, the compliment that engenders a smile--has the potential to change the recipient's life.
If by the example of her joy and innocence, a dog can greatly change two lives for the better, then no life is little and every life is big. The mystery of life is the source of its wonder, and the wonder of life is what makes it so worth living."
What a beautiful dog -- so sorry that she died. My 4-year-old dog, Moxie, looks just like Holly and she's a wonderful pup as well. I'll give her an extra hug tonight in honor of Holly.
Likin' how you shake your hips, MamaM.
You got yourself some rhythm.
Sorry to hear this. Every dog should be so loved, with room to run, and critters to chase.
She looks just like my dog, Spirit, who is 3 yrs old - see my avatar. I just put down my last dog a few months ago, after 17 years of close companionship and loyalty.
ironrailsironweights said...
...she's also crazy in love with me. She'll often spend an hour nonstop rubbing her face against my chin.
Now we know why you like hairy pussy ;-)
One sweet dog is gone, but dang if Chip didn't make her unforgettable.
You got the rhythm, honey.
RE being a black dog -- I have heard if you want a dog for "protection" it doesn't matter what kind -- lotsa bad guys don't like dogs but especially black dogs.
Our best dog ever died shortly after we moved to our new farm. He was a rescue. Big black with brown and white trim. Miss him 2 1/2 years later. Thanks for the Galsworthy piece, Glen.
Sorry to read it.
Oh, I'm so sorry. Holly was beautiful.
We humans tend to underestimate the pain of a dog's death. It's pretty close to the death of a son or daughter.
I'm sorry for your loss. My black dog would bite Holly; she has some kind of same-color racism going. But she'd jump in your lap in apology.
You know Meade, I bet she missed you when you moved.
Five years is so short. But dogs live in the now. So I think a dog can experience the joy of a lifetime in a single moment, with the right people in her life. It sounds like Holly had a wonderful life.
But still, so very sad for the people who will miss her.
(I need to go play with my dog now. She's demanding it.)
I'm a weird bird: I love dogs and cats. Both, and the same. It breaks my heart when I learn of either one meeting their demise when they are a fixture in someone's life, because I've experienced it and it hurts bigtime. So my condolences to Meade or whomever
Condolences...dogs are great friends
"You remember this dog."
I sure do.
And when I do, the lights dim on Ann Althouse, and her husband, Meade.
I have a Jack Russell terrier.
She is absolutely fearless, and smarter than me.
Sorry to hear it! She looked like a sweet dog.
Chip's animation of the dog's approach still makes me laugh, though.
Rest in peace, Holly.
The dog isn't over 7 years of age. Was she hit by the beer truck??
My deerhound Kyle is constantly by my side when I'm at home. He always keys on my mood, and right now he's aware that I,m saddened by the news of Holly's death.
@madAsHell
I have a Jack Russell terrier.
She is absolutely fearless, and smarter than me.
I've got one of those. She's not fearless; she was a stray we got from the pound, so she has some anxiety issues- mostly regarding dogs and large men.
But she does think she is smarter than me. For example, if I'm at the computer and she wants me to go downstairs and play with her, she will get one of her rawhide bones or stuffed toys and start tossing it around, eventually dropping it near my feet. If I don't try to pick it up, she whines or barks at me. When I do try to pick it up, she will quickly snatch it and run downstairs to the couch and wait for me. If I don't follow her, she will do it again and again until I do.
No one taught her to do that... and it seems to work, since I will usually take a break and follow her downstairs. So maybe she is smarter then me.
She looks like fun on legs. She reminds me a bit of my Mitzy. Sorry to hear she died.
Aw. Good dog.
I've never had a dog as good as Herbie (my avatar). Recently it has occurred to me that I may outlive him and I find that very sad. He's 5 years old now, but he's a large dog (85lbs) and they don't live as long. It's going to be really hard when he dies and I don't plan to get another dog.
The Tea Party blogger from Wisconsin doesn't wanna talk about how her heroine, Sarah Palin, had the Congresswoman who was tageted for assassination on her gunsight map. The blogger's main source of links, InstaPundit, is working hard to spin it all away.
But you were warned a long time ago that this would happen.
Even on daytime TV shows like The View, they warned you this was coming from the Tea Party insanity, and The View even specifically cited the Sarah Palin gunsight map that put this Congresswoman in the crosshairs. LINK There you go, a video from months back that told you this was gonna happen and pleaded with you to care. But ya didn't. You were just too smart for the room to take those warnings seriously.
I see Sarah Palin scrambled fast to take the gunsight map offline. She's just so cool! What a momma grizzly!
Now with blood on her hands.....
Hearne's Oyez à Beaumont (pdf)
Copied from Raritan, which is where I first saw it.
I have to agree with the ladies on The View that Palin's gunsight map, that specifically targeted this Congresswoman, makes one think of some kind of al Qaeda map for who to target for assassination.
Watch their video here, warning of this sort of event months ago.
Oh, but Sarah Palin couldn't possibly know that some crazy person out there might get the wrong idea. Sarah Palin looked so darned sexy in her shoes and hair! How was she supposed to know that there are nutsos out there listening to what you say and post in the media!
Except we tried to warn her, and stop her, and we were mocked for it by bloggers like the one on this site.
The Tea Party blogger from Wisconsin doesn't wanna talk about how her heroine, Sarah Palin, had the Congresswoman who was tageted for assassination on her gunsight map.
Oh noes! It must be Sarah Palin's fault, then!
Whatever shall we do?
I have a rescue dog, supposedly a cross between a Doberman and a Coonhound. He is the best companion you could ask for. All 60 pounds of him.
RIP Holly - it sounds like you brought a lot of joy into the lives of a lot of humans. I always thought she looked like a great dog
wv: hoonciff. :-)
Near this spot
Are deposited the Remains of one
Who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.
This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery
If inscribed over human ashes,
Is but a just tribute to the Memory of
BOATSWAIN, a DOG
Who was born at Newfoundland, May, 1803,
And died at Newstead, Nov 18th, 1808.
.........Lord Byron
An animal companions death wounds the heart forever.
I'm so sorry. Loving and losing a dog is harder than it's possible to explain to anyone who hasn't . . . But those who haven't are the ones to be pitied.
Yep, Dog's are precious, and one of mankind's best inventions.
Here's mine.
http://fritz-aviewfromthebeach.blogspot.com/2010/11/fellow-viewers-from-beach.html
She's getting old too, and while she still runs on the beach like crazy, she get's up a little slow after a nap.
Before everybody gets on here and starts screaming about how everybody but the guy who did the shooting is guilty of killing all those people, I return to Althouse's statements on collective guilt.
Her final statement seems to be that we (1) are collectively guilty of everything that any white person every did, but (2) I cannot claim credit for anything good that the white people of my region, family and community actually did.
Thus, the reality that I was actually born 50 miles from Lincoln's boyhood home (i.e., that my heritage is that of people who initiated the fight against slavery) doesn't matter and I'm still guilty of the sin of slavery. The fact that Chicago reveres two black men (Ernie Banks and Muddy Waters) does no credit to the white society of Chicago. That was an individual achievement.
The reasons for this are obvious. Althouse likes the idea of collective guilt, because it evolved, after the Civil Rights movement, into the notion that men are collectively guilty for their treatment of women.
This placed Althouse in the status of preferred victim, a status she wants to maintain so that she can continue to advance the cause of quotas and set-asides for women. (Since her son is homosexual, she's on that bandwagon, too. Self-interest triumphs over all.)
So, to sum up Althouse. Whites whose heritage has no relationship to slavery are still collectively guilty of the sin of slavery. Whites who actually live in a region that championed the rights of blacks gain no credit for it.
In other words, Althouse wins either way. She get the goodies. This is consistent with her position on all matters.
Oh!---I am so sorry, I didn't expect that as I was enjoying the post with the lovely pooch.
We lost one not long ago--God Bless, much care from us out East, a beautiful dog...
We are lucky to have them, and those that have good folks like yourself were lucky to have you.
So sorry to hear. Holly was obviously a great dog who brought much love to many people.
It's sad to lose a friend. Holly seemed like a good dog, even for those of us who did not know her.
"Before everybody gets on here and starts screaming..."
ST, this thread is about a dog. The only one screaming here is poor brain-damaged LOaf. (Sarah Palin ate his brain, you know.)
Sorry to hear about your loss, Meadehouse.
Thank you so much, everyone, for your wonderful comments. We miss Holly so much, but this post has been a wonderful memorial to her. Her time spent with Laurence and Ann was a very special interlude in her life.
--Emma and Aaron, Holly's mom and dad
So sad. I am sorry.
Dogs don't live long enough.
Emma and Aaron, please know that all of us who have ever been blessed with sharing our lives with a wonderfully special 4 legged family member share your sense of loss.
It's the darnedest thing how a dog sets up residence in your heart and fills it with simple joy and love.
Bless you for being loving owners to Holly and sharing her with your neighbors.
Sorry about the dog. I recall many pets fondly and am always thankful when a new one comes along.
Loafing Oaf
Except we tried to warn her, and stop her, and we were mocked for it by bloggers like the one on this site.
Geez Loaf, let it go your Leggo.
I am so sorry for your loss. Our black dog of 14 years died a month ago. The sadness was more than any of us ever expected.
I found this truth from poet Sir Walter Scott
"I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?"
Ir is true, about shelters and big black dogs (BBDs, as they call them): the consensus is they're the hardest to place. We have two of our own, several more over the years. Losing a pet is so hard, but they aren't like people, you know -- they only break your heart that one time.
Sorry about the dog.
I know it is hard but sometimes the best thing to do is to adopt a new pet.
I bet you could adopt the Crack Emcee.
Oh, what a shame. We know your friends must be terribly sad.
Good girl, Holly! May you have green fields, abundant woodlands and many chew toys on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.
BooBoo, Ozzie and Beau.
Oh I know he is a handleful but he keeps telling me that the professor treats him like a dog....so I just figured...why not?
Wow, very sad. Sorry to hear that. And she was so young, too. :-(
There is sorrow enough in the natural way from men and women to fill our day;
But when we are certain of sorrow in store, why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware, of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Oh no... I'm sorry to hear that. What a sweet-pea. She was a good girlie.
Lawgiver said...
Woof.
My baby (minpin avatar) is 10 now and it's sad to think she probably has less than 6 or 7 more years to share with me.
Dogs are good people.
Enjoy her while you can. I have a 13 year old boxer, Tink, and she was with us for another Christmas. We are hoping for another one. She is a tough girl.
@Bryan C: Way hey, another Kipling reader then -- and you know the answer to the question anyway. We need each other.
Here's the story of another
black dog who didn't get such a good start, but is now loved.
I lost my border collie Maggie a little over a year ago and still miss her every day.
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