Loving Hollie

When I started HandwrittenGirl, my intention was that it would only be about book reviews and author interviews, I wasn’t going to blog about my personal life. I’m not one of those people that tells the world everything but sometimes things happen and the only way to face up to them, is to talk about it.

I recently lost a dear friend, a Golden Cocker Spaniel by the name of Hollie. Hollie came into our lives nine years ago, when we travelled down to Co Cavan, where we looked at a litter of puppies, that tumbled around a farm. I picked each pup up in turn and when a little golden bundle of joy with floppy ears and paws the size of shovels licked my hand I decided she was the one.

At just seven weeks old she brought chaos into our lives. On her first night, we left her in the kitchen, in her new bed surrounded by newspaper and we creeped off to bed. Once we were tucked away, the howling began. A large scared whimper. We left her for a few minutes, thinking that she would soon tire herself out but she continued getting louder and more desperate with each passing second. Finally, I went down to her to find her standing upright on the bed, her little body shaking with fear. Lifting both Hollie and her bed, I carried them up to my room. Sitting her bed on the floor beside me, I got into bed, and rested her on my chest. She whimpered and fretted for a little while longer, but eventually she calmed down and put her head down. Satisfied that she was asleep, I returned her to her bed where she lifted her head for a second before falling straight asleep.

From then, she had the run of the house, she slept at the bottom of our beds, climbed all over the sofa, she ate the wood of the doors, we were advised to put vinegar on the doors as that would stop her — instead she lapped it up. She wrecked havoc onto the house, but we wouldn’t have changed a thing. Hollie was a bundle of energy; she always had her head down sniffing away and was always on the look out for her next walk.

It was only two months ago that she became ill. She was vomiting and the vets diagnosed her as having a chronic bowel disorder, they gave her antibiotics but that didn’t clear it up. They x-rayed her and found nothing. But still she got sicker, she lost weight and had to be put on a drip over a weekend. The vets decided they should operate to see if they could see anything, they removed 6cm of diseased bowel which was then sent away for tests.

The main concern when Hollie had the operation was that she might not recover, but she did, the only thing she didn’t recover was her appetite. She wouldn’t eat for us, the vets thought she was homesick so she was sent home, where she was lifted and laid because of the stitches, but she still refused to eat. We tried everything, chicken, peanut butter, baby food even her favourite sweets, Dolly Mixtures, but she would still turn her head away. As days passed Hollie got weaker and weaker and we realised that she wasn’t going to get better. At this point the vets had received the results of the bowel sample and they discovered that there was a bacteria on the lining of bowel which was moving into the small intestine. Apparently if they had found a tumour, Hollie would have had a chance, but this was a new case for them and even the strongest of antibiotics couldn’t help our beloved pup.

On Wednesday 7th September 2011, Hollie was put to sleep surrounded by the two people in the world who adored her, she was then brought home and buried below the kitchen window where she loved to sniff around and in time we will plant a Holly bush to remember her by.

The house is so quiet without her, I miss the sound of her nails scratching the floor as she sniffed around or the quiet woof when someone knocked at the door, but most of all I miss my best friend. Unlike humans, Hollie was always there, she never hurt me or judged and was always there to offer a hug when the going got tough.

I felt it was only right to write this piece about Hollie as she was such an important part of my life and this also explains my absence from the internet as I try to deal with it. It wouldn’t be right not to acknowledge the creature that made me laugh, shout and most of all, love.

Rest in peace Hollie, my beloved puppet.