10-08-02

We lost Carly today, she was our boxer with a bad heart, the one Hannah saved from CAHS' needle. She had subaortic stenosis and a grade 6 heart murmur--that's as loud as they get, Dr. Eyster was impressed to say the least! He said she would die by the time she was two years old, this was last November and she was 1.5yrs old already. So the decision was easily made that we were going to keep her for her remaining months. She fit in beautifully at our house, was as happy as could be and was the most amazing girl I've ever had the pleasure to meet. I'm happy to say she was with us for 11 months exactly and though I wish it could have been so much longer, I'm so happy to have had that time with her.

Carly loved everyone. She played and played with the foster dogs, everyone would say, "Is she really sick?" And I would tell them to feel her heart, you could feel how hard that poor thing was working to keep Carly going. Many of my past adopters remember her from when they came to my house and ask me when they write, "Do you still have that sweet boxer girl?"--that is the type of dog she was, one you don't forget. One who thought, hey--everyone comes to visit me when they come to my house, right? They come to pet and love on me...And I always made sure they did because that is what Carly loved the most.

She was such an incredibly gentle, sweet and wonderful girl. I will miss our walks together so much. Carly was so great that most of the time she was off leash for our walks and one of my fondest memories of her is
only about a month old. She was teasing the dogs on leash with the fact that she was "loose". She would run circles around us, tuck her butt and run in tight circles in front of us, try to get the other dogs to play when she knew darn well they couldn't at that time. She just made us laugh on that walk and at so many other times just like any good boxer should.

Whenever you sat down, you were sure to have Carly in your lap. Only she would hardly ever get all the way up on the couch, instead she would put her front legs and head in your lap with her hind legs on the ground. She loved to be stroked and pet like this forever.

I will miss you trying to steal the ball away from Merlin, your cuddles and your boxer kisses, and your amazing love for life, goodbye sweet girl. 

Amy- Carly's foster mom