Holly

2004 - 2021

When I was visiting some of my colleagues at one of our satellite offices, I stopped for a chat with the office admin there. Her name was Deborah, and she is one of the kindest souls I have had the pleasure to work with. We were chatting about her two Yorkshires and I was telling her how I always wanted to have a little Yorkie in our family. She was toying with the idea of breeding them and, of course, my eyes lit up. She told me if she went ahead, I would get the pick of the litter. Well, she went ahead.
Holly was born, with 4 other siblings, on Dec 20th in 2004 -4 girls and 1 boy. My husband, two kids and I were on a 3-week vacation in Florida at the time. Deb kindly sent me pictures as soon as they were born, 5 of the tiniest little pups. From Day 1, my husband wanted the littlest girl. We could not wait to get home.
One of my colleagues and I I took a trip to Deb's house when I got back; he was picking a pup too. On arrival, I was immediately drawn to two nearly identical little faces with their ears stood straight up. One, the littlest girl, and one, the only boy. I told Deb that I was going to let my husband decide. Without even thinking about it, he chose our girl -Holly, the littlest girl. The little boy went on to be a part of my sister's family. His name was Jack. My colleague chose another little girl with floppy ears, he called her Cleo.
We chose the name Holly, for Holly Berry, as it was the Christmas Season and we absolutely love this time of year. It suited her perfectly. She was everything Christmas, every year of her life.
We impatiently waited the 8 weeks and took our little love home in February of 2005 with her new froggie bed. We drove the 1 1/2 hours home with her sat on the back of my neck.
She spent most of her life in a big, old farmhouse with a big back garden on her own little adventures. She never had to share us, and she was a Dad's girl from Day 1. She gained a doggie-sister on Feb. 16, 2015, when we adopted a rescue whom we named Geordi. Being Holly, she made room for her and did not complain -even when she had to wear a jingle bell, so Geordi could hear her moving (Geordi is blind), to stop Geordi nipping at her.
She came with us when we moved to the shores of Lake Huron but loved nothing more than heading back to her big, old farmhouse with her Dad to reno it. As she got older, we could tell that returning home, to the familiar smells and feel of the floor she knew under her feet, brought her great comfort.
For the past 6 months we had noticed hearing loss, vision loss and a cognitive decline -she paced in circles, in the early hours of the morning, until she eventually settled. She was coming up to 16 years of human age and we knew deep down we were on borrowed time.
Holly was particular in how she doled out her love in her life. Her dad got all the affection she could give. Gio (her human sister) could lie beside her in her dog bed for a visit now and again. Geordi was only allowed to sleep near her when she decided. As for me, she could not squirm her way out of my arms fast enough when I picked her up.
These past 6 months, when we really noticed the decline though, she opened herself up entirely to us. We were all allowed to hold her and love her; she nuzzled her face into us. She never squirmed; she gave us all what we needed for as long as she was able. Like she knew...
I slept with her downstairs for a few months. However, she only ever really settled when her Dad would bring her to her big, old farmhouse and she would sleep the night through. In the last few weeks, her time by the Lake, her Dad made her what he called her castle-bed at the end of our bed and she slept with us in our bedroom, and we found this gave her comfort too.
On the morning of January 1, 2021, she got up for a drink of water and had a little wee on her pee-pad. She was such a good girl right until her last day with us. After doing a couple of things, I went up to bring her downstairs with the family and, this time, I knew...
Her Dad, her human sister, her doggie sister, and I brought her to her lifetime home -her big, old farmhouse, on January 1st, 2021 -for the last time. Her Dad bathed her, put her in her Christmas jumper and she managed to drink some home-made bone broth that her Grandma made and her Granddad brought to her.
We brought her to see the emergency Vet that evening, just hoping, praying, and bargaining. We spent hours with her, snuggling her, while waiting for her to be seen and for her test results to come back. I will not lie, we wanted to be selfish even after all the Vet said.
Holly led us through her 16th birthday on December 20, 2020, she had a turkey-feast and brought us through Christmas Day 2020 and, she brought us through the door of the New Year; January 1, 2021.
We remembered what Holly did for us, this brave little soul, for all these past months, letting us love her every moment, even when she was struggling. So, we chose to hold her and love her, to her last moment. She lay in her Daddy's arms, close to his heart while she crossed the Rainbow Bridge and went to play with her brother.
Rest Peacefully our sweet, little Holly Berry Smith, you are missed and loved and will be until our last days -it was never going to be a long enough time.
Mum, Dad, Gio and Geordi xx