I'll always remember when I first started to work at the shelter in September of 1998. It was so exciting and also very emotional. Here I was a grandmother and had traveled all over with my husband (who was in the Navy for 27 years) and I had also adopted from shelters in Virginia and Florida, but until I began working at our shelter and became involved with the day-to-day happenings, I never understood the joy and the heartache that shelter work takes on a person.

There have been so many wonderful animals that have come into our lives here at CHS and changed us in one way or another for better or worse. Some were here because their owners had to move and the new places would not allow pets; others were here because they had aggression issues and were not safe to be out among the public again. Others came because their owners passed away and family members who tried to keep them couldn't for different reasons.

This is the story of one little dog named Daisy
and
how she came to be a regular fixture at CHS.

It was a very rainy Wednesday and we were closed for our big clean. I had been working here about two months. I happened to be in the front lobby when someone knocked at the door. It was the postal lady holding a very muddy little dog. She asked if it was one of our dogs and said she found her under her truck. The manager came out and said she was a new dog who had arrived the day before and had escaped. I took the dog from the postal lady and brought her out back to ISO. Adria was on ISO dogs so she took her and gave her a bath. Under all that mud was this cute little black and white shih- tzu. Adria went on to tell me that Daisy was about eight years old and her owner had passed away; the family member who had her had another big dog who did not like Daisy. I had never had small dogs before but there was just something about this little girl that I couldn't resist.
I adopted Daisy the next day and brought her home. From that day on, whenever possible, where I went Daisy did also. I received permission for her to come to work with me and she did for eight and a half years. In those years Daisy has greeted many visitors to CHS and has been introduced to (and part of!) the welcoming committee for groups of children who have come for tours of our shelter. For a while Daisy would visit different nursing homes as a little ambassador for CHS and even had a story about her visits in our local newspaper the Times Record. They all knew her as Daisy May. In 1999 Daisy even adopted a four month old llasa apso named Chloe. I really had no intention of getting another dog but when they saw each other it was like they belonged together. Chloe had some trust problems but from the first she has always trusted and stayed by Daisy's side.
In all her years at CHS Daisy has helped foster many kittens. Just last summer she fostered six different kittens. I would feed; Daisy would clean and groom; Chloe would play with them. It made for a perfect partnership.
When I adopted Daisy we had no idea when her real birthday was so I made her birthday the same as my oldest granddaughter's which is February. I have continued this with all my animals; they each share a grandchild's birthday.
Last year I knew Daisy was finally starting to feel her age; she had a stroke which left her unable to walk on her own for a few days but under her vet's care she made a full recovery. She was almost like a young dog again.
This past February she turned seventeen years old and seemed to start having more bad days than good days. It seemed she would rally for a while and be her old self again, then she would have a day where she slept the whole day away. In the past year she had also developed separation anxiety if I was not around and would bark until I returned. I knew the time was coming when I would have to make one of the hardest decisions a pet owner has to make. Deep down all of us hope that they will just go to sleep one night and pass peacefully in their sleep, but it doesn't work that way and we must make this hard choice not to let them suffer and be there for them to the very end.
On April 8th I woke up at the regular hour and looked over at the girls to see if they were ready to go outside. I noticed that Daisy was having a hard time getting up, but after a few minutes she was fine. I took the girls outside and then went back inside for coffee. Chloe barked when she was ready to come inside but Daisy was not with her at the door. I noticed Daisy was at the bottom of the stairs and was having a hard time climbing them. As the day progressed Daisy seemed to go further downhill. I knew the time had come. That evening Daisy was in a very deep sleep so all I could do was make sure she stayed comfortable. The next day we put Daisy to sleep after a tearful goodbye.
Chloe and I still go to work everyday and follow our regular routine but each of us still expects to see Daisy when we turn around. Chloe refuses to sleep on the bed she shared with Daisy at home and seems to be more nervous. Hopefully being with her new canine friend at work Riley will help her. I guess we will stop looking for Daisy after a while but a small part of us will always be missing.
Carol Nile, an accomplished volunteer artist here at the shelter, has been working on a Second Chance alumnae wall in the front lobby of CHS and has painted a wonderful likeness of Daisy and Chloe. In a way, Daisy is still greeting visitors when they come to CHS. She would have liked that.