Saturday, March 10, 2007

Maggie

As told by Nancy

I have always loved the pug, although I had never had one. On a Sunday in October 2003 my family was running late for church. We were so late we had to attend the second service, which we rarely did.

As my husband and daughter went off to Sunday school, I headed for the sanctuary. Standing near the door was our veterinarian, Dr. Harry. I walked past him, he said good morning and I blurted out, "I want a pug!" Now, I had not even been thinking about pugs, getting a pug or anything pug! I kept walking thinking what a crazy thing to say when Dr. Harry grabbed my arm and said, "I just might have one for you". He then proceeded to tell me about the sweetest pug named Maggie who needed a home. Her owner, Pat, was looking to place her with a nice family. Pat had just lost his wife to cancer 2 weeks before and with the way his job was, he just didn't think he could give Maggie the love and care she deserved.

Maggie has some health problems. In addition to a bad liver, she has the equivalent of Crohn's disease in humans. Dr. Harry said that Pat was bringing this adorable pug in to see him the next day and he was going to run some tests. He told me to think about it and call him later no matter what the answer was.

I walked into church that day and didn't hear one word of the sermon. I couldn't stop thinking about this precious little pug, I just knew that God had placed her on my heart that day. I was anxious to tell my husband and daughter. We talked the 25 minute ride home and decided we just had to give Maggie a loving home.

Dr. Harry told us that he couldn't give us a definite time line on how long Maggie would live. She could die in as little as 3 months. We still wanted her, we just wanted to make what ever time she had left as happy as possible.

On Saturday of that same week, we drove to Pat's house to meet Maggie. The three of us fell in love with her the minute we saw her. We spent two hours over Pat's home that evening. He spent the time getting to know us and telling us all about Maggie, while his heart was breaking for the recent loss of his wife. Maggie weighed just under 9 pounds when we took her home that evening. You could see her ribs clearly. Armed with her meds, food, dish, toys and bed we were ready to give her more love than she could possibly imagine.

Now here it is over 3 years later. Maggie weighs 16 pounds and is healthier than ever. She is pure joy and the most amazing pug I could ever hope for. She is playful, eats well (typical pug huh?) and loves us back. She even gets along with our Jack Russell and three cats. We have stayed in touch with Pat (who is now remarried to a wonderful lady) and he visits Maggie often.

We just know that Maggie was meant to be with us. We are truly blessed to have her!