Hi Everyone- I know I’ve been MIA for a while. Life has been tough around the Salmon house since August 9, when our sweet Molly was killed.
We are heartbroken, angry and confused. We had planned a two week trip to the Mediterranean back when our dog Lola was still alive and (what we thought) healthy. As many of you know, her health deteriorated quickly. We were so lucky to have found Molly, who was born the day before Lola passed away.
The girls were so excited to have a puppy for the first time (since both Bailey and Lola were older) and we were so excited to watch them all grow together.
As we already had this trip planned, I looked into trainers who could take her and work on basic training and rid her of her puppy biting. I found a board-certified trainer who trains service dogs. I spoke at length with three references who spoke glowingly about how this woman found and trained service dogs who are now their children’s guiding light and protectors.
Halfway through our trip, the trainer informed us that Molly went after her, biting her arms hands and shoulders. Then she went after a German Shepard who was in training to be a service dog. The dog the grabbed her in its mouth, shook her and seriously injured her. The trainer drove her to the vet where she later died due to her injuries. A post mortem report shows that she had a broken rib which likely punctured her lung, blood in her spinal chord and broken teeth.
We were left in a foreign country to try to continue a vacation while at the same time dealing with the horror and the legalities of this situation. Our children are shaken- all they could talk about throughout the trip was how they couldn’t wait to see how much bigger she was when we returned. After losing two beloved dogs in the past year, they were finally due a lasting companionship.
All of our minds are still trying to process what happened. I am still hoping this is a nightmare that we would all wake up from and little Molly would be greeting us at the door when we got home.
We have been trying to navigate some very difficult waters for the past month. There is no playbook for something like this. I am not a vengeful person, and I do believe that this was an accident, however negligence was certainly involved at some level. At the very least, we want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to another animal or another family and are taking steps to insure that.
Please stick with me, as I still need to take some from the blog, as I am just not feeling creative and inspired right now. I promised, when my heart is healed… I will be back.
Our house was just not the same without a four-legged member of the family.
She is a precious little love bug who will not be little for long! Her mom was 137 lbs and her dad was 152 lbs.
And did I mention that she will only sleep in our bed? 😉
