In Memory of Pepe and Molly

Both Molly our Beagle and Pepe our Chihuahua

Pepe is our 8 year old Chihuahua and Molly is our 14 year old Beagle. Molly was a pound puppy that we rescued from the local puppy pound. It was pretty funny when we brought her out for a little walk. We had the door open to the back of the van and she rushed over, jumped in and sat down. She looked at us like "I am ready to go home now!"

She was a strong, muscular beautiful Full blooded beagle that looked as if she has eyeliner around her eyes. She was so lovable and wanted to be pet and massaged ALL the time. If we left the house we had to put her in a kennel (More like a airplane hanger since it would have fit a couple Saint Bernard’s) since she was horribly neurotic if we left her. She would shake so hard and then try to destroy everything in the house! She loved it when we would come home, jumping all over us and demanding attention.


We got Pepe a couple years later. Papa had always wanted a Chihuahua like the one he had when he was a child that was also named Pepe. He loved that dog very much but, his family had to give him away when they moved from Oklahoma to Colorado. He has always wanted another dog like him.

So, I kept my eyes out for a Chihuahua, but, they were so expensive up here in the Northwest. Finally I found one in the paper for under $300. So, I rushed from work to get him before anyone else so I could surprise Papa when he came home from work. The breeder was so excited about how I just loved how cute he was even though he did not look like a typical Chihuahua with pointy ears, etc, she gave me $50 off.


He sure was surprised! And so was I when he got angry at me for spending the $250! "We cannot afford this, it is too expensive!" He kept saying as he held Pepe, named him within 2 minutes after his other Chihuahua he had as a child and would not let the dog down for hours when he finally took him out to play with and make Pepe do his business. Pepe was only about 8 weeks old...so he was so tiny and cute!


For the next couple years, that dog did not leave Papa's side as he would take him everywhere except work! Took him to Mason's ball games and even would tuck him in his jacket while he would go in the grocery stores, EVEN THOUGH he was told dogs were not allowed! I think it took 2 years before Papa quit complaining about how much money I spent, even though you could tell that the man LOVED this dog and would never give him up for anything. I told him I would take him back....but, NO WAY..."He has bonded with us now and it would be too traumatic if we gave him away" Papa would explain.


Pepe and Papa were two peas in a Pod. And Pepe was Molly's husband who took such good care of her. He was constantly by her side, licking and grooming her. When Molly got hurt and had to spend a couple days at the vet, poor Pepe was beside himself. He sat at the landing in the middle of the stairs going up, with his paws hanging over the step, waiting for Molly to come upstairs as she usually does. Pepe would not eat, drink and then cried at the door until I would let him out so he could search the yard for her.


When I finally brought Molly home, who was still a bit crippled (She never regained full function back, but, did get a little better) and could not walk well or go up or down stairs and Pepe was jumping all around her and would not leave her side ever again. In fact if I took Molly out alone when she started loosing control of her bladder he would go into hysterics, whining and barking. He really spoiled her by always grooming her. When he would stop, Molly would paw at him to continue on and he would start licking her ears or head again. We were afraid that when Molly's time came to go, Pepe would die of heartbreak.


We started to talk about putting Molly down a few months ago since she was already deaf and mostly blind. She also was incontinent, but, we were holding off because of how it would affect Pepe who loved her so much.


Then last week, Pepe had an accident. We rushed him to the emergency Vet who took x-rays and an exam, but, could not tell us why he had not use of his back side and problems with strength in his front legs. He could not even go potty without us manually squeezing his haunches. For the next few days he seemed to go downhill where he cried all the time and then stopped eating, drinking or even having any urination or BM.s.


We got all kinds of speculations of what might have been wrong, all which were neuro and costing us at least a couple thousand dollars to diagnose and more if it was curable. So, Papa and I had a huge decision to make. We finally determined that since Molly has been incontinent in the house almost daily for the last few weeks and with Pepe in so much pain plus his body shutting down we had not other alternative then to take them in together and have them put our of their misery.


It was very hard for us, but, when Papa came home so we could take them, it was so strange. The movie channel we watch that shows the same movies over and over had a movie playing that I have not seen on the schedule and we even looked later to see if it was coming on again soon, and could not find it. The movie was “ All dogs go to Heaven”.


If anyone knows me, they know that at certain stressful or confusing times in my life something will come on the TV, sometimes for a brief second that makes a huge difference and that has caused huge changes in my life. So, this was weird for us and just kinda comforted us at this very stressful time.


We went to the vet and stayed with the dogs for the whole procedure. First they gave them a anesthetic where they went to sleep. I was holding Pepe and for the first time in the last week he was snoring loudly like he always does. To me this meant he was comfortable for the first time. But, when he gave Molly the anesthetic, Molly kinda fought going to sleep, seeming to enjoy the “high” she was having. Looked like she was watching a tennis match since her head was going back and forth like she was watching the ball bounce from one side to the other. The Vet then informed us he is thinking she has a heart problem because she would not fall asleep. Well, she was old and everything else was failing so we would not be surprised. But, she seemed like she was having a great time while on the drugs!


I broke down for the day. But, we are talking about all the wonderful times, and the frustrating times we shared with them while they were here. But, because of the Movie, we are sure, both are in Heaven together. We don’t have to worry about Pepe being broken hearted because of loosing Molly and both are no longer suffering any more.