In Memory of Willow

I conceived of the idea of S.O.D. when witnessing the love, sacrifice, and faith Willow had when she left her puppies at Fr. Eddie’s back door in October, 2010. She knew on a spiritual level that she could no longer feed nine puppies alone, and she went to the place she had eaten before and left her puppies, knowing they would be taken care of by Fr. Eddie and his friends. Hers was an unselfish act of love and thinking only of the survival for her offspring, she gave them up.

I was lucky to be the one to give two of her nine puppies a home. I spent three days in the hospital with the worst diarrhea of my life, but I would do it again. I also have two puppies, Dude and Nip (see images of our dogs here), the only survivors of a litter of six, she gave birth to five months later. Nip, the female, is the only one who has the stand up ears like Willow.

Willow was hit by a car about a week ago. Fr. Eddie and Joe were finally able to catch Willow last night and get her into a crate. Today, Aug. 17, 2011, I went to Whiteriver to pick up Willow and take her to the vet in Lakeside, AZ. Her right rear leg was obviously broken and infection was easy to see.

The options we received from the vet were not easy to hear. Amputation was their main recommendation. We do not have the resources to pay for such surgery or fencing to keep her safe for the rest of her life. We had to make the gut-wrenching decision to end her life.

We want to honor Willow’s memory with the launch of S.O.D. We began this idea with Willow’s story of unselfish love for her offspring. We wish we were operating sooner and had the resources to save her life.


Willow’s pack teaches us another lesson. From the time she was injured, her pack never left her side. We could not find her for two days, the pack were not to be found for two days also. I think they knew on a spiritual level that they could not do anything for her in the physical realm. They could not call for help, they could not pay someone to help her. But they could offer her help in the spiritual realm and give her comfort with their presence.

How many times have we thought that we could not help someone in need because we didn’t have enough money??? We could offer up help in the spiritual realm, our prayer, our smile, our pat on the back, our acknowledgement that we care about what someone is going through and we are here to listen and not pass judgment.

Like Willow’s pack, we will lift each other up in the spiritual realm, if we cannot in the physical realm. We will do this in memory of our spiritual guide, Willow.