Dear Susan and Bill,

We are sad to tell you about the death of our beloved Persie, whom we brought from your kennels to our home in April of 2010.

After a lot of research and a good bit of positive word-of-mouth input, my husband Del and I drove from Dana Point to Ramona to “look” at your available puppies.  No intention of bringing one home that day but when Del saw the sweet, shy, scared little black and tan wire coat nestled against her two rowdy, adorable redhead brothers, he said “here she is.”  You then brought Persie, 10 weeks old, out to the open lawn, first time she’d been outside.  I lay down on the lawn and she ran to me, which you said was an excellent sign.  We loved her right away.

We brought her home, socialized her in an extremely social cul de sac filled with dog-lovers and children eager to puppy-sit.  We christened her Persis, beloved of God in Persian, and she became the reigning queen of our home and of my extended family.  As my brother fondly recalls, all of the other family labs (many of them), oodles and rescues “kissed the ring” while Persie held court from my lap or Del’s during family events.  

I remember you, Bill, proudly holding her straight that first day, showing us how to look at her excellent traits and good breeding.  You also assured me, when I told you I was interested in temperament above all else, that I could put my hand into her mama’s (and all of your other nursing dogs’) pen and she would just lick.  All of these years with Persie, I remember your words and took comfort and delight in your careful breeding of our wonderful animal as she lived up to everything we could have wanted: she was playful (she was a fierce ball-chaser and adored gutting her many toys), regal, unbelievably good with our tens of grandchildren and young nieces and nephews, social, adventurous, possessive in the best way, loving and very much her own person.  In other words, a lady in every way.

We did our best to train and care for her and she was wonderfully healthy until this year.  We noticed her slowing down a bit after Christmas, as expected.  She was deaf and sore from her years of running. It was when we returned home from a Texas graduation in May that I felt there was something more going on.  I took her to the vet where she stayed for a day of testing and hydration and it was discovered that something had attacked her liver and it was fierce.  Her bilirubin was at 7.9 when it should’ve been at .5.  For the next (last) six weeks of her life, she had the constant care, intervention and supervision of our beloved vet partners, specialists, local urgent care and her amazing minder who came all day everyday the days Del and I were at work.  

She was perfect to the end.  Her last day, Thursday, June 29, after Del had spent the night on the floor with her, she awoke unable to stand, walk, eat or hold it.  We dropped Persie at Estrella Veterinary Hospital with Drs. Wendi and Julie for another day of intervention and assessment.  Julie called me at 3:30 p.m. to tell me that she knew little Persie couldn’t fight any more.  We drove straight home and spent our last hours cradling her in our arms.

We loved her so much.  Del did not grow up with dogs the way I did and the opening of his heart to this precious animal was amazing to witness.  She was emotional glue in our home, even more so when we’d done all of our raising of the grandchildren, nieces and nephews and were senior empty-nesters.  You know what it’s like to love and lose a beloved dog.  We are crushed but so full of love and gratitude for Persie in our lives.  

Thank you both for the gift of such a beautiful little soul.  She meant and means everything to us and we gave your creature as good a life as we knew how.  We will always miss her, love her and be thankful for our Persie.

My hope is that someday, we will be back to see you.  It may take a while but it’s cheering to know that you are there, doing all of your good work to bring forth exceptional animals.

Sincerely,

Brigit M.