Molly's Story

I wanted to send you this letter in recognition of Molly’s first “birth” day. Although Molly’s birthday is April 13, we will always think of September 22 as her real “birth”day as that is the day that she was rescued and set free from the horrible puppy mill that had been her prison for almost 2 ½ years.

They say that God works in mysterious ways and the way that Molly became a member of our family is proof to us that some things are just “meant to be”. We really had no plans to adopt another dog a year ago … we had Riley, our very sweet but goofy 11 year old yellow lab mix who still looked and acted like a young puppy. In October, 2007, we decided to take a weekend trip to LaCrosse, WI where my husband had gone to college many years ago. While we were driving on remote country roads trying to find a farm where he had worked, we saw an animal in the middle of the road. My husband thought it was an “albino raccoon”, but when we pulled over, this very dirty and matted dog promptly jumped in our car. He had no collar or tags so our immediate thought was that he must have been abandoned or run away from home. We went to several houses and the local veterinarian in the area trying to find his owners with no success. We then took him to a Petco with a self-serve grooming station and to our surprise after 45 minutes of washing and brushing, he turned out to be an adorable Westie. We fell in love with his exuberant personality and after filling out a found dog report with the local Humane Society, we named him “Baron” (for his larger than life persona!) and took him home. Two days later, his owners came forward to claim him … he was a farm dog that lived at the one house where no one was home when we stopped. He had been swimming in their pond the day before, rolled in the dirt with wet fur and his owners had taken off his collar before he wandered off since they planned to give him a bath later on that day. We were of course heart-broken to give him back, but relieved that he was obviously much loved and wanted.

However, this set our minds to wondering if maybe this was a sign for us to add another dog to our family and if so, why not a Westie??? We began searching online and found Westie Rescue of Missouri. There were several that were being fostered in Wisconsin and after filling out the application, we were contacted by Kylie, Molly’s rescuer and foster mom. After talking about the two available Westies she had recently rescued at a puppy mill auction, we decided that Molly would be the best fit for our family. She was so dirty and matted from the puppy mill that she had been closely shaved, and so most people looked past her since she didn’t have the typical Westie appearance. But we were convinced that she was the right dog for us, and on November 4, 2007 we traveled several hours to pick her up and bring her to her new forever home. We fell in love with her right away … just like Kylie had told us, she was very affectionate and sweet … and she sure loved to run!!!

We were happily adapting to being a two-dog family when Riley became sick a week before Christmas. We lost him suddenly on January 3, 2008 to a very aggressive form of cancer that attacked the lining of his blood cells, liver and lungs. While our hearts were breaking, we were so glad that we had little Molly to love. When we brought her home, we did not know that we were about to need her as much as she needed us, but we believe God set in motion the chain of events that led her to our family and helped us heal from our loss.

It’s been almost 11 months now, and we just love our “Molly Dolly” and can’t imagine what we would do without her!!! She has turned out to be a beautiful, petite, Westie girl and she has the sweetest personality … even if she is a little diva with her “Westitude” sometimes! Our friends and family cannot believe that she adjusted so well from the horrible puppy mill environment … or that such a precious, loving dog could have been subjected to such neglect and abuse. Every day she comes to the office with us and is content to just sleep under the desk or on our laps. We say that she has two speeds … comatose or kamikaze … she has this routine every evening that we call “Nascar Molly” where she races through the house doing laps or figure eights. She also is extremely funny to watch with her treats … we truly believe that she thinks it is a mouse since she has to stare it down or bat it around and pounce on it for 10 minutes before she decides that she has finally “killed” it and gobbles it up.

We are so grateful to “angels” like Angie and Kylie who made it possible for Molly (and so many others) to find forever homes with families that will give them the love, protection and care that they so deserve. Thank you for being an advocate for these innocent creatures and having the unselfish hearts to love them enough to let them go … our new beginning has truly become a happy ending!

Chris and Tom Brenneman