Holly Villati and a few of her toys.
From now until voting begins on July 1st, we’ll feature our calendar dog contestants. Today we’d like you to meet Holly.
(by Emily Villati) Holly came to be part of our family on Thanksgiving Day. Holly was a beautiful red-haired, hazel-eyed, pink-nosed Golden Retriever. Right away the whole family fell in love with her.
We live in a house with a large back yard in which Holly got into trouble many times as a puppy when she played in the mud. One second she was a red-haired angel; the next, she was a dirty little monster. But how could we really get mad at such a cutie? Holly was a swimmer – she couldn’t see a pool that she didn’t want to jump in. We are so fortunate to live in South Florida so Holly could swim all year round! Holly also loved car rides, especially when we went to pick up the kids from school. She also became a Canine Good Citizen, and we were all very proud of her!
Holly was so smart that she took no time to learn to go to the bathroom outside. However, there was one incident where my husband (who never took care of any animals in his life time) was watching Holly as I went to the grocery store. Holly asked to go outside by scratching the door. He just thought she needed attention and continued watching T.V. She went on top of his shoe and peed inside as she looked at him. She had some aim, because not even one drop fell outside of the shoe. As for my husband – he knows when the other dogs scratch at the door to let them out.
We lost Holly to mast cell cancer, but she sure put up a fight! We took her to many chemotherapy sessions and she was a trooper, always with a smile on her face. We never took one day with her for granted. She was an immense joy to be around. We miss her every day!
Holly is and always will be in our hearts.
Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Sisters and Brother
Emily, Holly’s mom adds: We donated Holly’s blood to TGEN research. That was when I learned more about the research. Since then I’ve been asking everyone I know to help by asking their vets to go on the TGEN website and donate the blood of dogs with cancer.
