Submitted by Elizabeth Davis
AGNES WINIFRED DAVIS
Aggie was a very, very good girl, the goodest of girls. Please allow me to share her story with you.
Aggie was adopted from the Sheboygan County Humane Society in February of 2019. Our family was looking for a companion for our young lab. We were looking for a younger, large dog. We went to the Humane Society a couple of times a week (every week) for a few months before we found our perfect dog. She was an older mini poodle mix, basically the exact opposite of what we were looking for. Agnes was old, frail, and she looked very ill (it didn’t help that she was wearing a cone of shame when we first met her). She was incredibly thin and had no hair on her snout or ears. She cowered in the corner of her kennel and did not want to interact with people. We coaxed her to us and pet her and fell instantly in love. We soon found out that Aggie had lived an incredibly difficult life prior to being in the Humane Society. Agnes came from a dog meat farm in South Korea. For eight and a half long years Aggie lived in a tiny cage, outside in the elements, with very little human contact and no human love or affection; she was bred as much as possible and her puppies were sold for human consumption. She was stiff and walked funny because her legs had been broken and healed poorly. But, after 8 and a half long years of suffering, Agnes traveled around the world to find her family.
When we had Agnes for about 2-3 weeks we received a call from the Sheboygan Humane Society letting us know that she may have a disease and that we would have to bring her in to be tested. Agnes tested positive for canine brucellosis. We were given a choice. Euthanize Aggie immediately or quarantine her to our property for the remainder of her life. It was never a choice for me, Agnes would live and she would be confined to our property. Many people encouraged euthanasia for Aggie at that point. We were told how inconvenient it would be to keep a dog that could never leave our house. Almost no one wanted us to keep her. It didn’t seem fair to her, she was literally just beginning to dog at that point. Little glimpses of her amazing personality had already begun to show through and the hair on her snout and ears was slowly beginning to come in, which signaled to me that she was starting to feel secure. The state was given the official notice that Aggie would live and be confined to our house for the remainder of her life.
Agne’s beauty, spirit, perseverance, and spunky personality began to shine. Our Aggie-Baggie was smart. Man oh man was she a smart girl. I always joke that she learned to speak English faster than anyone I know. She learned her name and basic commands with almost no training. For having lived in deplorable conditions with little human contact for so long she was remarkable. And even though she had been treated like dirt from humans for her entire life she came to love us sooooo much. It was like she felt the need to make up for all of the time lost that she didn’t get snuggles, scritches, or lap naps. She warmed up to our other pets, but she developed a bond with us that I have never had with any other animal. She showed so much joy and happiness being with her people. As cliche as it is, words truly cannot describe how special Agnes was.
We are so, so grateful for our time with Agnes. I am so happy that the end of her life was full of love, trust, play, and fun. We feel so blessed and lucky to have had the chance to show Aggie how good humans can be, but we feel even more blessed to have learned lessons in trust, joy, forgiveness, perseverance, and most importantly complete unwavering unconditional love. Aggie had become my shadow and when she would look deep into my eyes (with her one good eye, lol) it felt like I was looking at everything good, sweet, innocent, and joyous in the world. Her happiness and spirit are an inspiration. We will forever be grateful for our time with our sweet Agnes.
Every single minute of my life I miss my Aggie-baggie with all of my being. I always swore I would never get a small dog, because who wants an ankle biter? But Agnes changed that for me. She proved to me that sometimes the smallest dogs have the biggest spirit and most heart. She changed my life in ways I never could have imagined. She loved life and her family more than words can describe. When I wake up and don’t get my morning cuddles I am acutely reminded of my loss. Aggie was my shadow, always with me and I feel her loss like the loss of a limb, like my heart has left my body. Parting is the sweetest sorrow, but I would do it all over if I could. Even though our time together was short it was filled with so much love, enough love to last a lifetime. Thank you, Agnes. Thank you so much for everything you gave me and everything you taught me; I am a better human because of you and our family is better because you were in it.
I have written this because everyone in the whole wide world should know how magnificent, fabulous, wonderful, great, beautiful, marvelous, sensitive, happy, amazing, and special Agnes Winifred Davis was, but also to encourage people to take a chance. Take a chance on adopting a pet that is old, sick, “ugly”, different, has special needs, is in a bonded pair, or any other reason that a pet might be considered unadoptable. Unadoptable pets often make the most loving and loyal pets that anyone can imagine. I would also like to strongly encourage people to adopt, don’t shop. There are animals of every size, shape, breed, etc. available for adoption from your local Humane Society or rescue.
Please give your furry or feathered friend a good pat, scritch, belly rub, and/or lap nap today and remember how short their lives can be.
We would like to give a special thank you to Brook-Falls Veterinary Hospital & Exotic Care Inc. in Menomonee Falls for their kind and wonderful care of all of our fur and feather babies.
In lieu of balls or bones please consider a donation to Humane Society International or the Humane Society of Sheboygan County.
