Lilpuff

This would be a good time to tell you about Lilpuff because she’s so much a part of what I do and who I am.  Also because the very next thing I want to talk about involves her.
I know, Lilpuff is a strange name (we often just call her Lil) but there is a reason for that, as you’ll see.  Lil was very sick when she came here, all of her littermates had already died and she was down for the count.  My dad always says she was sick enough to kill three puppies.  Mom and dad knew that no matter what they did for her, she would die anyway but they tried.  At one point, it seemed like a kinder option to put her out of her misery but she wasn’t really suffering (she wasn’t very happy but didn’t appear to be in any pain) and you could see that she hadn’t given up yet.  She was so sick, she couldn’t move (this went on for over a month) but she would bite her blanket to let mom and dad know she was hungry and then she would eat canned food from their fingers.  She would lap up a little milk from a saucer when her head was held up to it.  In spite of this, we all expected her to die at any time but she refused to give up.  During this time, my dad would try to encourage her, telling her about all the fun things she could do with him and me if she pulled through.  He told her she didn’t have to worry about a home, she already had one.  Here.  Lil hung on and hung on and we were amazed but still we knew she would shortly end up dead.
One day my dad came in with the saucer of milk and she raised her own head to drink when she saw it.  This was fantastic but there was no way this pup could survive all she’d been through.  Well, long story short, Lil had no interest in dying.  Slowly, very slowly, she got better and stronger.  She had to relearn how to walk because she’d been down so long. She is 3 years old now, as healthy as a horse, my best friend and my second in command.  Together we are daddy’s girls and he loves us both.  When dad adopted her, so did I, that’s why we cal her Lilpuff.  Lil is not only my best friend,she is my equal (remember that I told you I have underlings, not friends).  If she’s that special to my dad then she’s that special to me also and we’re all so glad that she survived to become such an important part of our lives.  When a puppy is that sick and you can see death in their eyes, you still always think (and hope) that there’s a one-in-a-million chance for them  Lil’s that one-in-a-million.