Now there’s an angel on earth, people. 🩷
She’s a smart lady because us animal lovers know that it takes a long time to commit to an animal. It’s a lifetime and when you’re that age, you don’t know what your lifetime means.
Taking care of her own emotional needs, loving on those babies and knowing that she is making sure that she doesn’t have a newbie that has to be passed down.
This is the sweetest thing to do for them. ❤️
Lois Hendrix keeps a spiral notebook in her kitchen drawer in Owensboro, Kentucky. Every page has the name of a dog she took in knowing it had only weeks or months to live.
There are 43 pages.
She started 11 years ago, the spring after her husband [di.ed]. A local rescue needed somebody to take hospice dogs, old dogs with [ca.nc.er] or [fa.ili.ng] hearts that no adopter would pick. Lois was 75 then, with a fenced yard and a soft couch.
Each dog gets a list, written on its page the first night: a cheeseburger, maybe, or a car ride with the windows down, whatever that dog seems to want.
Her son in Louisville has asked her more than once to stop. At 86, she says goodbye to a dog every few months, and he worries about what that costs her.
This summer the rescue brought her Gravy, a 15-year-old pit bull mix with a [tu.mor] in his chest. A family had surrendered him when they moved. The vet gave him a month, maybe two.
Gravy was scared of everything the first week. He wouldn’t come off the rug by the back door. Lois sat on the kitchen floor with him every evening, reading the newspaper out loud, until he started putting his head on her leg.
The neighbor’s grill drove Gravy crazy, so a cheeseburger went on his list first. A car ride went under it, and sunshine.
On a warm afternoon in August, a good day, Lois put a red bandana on him and helped him into the front seat of her Camry.
They drove to the Sonic on Frederica Street with every window down. She ordered two plain cheeseburgers and tore his into pieces on a napkin across her lap, and a carhop on roller skates stopped to watch him eat.
He [di.ed] nine days later on her couch, with the afternoon sun coming through the window onto his back. Lois had moved the couch that morning so it would.
The rescue called the following week about a 13-year-old beagle with kidney [fa.ilu.re]. Lois asked when she could pick him up, and she started a new page.
She’s a angel on earth to thise dying dogs.
Giving them the love and care even if it’s just for a short time.
What a great legacy for her to give these dogs the very best days of their lives!!!
God bless you Lois 🥰😘❤️🙏🏻 You Very Dear, Sweet Lady! ♥️🐾♥️
