From My Swissy World - a Big Loss

I am going to re-post part of an entry by a friend mine about another friend of ours.  Molly was such a dear wonderful friend to me for many many years.  She lived in Florida and I am here in Louisiana.  We spent many years on the board of the Southbound Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Club.  She was a breeder of many champion dogs, and was a strong advocate of rescue and responsible breeding.

Molly and I spent many hours on the phone hashing out policy or the Regional Specialty or something about the dogs.  We hiked miles with our dogs at our sides.  She was an incredible friend felt the same love I did for our chosen breed.

You can do two things for me:

1.  Make sure your family knows NOW what needs to happen with your dogs and cats.  Mine are written into my will, and each have an amount of money that should take care of their expenses for years.  

2.  If you have been touched by the love of a dog, mongrel or mutt, champion or purebred, please make a donation to your local rescue shelter.  Not to the HSUS or ASPCA types, more than 90-95% of your donation will go to the administration and salaries for these groups.  (the president of ASPCA makes over $550,000)  Find a local shelter where people volunteer to save lives and make a difference right where you live.  Donate and volunteer.  They need you!

Letting me know who you chose, will be nice.  While only you need to know, for others there is the need to know how many people do make donations and that those donations are desperately needed.
I know, I am President of Capital  Area Animal Welfare Society

Here is the post from Val, a friend of us both in the Southbound Club, one who was also touched by Molly as much as so many of us were:


Val says what I also have in my heart :

Molly and her beloved Teddy in 2005

I don't think you ever realize those moments that change your life when they're
actually happening but it's through time, perspective and reflection that you look back
at where you've been and where you've come that you find those defining moments. Who knew that a day trip to Southbound’s Swissy Fun Day 2003 would be one of those moments? With a 4-month-old Boulder in tow we met a lot of people and saw more Swissys in one spot than I thought possible. Several random conversations that day lead to some of the best friends I could have asked for.

A love of Swissys and the Swissy community lead Molly and I to become friends. Molly was a fierce friend and loyal to a fault. She loved to talk about how when you met someone for the first time you could tell if they were “just folks”. She loved her dogs, her puppies and her puppy families and would drop just about anything to lend an ear or a hand as needed. Frappacinos were a favorite treat…it didn’t matter where they were from. Molly enjoyed any activity she could do with her dogs but two of her passions were packing hiking (is there anything better than a walk in the woods with a dog? She would ask) and drafting. She was especially proud of her VGS titles on Lucy and Davy (who I believe were both 9 when they finished them) and just ran out of time before she could finish Baby Jimmy’s. Time also ran out for her goal to become a draft judge.

I can’t count all the trips, the miles traveled or the # of hotels we stayed in over the years. I feel truly blessed to have had a friend that after all these years we could still take a long road trip with multiple dogs and still walk away speaking to each other. J When we first started traveling to shows or events she had Teddy and I had Boulder…both fairly young intact males. Molly’s solution was to put them in crates next to each other for a long road trip…so once we got were we were going and they got out…there was rarely a grumble. They just looked at each other with this looks of “oh it’s just you again”. That theory worked with Davy, Jimmy and Ripken to follow.

What a place Molly had in her heart for the juniors in the Swissy world. She
always talked about the special bond between a kid and their dog. The next generation in the Southbound footprint - Lydia, Rosie and Lola, Greggory and Meeko, Samantha and Penny, Madeline and Nakoma as well as more recently Lilia and Sasha all benefited from her continued encouragement to be better but also have fun while showing and working their dogs.

One lasting legacy Molly leaves are the families she has touched through the puppies she’s produced. Families have come back to Molly for their 2nd or even 3rd Swissy speaks volumes of her commitment to her Swissy family. I’ve been touched by the personal notes I’ve received from several puppy homes detailing the impact Molly, her dogs and pups have had on their lives and families.