We just got her home today. I felt like I could write about her.
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Raisa (formerly known as Dolly) burst into our lives at 12 weeks old, just as her proverbial namesake would’ve done – full of sass and glitter, bigger-than-her-size personality, and an energy level that just about added a second floor to our house.
We decided to re-name her Raisa – which means “Princess” in Russian. We joked later that we only named her Raisa because we couldn’t find a good Russian equivalent to “Goofball.”
It wasn’t always sunshine and doggie treats. Having 3 females in the house got…interesting. Eventually, for everyone’s sanity, we gated and everyone got a chance to breathe. The elkhounds got their space and Raisa had hers. They all traded off “couch time,” and things eventually settled down.
In typical Husky fashion, she could enter a room regally, surveying all and deciding where she would bestow her attention. And then, turn it into “Husk-Clown” mode: nosediving onto the couch where her intended victim was, somersaulting over, tucking her head, with her butt in the air and getting as close to that person as possible. We never figured out whether it was because she adored butt-rubs, or because, being in “perpetual shed mode” she wanted to deposit as much Husky-glitter as possible on her intended target.
Raisa completed 4 levels of obedience training (who says they can’t be trained?) and passed her Canine Good Citizenship test, to the astonishment of all. Our trainer Bobbie was continually amused as, with pockets full of treats, Raisa would ignore her, preferring the snack bag of buttered toast bits we used. That dog would climb a wall for a nibble of buttered toast. However, for some reason, she hated the basement stairs. No amount of toast would persuade her to go down those steps. Fireworks and thunderstorms never bothered her. She wondered what the fuss was about.
It was intended that, at the right time, she would take over our Elkhound Tippi’s position at Lewis University. Tippi was TDI-trained, and we never got around to that with Raisa. However, upon Tippi’s retirement, Raisa assumed her duties as a “comfort dog.” While there was a bit of dialogue with the students about how “this certainly was not Tippi, and all things change” (Tippi held the position of the University’s only therapy dog for 10+ years), all Raisa had to do was figure out what her job was. She did that job with relish. The first “butt in the sky nosedive” won her the hearts of all the students and library staff. When she sang the song of her people in the normally quiet atmosphere of the 2-story library, the smiles and surprise of those on the 2nd floor were well worth it. She earned her name of Furry Flyer for the University, known for its aviation program, and for the fact that, as a red-and-white, she matched the school’s colors.
Unfortunately, her time at the library was shockingly brief. In true Husky fashion, she did things her way. We found a lump on her thyroid gland and on September 2nd it was removed. About 4 days later, she had seizures, resulting in 3 days in doggy-ER, and she came home a bit wobbly, but with good expectations of being back to herself. The doctors were quite positive in their treatment plan and said that, at her age (9), she would come through chemo pretty easily, believing we’d caught everything early.
On the morning of Sept. 28, she didn’t eat, which was ok considering it was her 2nd chemo treatment. By 7 a.m. she was not doing well. The vet & staff worked hard to get her high fever down, but she chose her time and place, slipped into a coma and died peacefully. Everyone – even the vet – was stunned. But if by now you’re humming Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” you have perfectly intuited how Raisa lived her life. It wasn’t always perfect. It was always unexpected.
She loved her job of comfort dog. She loved walkies, loved stare-down contests with the neighbor’s chickens (she didn’t move, didn’t even attempt to catch one – the neighbor was amazed), loved staring up at the poles and wires for those nasty squirrels. Loved her family and car rides. Loved “pizza bones” and salmon skin. She sang along with the electric carving knife, the stick blender, the guitar and the harmonica. She has left a husky-sized hole in our hearts.
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