Story and photos submitted by Jamie Carr
It’s been a week since Doris left us at age 15. Unexpectedly. Too soon. She joined our household when she was 8 weeks old – her birth name was Dora but she was renamed in honor of a long-time Guiding Eyes for the Blind volunteer and Doris was as spunky and happy as her namesake. She was not the bravest dog in the world – she had an irrational fear of ferrets (go figure!) and one of my early memories of her is when we were socializing at the mall. It was Easter time and there were baby bunnies in the window of the pet store we were passing by. She all of a sudden flipped out and started barking and growling at the bunnies (do you know how a dog’s bark echoes in a mall???). Then I noticed there were ferrets in a cage inside the pet store so she was seeing bunnies but smelling ferrets! She tried her best to be a guide dog but that was not meant to be and after 6 months in training she came home. For many years Doris was a cherished companion, a mentor to countless GEB puppies, the matriarch, the Queen Bee, the rock for the other members of the household both 2- and 4-legged. She loved swimming, going for walks, watermelon and just hanging out with her family. She was a happy girl, quiet, always in the background and never pushy but nevertheless the strength of the pack. Doris was a constant in the lives of the remaining GG’s (Oneida, Georgie, Bea and Raisin) who have known her all their lives and they are struggling with her loss as am I. It will get easier, I know, as time passes but for now there is a huge hole and I’m constantly being blindsided by random memories.
Run free Doris Anne1/22/01 - 3/8/ 17
Poem For Doris