Named in honor of the Fairfax, Virginia police officer killed in an ambush in May, 2006, Vicky deserved to have such a distinguished name. She lived an unloved and sad life until a stroke of luck gave her a chance at a real future. A DAWG volunteer found Vicky walking along a highway, captured her, and took her to the closest house to ask if they knew who owned the dog. It turned out that they owned Vicky! Much to our volunteer's surprise, they did not thank her and yelled she could keep "that good-for-nothing dog." In shock, the volunteer took Vicky home and spent hours de-ticking her. The next morning, Vicky woke up and gave our volunteer grateful kisses.

Vicky was much loved and appreciated for her mellow personality and quiet ways. Amazingly she was very trusting with people, and she liked other dogs. She frequently curled up and snoozed with another beagle at her foster home. Vicky loved walks and held her head up as she pranced in the knowledge that she was
finally appreciated.

Sadly, Vicky was diagnosed with significant heart disease in early 2007. Medications made her comfortable at first, but by September it looked like she wasn't going to survive the year. In fact, she didn't survive the month. Vicky went to Rainbow Bridge in the morning of September 22. Vicky died quietly in her foster mom's home, perhaps not surprisingly, as her foster mom had struggled for days to find something that would tempt Vicky's waning appetite. While it was quite a shock for Vicky's foster mom, we like to think that Vicky was lucky to slip away in the only real home she knew. Now she's waiting for her foster mom on Rainbow Bridge.
We can't wave a magic wand and make up for a dog's sad past, but Vicky's short "rescue life" was all that a dog could want. That's good enough.

Good-bye for now, sweet Vicky.