Melanie is a wonderful little girl who at 3 months of age was placed into the county dog pound. For the next three months of her life she stayed there with nobody to take her home. On one lucky day she was adopted and brought home. She was so happy to have someone come to visit her at the pound that she was leaping in the air more than 4 feet! For a Doxin (Doxin, Chou, Dobie mix)that is quite a spectacular feat. She was then brought home to live with another dog, who luck would have it we believe was her father. Together, they were quite a handful and at times nearly impossible to contain. Melanie grew very quickly to love her new home and her parents. So much so that she quickly developed separation anxiety. With this, she became very adept at "remodeling" the apartment in order to pass the time. She would eat holes through mattresses and create new "doggie doors" by eating holes through the drywall to get out of the apartment to find her loving owners. After time (a lot), she became more calm and sedate and also gained new four legged friends to live with. This was not without having to go through great pains at time to conceal their existence from the big bad landlord. This became quite a challenge at times; luckily she was light enough to be lifted through windows! Melanie became quite an accomplished traveler over time having seen both east and west coasts as well as the gulf of Mexico. She hiked the Appellation Mountains for multiple day treks and has visited / lived in cities like Champaign / Urbana-IL, New Orleans, Santa Barbara, St. Louis and San Diego. During her travels she spent many nights tent camping where she would act as a foot warmer by burrowing to the bottom of the sleeping bag looking for the warmest spot she could find. She would also enjoy swimming in lakes and streams and feasting on the moss that would collect at the waters edge. Once she was able to move out of living in apartments and was able to live in a house, she was ecstatic to have a yard all of her own. She and her friends would love to play and roll around in the grass and then go for long walks around their new neighborhood. After a while, Melanie and her family moved to a bigger house with an even bigger yard. She would love to play chase with her best friend Ginger through the bushes and shrubs and all over the lawn. There was so much space that they could run and play all they wanted until they tired themselves out. Later on, there was a new addition to the family of a mini-Doxie by the name of Bridget. Melanie and her became very close friends and were almost inseparable at times. Unfortunately, Bridget had a weak heart and passed to the Rainbows Bridge after only 18 months after being rescued. As time passed, she gained and lost some of her friends that she grew up with. Some went to live with grandma and grandpa and others passed on to the Rainbows Bridge at a later point in life. Eventually she settled down in San Diego and was diagnosed with melanoma of the gums. After two surgeries and two years, it eventually spread to her lungs. It really slowed her down, but she was a trooper to the end. A few months before her passing, she had one last vacation trip to Yosemite National Park and camped there for a few days. Even in her old age, she pushed on with the younger ones in the pack and hiked all over the park and saw the sights. She was really really happy to have gone and ever since that trip, she had a sparkly in her eye that had been diminished for quite some time. That will always be the best vacation of my life; having been the one that I spent with her there. She is now up on the Rainbows Bridge with her friend Bridget and her father Lou (Dr. Louis P. Ryan III) and is enjoying all the splendor of being youthful again.

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Melanie's People Parent(s), Dana, would appreciate knowing you have visited their Melanie's Memorial Residency.

Click here to Email Dana a condolence, or to send an E-sympathy pet memorial card click here.