Miss Moneypenny

A few weeks ago we said "goodbye" to our beautiful 10 year old puppy, Miss Moneypenny.  She had been doing poorly the past 2 months and on her last visit to the vet, serious issues were discovered which had been missed the previous visits by the vet and us as we were all focused on a different health issue.

Moneypenny came in to our lives in the Spring of 2003 when Chuck and I drove to Altoona PA to pick up a puppy for my parents.  We had been warned the breeder had more puppies available when we took the trip to get Jonah for Mom, so I deliberately left the checkbook at home.  At the breeder's home we met several puppies and took note of one "crazy psycho" pup; the smallest of all the pups was running around under the table legs and seemed like a barrel full of monkeys.

Once we got Jonah back to my mothers, we started talking more about getting a dog ourselves and decided we wanted a female, but NOT the silver one.  When we spoke to the breeder to tell her of our decision, we found out the silver was the only female so we decided to get her.

Selecting a female character from the movie series that people would recognize was a no brainer. The name Moneypenny came to me quickly - I had been working as a secretary and both Chuck and I were James Bond fans.

Moneypenny was an easy going, happy dog who amazed us with some of her unique abilities. We referred to them as Moneypennyisms - crossing streets at crosswalks, going in to a show dog prance as we walked by an elderly apartment complex when residents were watching, being aloof with most folks but recognizing special needs folks and allowing them to interact with her.

One quirk she was was her choice of sleeping locations.  Moneypenny never was one to get on furniture, but whenever we'd go to visit Chuck's Dad, she would go sleep on a bed, at first it was the dad's bed, but the last year, it was our old bed which was now in the guest room.

Another was her dislike of wet weather, both rain and snow.  There were several times I'd have to hold an umbrella over her on our walks. And when it snowed, "Miss Prima Donna" didn't want to get her paws cold and wet. I'd pack down a route through the yard so she'd have a path to follow when she went out to do her business.

When we started traveling fulltime, we built a seat divider so Moneypenny and Rugby wouldn't have to fight for space.  We'd be driving down the highway and hear Rugby growl or even bark and would scold him for giving her a hard time.  One time I was watching the actions of the backseat area and discovered that Moneypenny was staring over the divider down at Rugby, and when he opened his eyes and looked up, he'd see her head in his space and bark - she was an instigator.

She was my "baby" and brought me so much joy and comfort throughout the time she was with us. She is missed so much.