Elivia Savadier Sagov of West Roxbury has spent the last week grieving her cherished dog, Dobby, who died Sunday from liver failure two days after swimming in the Charles River at Millennium Park.
Sagov said her 16-year-old dog was named after the little elf in Harry Potter.
“The little elf that didn’t — that wanted love but used to push it away because she’s a little shelter dog,” Sagov said.
“She was a mutt, very, very small. She almost looked like a little puffy fox. She had sort of white, off-white hair,” she said.
Sagov still doesn’t know if a harmful algae bloom called cyanobacteria, which occurs in fresh water around this time of year, is what caused Dobby’s death.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health was still testing of the water as of Thursday midday, but issued an alert to residents to avoid exposing themselves and their pets to algae on the Charles River.
The alert is issued for the area of the Charles River between Kendrick Street in Needham and Newton and Bridge Street/Spring Street in Dedham and West Roxbury.
When cyanobacteria multiply, they create harmful algal blooms, often forming visible accumulations that can cause the water to appear discolored or cloudy, or else resemble pea soup or green paint.
Sagov thinks Dobby might have lived longer had she not gotten sick.
“She was 16, but I think she had a few years left in her. She was healthy,” Sagov said. “I think she would have died of old age, hopefully, or, or in a quiet, comfortable way.”
Sagov recounted what led up to Dobby’s sickness after she took her and her other dog, 11-year old Louie, to Millennium Park last Friday.
“He’s never not known Dobby,” she said of Louie.
Sagov said she was aware of reports of an algae problem in the river, but when she looked it up, there weren’t any warnings about algae at Millennium Park.
She and her dogs went down a little path near the canoe dock. Dobby, she said, went in and splashed around in the water, while her other dog only put his feet in the water.
By Sunday evening, Dobby became lethargic, had diarrhea, and wouldn’t drink or eat two days after swimming in the river. She died that night.
Sagov said the river water was clear, but she has since learned about a benthic mat of algae that grows along the bottom of the river from the Charles River Watershed Association. Had she seen warnings, she said she never would have allowed her dogs to go near the water.
That, she said, is concerning.
“I mean, it’s like a game of Russian roulette,” Sagov said. “I come from South Africa, but I often feel that New England and North America, it’s sort of more dangerous — there’s a lot of nature that can be harmful,” she said.
Sagov immediately put up hand-written signs along the pathway where the canoe dock is located, and posted onNextdoor, an online neighborhood bulletin board, to warn other pet owners.
She hopes no one else with a dog or pet will experience what she has gone through these last few days.
“I think year-round educational notices need to be put up, just saying what it is and the ways it shows up and the dangers of it,” she said.
