Weedapea was the epitome of elegance despite her disabilities. Weighing only seven pounds didn’t stop this blind toy poodle from being the queen of her home realm.

The queen is dead, and her human, Diana, is devastated. So are Diana’s friends, like me, who had come to love this special little girl.

Weedapea died of heart failure on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014. She was born on Independence Day, 1999. She joined Diana’s household two years ago after her original owner found Diana and asked the longtime animal lover to help save her dog.

“A woman came up to me in Petco one day a little more than two years ago in tears; she told me God had led her to me because she was moving home to Iran in two days,” Diana said.

The woman said she couldn’t take Weedapea because small dogs were not allowed in her native country.

“She said dogs that weighed less than 30 pounds were illegal (they were considered “too western world”); taking a small dog like Weeda into the country was was punishable by beheading the dog and imprisoning the owner. She asked me to take her toy poodle that she had purchased at six weeks of age, or she would have no choice but to euthanize her at their vet before they left.”

Like most animal lovers, Diana has little patience for humans who abuse and/or neglect animals, but she has a soft spot for special-needs dogs. This Phantom silver toy poodle attached herself to Diana’s hear, and she’ll never, ever let go.

“This regal old lady that’s barely seven pounds runs my household,” Diana said. “Dogs of all sizes, ages, breeds/mixes  and from all backgrounds respect her the minute they meet her.

“She is the queen of this house, and I was lucky to have been where I was that day at Petco. I have been blessed every day since to share my life/home/heart with Weeda.”

Now that Weedapea is gone, Diana is worried about Jenny, a Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix that was Weeda’s best friend. They have slept together almost from the time they both came to live with Diana. Jenny will be 12 in February; Diana adopted her because on New Year’s Day, 2012, a couple who wanted a baby instead of a dog surrendered her to a rescue. She had lost one of her eyes in a dog attack several years earlier; last year, glaucoma took the vision in her remaining eye.

The two had always looked out for one another. Jenny made sure Weedapea didn’t get stepped on accidentally by the gentle giant Petey, a 110-pound German Shepherd/Rottweiler mix that also lives in the house. She would manage to work her way between Weeda and Petey whenever she feared Petey was getting too close.

When Jenny lost her vision, Weeda taught her how to navigate the house.

“They walked shoulder-to-shoulder through the house, up the stairs, and outside to potty until Jenny learned to navigate on her own,” Diana said. “When Weeda was diagnosed with heart failure, Jenny started staying close to her again. They always fell asleep touching each other, even if the only thing that was touching was their back feet.

“Weeda would wash Jenny and Bella’s face (Bella is a tiny, 4-year-old long-haired Chihuahua that also lives with Diana). As Weeda got sicker from the heart failure, the vet put her on Lasix; as a result, fluid would leak from her eyes, and Jenny and Bella would wash it away.

“The three girls stayed upstairs together when they were home alone so Bella could watch them and they could take care of each other without the big dogs stepping on them.”

Diana adopted another special-needs dog recently, a 2-year-old Shih Tzu that is losing her vision. The victim of excessive puppy mill breeding and neglect, Mimi whelped her first litter when she was 6 months old. The hair around her eyes was never trimmed properly, so she has corneal scarring. She also suffers from dry eye that was never treated until she was rescued.

“She has territorial issues and food aggression, but she knew immediately that Jenny and Weeda needed extra care,” Diana said. “From the first night in my house, she slept close to them and guarded them.

“She will never replace my angel, but she protected her for me.”