Dogs We Have Loved and Lost

In Dec. of 1996, a truly great mastiff was brought into the world. 11 years later, his job here was finally complete; and he went to join his best friend Huckleberry; leaving Ron and I here missing him, but better for having loved him. Soon it will be a year since we said goodbye to him; I keep thinking, "Later, I'll feel ready to write his memorial; some OTHER time I'll be up to it", etc. Writing these is so hard, and when you feel like you are ready, you sit down to do it and find you are not. There were many things about him that were so special...he used to let us know when something was wrong with one of the other pets....we have a big group of animals; it's easy to miss subtle signs of sickness..Owen NEVER missed them. He would let us know when Maggie was having high blood sugars ( her urine smelled different to him and he would follow her around ,as if she were in heat); when Ginger was about to have a seizure, he would come get us and express his concern to us. He was never an alarmist. If he told us something, it was true. He was an honest dog. He had the most adorable and unique voice...he didn't bark, but rather, made a little noise like an owl. He would say, "hoo! HOO!" when he wanted to talk to us. He very, VERY rarely actually barked. When he did, it was a single, IMPRESSIVE "WOOF!" If we heard that, we got up and went to see what was going on. As I said before, he was NOT an alarmist. If he woofed, there was something to woof about. We were so lucky to have the many years we had with him, he was an old soul from puppyhood; very serious and not prone to silliness. He did love his toys, and liked to bring them to us as gifts when we would come home from work. If we took him by surprise, he would look upset that he hadn't been ready with a toy, and he would trot off to get one for us before saying hello. Sometimes , if a toy wasn't handy, he would bring us a dog bed or a cat bed; Sometimes with a cat already sitting in it. He would gingerly tug-tug-tug...then wait....no movement from the cat, who sat in there with slitted ,annoyed eyes...then tug...tug...tug...TUG.....wait again.....the cat would stand it's ground...then he would just drag the bed with the cat sitting in it, to try to gently give us this wonderful gift. He was self conscious about his size. He was very careful around the cats, careful not to step on them or squish them as he got up onto couches, beds, our bed, and moved about the house. He seemed to know that he could hurt them, and he never wanted to hurt things. Even his toys, and food...he would chew his treats gently, take treats gently, and when we gave him new squeaky toys, we would have to SQUEAK them for him while they were in his big soft mouth, to try to encourage him to bite down on them. He just liked their soft fleeciness in his mouth, and didn't even know most times that they ALSO squeaked if you bit down on them. He didn't want to be unneccesarily rough. :) He needed to be shown this with any new toys; he did not generalize that all toys might make this great noise if you were rough with them. Once he decided to squeak them, he would shake them happily back and forth, squeaking them over and over, and then pausing to be sure we were watching him. When he saw that we WERE, he would wag his tail. Oh, his tail...sigh...that massive thumping that made us wish we had our OWN tails to wag in return...he would wag his tail while looking into his water bowl, if there was a piece of food floating in it. He would watch the food without wagging, then wag -wag -wag...then wait for a response from the food piece. He also wagged his tail in his sleep, when he was dreaming. He would wag it HARD, at very specific times, during his sleep. He had an active dream life I think. He did a "fake" sleep too, he would be snoring and have his eyes closed and appear dead to the world; and when we walked by him he would not move in any other way, but he would wag at us. I thought I wouldn't be able to write a THING about him, and now I've written for an hour. I also thought the tears for him were nearly over; and I sit here, crying hard for him again. I'm sure I could go on and on; but it's not easy. The memories seem too fresh; to be nothing but memories. We love you, we miss you and will always miss you; you set the bar high, baby boy.

In Dec. of 1996, a truly great mastiff was brought into the world. 11 years later, his job here was finally complete; and he went to join his best friend Huckleberry; leaving Ron and I here missing him, but better for having loved him. Soon it will be a year since we said goodbye to him; I keep thinking, "Later, I'll feel ready to write his memorial; some OTHER time I'll be up to it", etc. Writing these is so hard, and when you feel like you are ready, you sit down to do it and find you are not. There were many things about him that were so special...he used to let us know when something was wrong with one of the other pets....we have a big group of animals; it's easy to miss subtle signs of sickness..Owen NEVER missed them. He would let us know when Maggie was having high blood sugars ( her urine smelled different to him and he would follow her around ,as if she were in heat); when Ginger was about to have a seizure, he would come get us and express his concern to us. He was never an alarmist. If he told us something, it was true. He was an honest dog. He had the most adorable and unique voice...he didn't bark, but rather, made a little noise like an owl. He would say, "hoo! HOO!" when he wanted to talk to us. He very, VERY rarely actually barked. When he did, it was a single, IMPRESSIVE "WOOF!" If we heard that, we got up and went to see what was going on. As I said before, he was NOT an alarmist. If he woofed, there was something to woof about. We were so lucky to have the many years we had with him, he was an old soul from puppyhood; very serious and not prone to silliness. He did love his toys, and liked to bring them to us as gifts when we would come home from work. If we took him by surprise, he would look upset that he hadn't been ready with a toy, and he would trot off to get one for us before saying hello. Sometimes , if a toy wasn't handy, he would bring us a dog bed or a cat bed; Sometimes with a cat already sitting in it. He would gingerly tug-tug-tug...then wait....no movement from the cat, who sat in there with slitted ,annoyed eyes...then tug...tug...tug...TUG.....wait again.....the cat would stand it's ground...then he would just drag the bed with the cat sitting in it, to try to gently give us this wonderful gift. He was self conscious about his size. He was very careful around the cats, careful not to step on them or squish them as he got up onto couches, beds, our bed, and moved about the house. He seemed to know that he could hurt them, and he never wanted to hurt things. Even his toys, and food...he would chew his treats gently, take treats gently, and when we gave him new squeaky toys, we would have to SQUEAK them for him while they were in his big soft mouth, to try to encourage him to bite down on them. He just liked their soft fleeciness in his mouth, and didn't even know most times that they ALSO squeaked if you bit down on them. He didn't want to be unneccesarily rough. :) He needed to be shown this with any new toys; he did not generalize that all toys might make this great noise if you were rough with them. Once he decided to squeak them, he would shake them happily back and forth, squeaking them over and over, and then pausing to be sure we were watching him. When he saw that we WERE, he would wag his tail. Oh, his tail...sigh...that massive thumping that made us wish we had our OWN tails to wag in return...he would wag his tail while looking into his water bowl, if there was a piece of food floating in it. He would watch the food without wagging, then wag -wag -wag...then wait for a response from the food piece. He also wagged his tail in his sleep, when he was dreaming. He would wag it HARD, at very specific times, during his sleep. He had an active dream life I think. He did a "fake" sleep too, he would be snoring and have his eyes closed and appear dead to the world; and when we walked by him he would not move in any other way, but he would wag at us. I thought I wouldn't be able to write a THING about him, and now I've written for an hour. I also thought the tears for him were nearly over; and I sit here, crying hard for him again. I'm sure I could go on and on; but it's not easy. The memories seem too fresh; to be nothing but memories. We love you, we miss you and will always miss you; you set the bar high, baby boy.

Nothing Gold Can Stay Robert Frost Nature’s first green is gold Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

Nothing Gold Can Stay Robert Frost Nature’s first green is gold Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

I wrote a special tribute to Huck last year, and accidentally deleted it instead of posting it. It was too hard to go through that again. I will do another one day. I promise, Huck.

I wrote a special tribute to Huck last year, and accidentally deleted it instead of posting it. It was too hard to go through that again. I will do another one day. I promise, Huck.

We only had Ginger for five months but she stunned us with the depth to which we came to adore her, and left us devastated when she succumbed to adenocarcinoma. Ginger had lived outdoors for nine years, with a family that had no interest in her. They had a new puppy which took up all of their time. Ginger had seizures, and rather than help her with them by taking her to the vet, they banished her to outdoor living and ignored her. I happened into her life thank God, and Ron and I asked to have her. She was the greatest, craziest, most loving and cute little gremlin of a dog. When she first came here, she couldn't believe she was allowed on the FURNITURE! She hesitated the first time; then she quickly got used to having her "Throne" on the couch. She would jump up there and toss all of the pillows onto the floor with her head, before laying down on the tiny spot she needed for her tiny body. She ruled the Mastiffs with a silver paw. We loved her terribly. Her seizures we brought under complete control by us, and she was happy. One horrible day I felt a tiny lump near one of her nipples. It was adenocarcinoma. It was already in her lungs. We had two months with her and she was gone after that. The day after Thanksgiving we put her down. It was a horrendous, horrible time. It was only a few months after my mom had died. I am so glad that we bumped into her, and were able to show her a life of love and devotion, fun and companionship with my other dogs as well. We were lucky to have eachother. She started the Schnauzer Obsession around here, and all schnauzers since have Ginger to thank! Thank you, Baby Girl, we love you !!

We only had Ginger for five months but she stunned us with the depth to which we came to adore her, and left us devastated when she succumbed to adenocarcinoma. Ginger had lived outdoors for nine years, with a family that had no interest in her. They had a new puppy which took up all of their time. Ginger had seizures, and rather than help her with them by taking her to the vet, they banished her to outdoor living and ignored her. I happened into her life thank God, and Ron and I asked to have her. She was the greatest, craziest, most loving and cute little gremlin of a dog. When she first came here, she couldn't believe she was allowed on the FURNITURE! She hesitated the first time; then she quickly got used to having her "Throne" on the couch. She would jump up there and toss all of the pillows onto the floor with her head, before laying down on the tiny spot she needed for her tiny body. She ruled the Mastiffs with a silver paw. We loved her terribly. Her seizures we brought under complete control by us, and she was happy. One horrible day I felt a tiny lump near one of her nipples. It was adenocarcinoma. It was already in her lungs. We had two months with her and she was gone after that. The day after Thanksgiving we put her down. It was a horrendous, horrible time. It was only a few months after my mom had died. I am so glad that we bumped into her, and were able to show her a life of love and devotion, fun and companionship with my other dogs as well. We were lucky to have eachother. She started the Schnauzer Obsession around here, and all schnauzers since have Ginger to thank! Thank you, Baby Girl, we love you !!

Maggie left us on August 20, 2006. Though she was small in size, she left a chasm so deep in my life that it is hard to think of her for even a moment without breaking down. She was 10 when she died, this photo was taken mere days before we had to make that dreaded decision for her. She was always so good for everything, but her sweet way of sitting here in the sink for her bath always broke my heart a little; even when she was doing well. It hurts me to look at this photo; but when I searched for another I found that it's just still too fresh; that ALL photos of her still hurt me. We love you, little gray infant! We miss you so much.

Maggie left us on August 20, 2006. Though she was small in size, she left a chasm so deep in my life that it is hard to think of her for even a moment without breaking down. She was 10 when she died, this photo was taken mere days before we had to make that dreaded decision for her. She was always so good for everything, but her sweet way of sitting here in the sink for her bath always broke my heart a little; even when she was doing well. It hurts me to look at this photo; but when I searched for another I found that it's just still too fresh; that ALL photos of her still hurt me. We love you, little gray infant! We miss you so much.

Here is my beautiful Maggie, my perfect little girl. Looking her best for a Christmas photo. Love you so much, miss you, my baby!

Here is my beautiful Maggie, my perfect little girl. Looking her best for a Christmas photo. Love you so much, miss you, my baby!

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