TheBanyanTree: Because Paul Asked Nicely

[Monique Colver]

We love us our dogs, don't we?  Nice story.
On Nov 28, 2015 4:46 AM, "Pam Lawley" <pamj.lawley at gmail.com> wrote:

> The older I get, the more I love my dog...
>
> Seriously.  As an 'adult' I've had a few pets, but now I don't think that I
> ever really gave them ME.
>
> When I was married to my children's father, we drove from North Carolina to
> New Hampshire to rescue a Newfoundland - for him.  He'd had some before and
> wanted another.  DeeDee was living in rescue on a farm and became just
> another horse.  She ate carrots and apples whole!  If the horses got one,
> she wanted one as well!
>
> She'd had her vocal cords cut and I was appalled!  How in the world could
> somebody do that to a big dog?!  (I've since owned big dogs who barked and
> while I wouldn't do that, I can see why somebody could.)   It's not like
> she was a 'yappy' Chihuahua, right?!?!  So DeeDee had a gruff sounding
> squeak.  And she became MY dog...  I was pregnant with Molly and smoking on
> the sly.  Every evening we'd go for a walk with the cigarette that I
> sneaked out of the house.
>
> (Side note:    looking back now I don't see how he didn't know I was
> smoking, or maybe he just chose to pretend... anyway)
>
> She attached herself to me and I loved her.
>
> And then I did a tour on the Drill Field.  That involved schooling in South
> Carolina and then a move to Parris Island.  My husband came down to the
> class behind mine and we began 2 1/2 years of long hours at work.  DeeDee
> was not impressed as it turns out.  Our house had a screened in back porch
> and she crashed through it more than once.  She absolutely didn't like
> being left alone and so we decided to move her back to NC to live with my
> sister.  She only lived another year, and when she died my sister had her
> buried in the local pet cemetery.
>
> (Another side note:  nobody buries their pets there anymore and that strip
> of ground is pretty overgrown.  There are apartments built next door and
> you have to know that it was there to know it is there.  Recently my sister
> was in town [because now she's moved away and I've moved back] and she went
> in search of DeeDee's grave.  She had to find somebody to ask, and
> eventually she located it - and texted me a photo!  In the 20 years since
> I've been back, after initially visiting, I don't remember even stopping
> there again.)
>
> While married to my second husband, we 'adopted' a Great Dane.  Mr. Banks.
> Technically, it wasn't an "adoption", but a woman had him listed in the
> paper for $100 because he needed a new home since she was going to breed
> Chihuahuas!  whatever.)
>
> Banks was awesome and behaved and quite the gentleman.  But when that
> divorce happened, he went with his dad.  Eventually I got visitation, and
> the morning that he went to be put down, I got to hug him good-bye.
>
> I 'loved' those dogs and I was sad to see them go, but... maybe because
> there was already physical distance between us?!  I really didn't grieve
> for them?  I'm not sure how to explain it.
>
> My third husband (yes!  don't judge!!) and I got another Great Dane.  He
> had them growing up, and of course I'd experienced the breed as well.
> Annie was a great dog, even if she was neurotic and anxious!  When she was
> a couple of years old we got a second Dane.  He was adorable and sweet -
> and a total spaz!  So when THAT marriage broke up (don't judge!!), we each
> kept a dog, and I got Annie.
>
> Annie was a stay-at-home kind of dog - she freaked in cars and was afraid
> to even jump in.  If we went somewhere, I had to help her up.  I had
> visions of us hanging out together and going places, but she wasn't having
> any of that!  But evidently, while staying home and taking walks, we must
> have seriously formed some kind of bond.
>
> In January of this year I found out that she had an aggressive form of bone
> cancer that would spread.  We discovered this when a big lump formed on her
> 'ankle'.  She'd been limping and it didn't go away with 'routine' meds.  We
> tried that first because x-rays would involve the trauma of putting her
> under to get her to the machine.  And she HATED the vet's office and the
> car ride to get there.
>
> I decided I wouldn't put her through the additional trauma of having her
> leg amputated only to add a year.  It would have been a year of vet visits
> and learning to walk without a front leg (she was a 150 pound Dane)...  I
> couldn't prolong her life just to keep me happy.  We decided to continue a
> vigorous course of meds and just wait.
>
> The wait wasn't long.  A week later she ran the fence line playing with the
> neighbor's Chihuahua (I have typed that word three times in this post!!!)
> and (we think) broke the fragile bone that was cancerous.  Because then she
> could put no weight on her leg and was hopping around on three.  So I made
> the decision.  Arrangements were made for the vet to come to our house, and
> my sister came with her friend whose business is pet cremations.  They were
> going to take Annie with them.
>
> That day I finally GOT IT.  I held my trembling dog (because she knew who
> the vet was the minute she walked in and the shaking started!!) in my arms
> while the drugs were administered, and I petted her as she took her last
> breaths.  And *I* was traumatized...  I cried for days when my puppy
> died...
>
> And immediately made the decision to get another dog!!  By then it was just
> me in the house and there was plenty of room for a puppy who needed a home
> and a mom!
>
> I have a great friend (who I actually met twenty-some-odd years ago on the
> Spoon!) who met Banks and fell in love with the breed and who has herself,
> in the years since, adopted a few!  And now she knows the women who run the
> Rescue in the western part of the state!  (What goes around...)  She put in
> a good word for me and they allowed me to adopt!  Who-hoo!!
>
> A month to the day that Annie died, I went to Charlotte and adopted Axel.
> What a sweet, sweet boy!!  He came into rescue from an abusive situation
> and he has the scars to prove it.  But he is my shadow.  He LOVES a car
> ride and 'loads up' on command and would rather go and wait in the car than
> stay home!!  He loves a walk, he loves a nap, and he loves his mom!
>
> What he doesn't like is to be left alone.  I think it makes him a little
> anxious.  So he paces the house and "rearranges" stuff.  If I leave
> something on the kitchen counter, then I'm probably going to find it on the
> floor in the bedroom or the living room.  Loaf of bread?!  Bag of
> potatoes?  Empty cake taker?  Moved.  I try very hard to remember to keep
> the counters clear and hide anything I can't put away.
>
> Or he'll chew the backs off of picture frames.  he's probably gotten a
> dozen of them!  I used to have shelves with an eclectic assortment of
> photos and frames all over the house.  I recently had cause to do some
> redecorating and all that's changed now.  I gotta remove the temptations!
>
> Yes, he has a crate.  And baskets full of toys and chew bones.  He just
> prefers frames thankyouverymuch!!
>
> Maybe because my kids are grown and moved out, maybe because I've gone
> through all the husbands I'm going to, but my life is now all about my
> dog.  If I can't take Axel I really don't want to go.  He has to be home
> alone all day while I work and I hate to leave him in the evenings at all.
> We LOVE the cool weather because it means he can go.  The hot summer
> sucked!!
>
> Anyway.... I really love this dog...
>
> Pam
>