Jackson...our last shelter dog (for now)

Jackson wasn't supposed to be in our family.  It just happened.  It was Saturday, December 6, 2008, and Shorty had to go to the vet for his annual checkup.  As I was talking to the vet, she asked if I knew anyone who would want a puppy.  She proceeded to tell me that a young kid found him living on the streets. He brought him to the vet's office and told them either they take him or he was going to just let him go.  Of course, the vet took him.  They named him Jackson and he "lived" at the vet's office for about a week before I came in.   I told Mrs. Brownlow (Shorty's vet) that I didn't know anyone at the time who would want him, but asked her for a picture of him to post at work.  She went in the back room, and she came out with this little bundle of puppy in her arms.  I thought she was only going to give me a picture!!  She said he would make a good addition to our dog family.  At the time, we had Shorty, Hogan, and puppy Oreo.  We didn’t want another dog.  I took Jackson in my arms and he had his little head on my shoulder.  He picked up his head and looked at me, then sucked on my nose.  Well, if he was living on the streets, he was probably looking for food from his mama. Of course I couldn't say no...I brought him home just to "foster" until I could find a permanent place for him to live.  He was so little and scrawny, but his legs were so long.  We couldn't figure out what kind of dog he was; some sort of brown, black and white brindle color.  When I went home, my husband almost flipped out.  I told him we weren't keeping him.   Little did I know I would fall in love with him that weekend.  He and Oreo got along so well (they were only 6 months apart in age), and they played and chased each other.  Jackson was real skittish, though.  He would curl up and hide under the Christmas tree and sleep.  He looked scared if anyone wanted to pick him up or pet him.  I felt sorry for him.  I just thought of the life this little guy had on the streets scrounging for food and shelter. The weekend came and went, and I had to leave this puppy to go to work on Monday.  I thought about him all day, and cried.  I couldn't give him up, but no one else in my family wanted him except me.  I cried on the drive home; I walked in the house and was still crying and went straight into my bedroom.   When I was composed enough, I told my husband I wanted to keep him.  He agreed, but he didn't want anything to do with raising a puppy again.  With some sleepless nights and some training, he is a happy, playful dog who adores my husband.   He is one of the smartest dogs we've ever had.  He loves tennis balls.  We later found out that he's a Catahoula Leopard Dog, the state dog of Louisiana.  They need to keep busy which is why he plays with tennis balls endlessly.   I can't imagine life without Jackson; he is the little instigator in our dog family.  Like they say, if you don't play with a Catahoula, they'll eat your house.  

Oreo

July 5, 2008, just two weeks after Shadow crossed over the Rainbow Bridge, we adopted Oreo.  We didn’t plan this at all…it just happened.  There was a family; mom, dad and eight pups up for adoption at PetSmart.   Why do I keep going into that store because it seems I always come out with another dog.  This time my husband was with me, so I can’t be the only one to blame   We couldn’t resist all the shelter dogs.  I felt so sorry for all of them, but when we saw this “family”, my eyes filled with tears.  Dad was a Saint Bernard and mom was an Australian Cattle Dog.  They were all dumped in the desert and were found by a woman who heard their cries.  Oreo was the one my husband fell in love with.  As he held him, the Oreo just wagged and wagged his tail. He was so soft and cuddly, and the puppy breath!!!  Nothing can compare to puppy breath.  We brought him home to meet Hogan and Shorty, and again the older dogs had to get used to being around a puppy again.  They didn’t seem to mind Oreo.  He was playful and mischievous.   We had several names picked out for him, but Oreo seemed to fit the best because of his black and white color. He was so small at the time that his favorite place to sleep was curled up behind one of the food bowls.  Little did we know he would be a very food-oriented  dog…if there was food, he was there.   If there wasn’t food, he would find some.  One day, when he was about three months old, I couldn’t find him.  I looked all over the house until I heard a noise from the spare room.  I looked inside, and there was Oreo in a forty pound bag of dog food.  He chewed his way through and his little legs and tail were the only things sticking out.   I knew he was going to be trouble.  To this day he is fixated on food.  Just recently my husband made cookies and put them out on the patio table to cool off.   I looked out and saw Oreo slowly putting his lips up on the cookie pan and off he ran.    I went out to yell at him, and then saw that he had been taking cookies the whole time.  Most of them were gone.  The top of our refrigerator is piled with stuff….things I know he will get into.  He will steal food off of counters and tables if left alone.   Even though he can be destructive, I wouldn’t give him up for the world.  He’s a big scaredy-bear at heart, and would welcome you into our home with some licks and barks. 

Shadow Puppy

Shadow was a very special dog from the start.  We already Hogan and Shorty in our family, and of course I had to fall in love with this little black lab puppy sitting alone in a crate staring at me with his little brown eyes.   I asked a shelter worker if I could hold him, and he just crawled on my shoulders with his front little paws.   It was May 27, 2006 and he was just eight weeks old.   He was the last puppy left out of the litter and the pups and mom were left behind when the owner went to jail.  We named him Shadow, and so here is his life with us.  It didn’t take long for him to adjust to living with us.  He loved to play with Shorty (I think pestering him was more like it).   One of his favorite activities was eating, and so he gained some extra weight, so we had to cut down his food intake and exercise him more.   We went to the dog park almost every weekend so they could play with “friends”.  In January 2007, Shadow was running across the park and started limping.  I thought it was a just a strain, but he didn’t get any better.  A vet visit confirmed that Shadow had Cranial (Anterior) Cruciate Ligament, which is a tear in the ligament in the knee.  Since the tear wasn’t that bad, Shadow just needed to rest and stay off his leg as much as possible.  We followed doctor’s orders by keeping him immobile in a crate. I felt so bad because all he wanted to do was play.  As months went by, his leg seemed to improve, but because he couldn’t exercise like he used to, he gained weight.  Regular visits to the vet indicated his knee was better but now he needed to lose weight….they suggested swimming so there wouldn’t be such a strain on his knee.  We taught him how to swim in our pool and exercise him in the water to strengthen his knee and lose weight at the same time.  Being part lab you would think he liked water, but he didn’t.  He wore a life preserver just so he could doggy paddle!!   He swam as much as he could and Shadow was as happy as he could be, but I knew something was wrong.  When he walked, his back legs were bowed, and he would have to stop often to rest.  He didn’t have the energy he used to have.  An emergency vet exam showed his knee was worse and he would need surgery immediately.  It was quickly scheduled for the following Monday, June 24, 2008.  The next day, the unexpected happened; Shadow stepped out of the pool and his back leg didn’t work at all.   He was dragging it and screamed in pain.  I rushed him to the vet; he didn’t have any blood pressure in his back leg.    They gave him pain killers and said to keep him comfortable until the surgery on that Monday.  He became worse over the weekend and by the time I took him in for surgery, he couldn’t use either of his back legs.  An ultrasound revealed that he had a blood clot in his heart….there was nothing they could do for him.   At that moment, I had to make the dreaded decision to have him euthanized.  I brought  Shadow home for his last visit with Hogan and Shorty.   My husband came home to say his goodbyes.  How could this be happening?  He was just over two years old, he didn’t deserve this.     He quietly passed over the Rainbow Bridge that day…many tears were shed by his vet, her staff, and our family.   It’s been a long time since Shadow has passed; he was a good dog and I still miss him terribly. 

Shorty Man!!

What's a Shorty Man?  Shorty was our second dog adopted from a shelter in April 2006.  His name was Shorty and don't ask me why we started calling him Shorty Man...it just fit.   I guess dogs can have nicknames just like people do.  Shorty lived a good life on a huge farm with other animals:  horses, pigs, dogs, you name it, and he lived with them.  His owner was an older gentleman who lived for his animals and worked hard to keep them happy.  Tragically, on Christmas Day 2005, Shorty's owner was killed by a drunk driver and so all the animals on the farm were left to fend for themselves.  Luckily, a shelter was contacted regarding the situation and all the animals were sent to various places in the southwest.  Shorty and several of his "brothers" were put up for adoption by a shelter at PetSmart.  Of course dog food wasn't the only thing I came home with on the day I adopted Shorty.  You see, older animals are the hardest to adopt and they usually are euthanized within a certain time period because of shelter overcrowding.  I couldn't resist bringing another dog home, especially since Hogan was the only dog we had at the time.  Hogan and Shorty didn't really get along at first; being two males they both wanted to be dominant.  They never fought, but you could tell that they stayed their distance at first.  It only took about a month for them to become friends.   They did everything together.  Although neither of them were playful dogs, they just did their own thing and got along very well.  Originally we thought Shorty was a German Shepherd/Corgi mix, but we found out years later that he was a Swedish Vallhund mix while at a dog specialty shop.  These dogs originated in Sweden over 1000 years ago.  Shorty’s personality just blossomed over the years.  He was just a funny dog. While going for walks, he would actually pull and drag garbage bags from other people’s garbage and try to bring it home with him.   He loved getting baths in the backyard.  While drying off, he would run along the side of our house and rub his body on the stucco the whole way.  Then he’d turn around and rub the other side the same way.  When he was done, there would be hair marks along the wall of the house.  Shorty was very kind to anyone he was with, especially children.  He would let kids pet and touch him and he just stood there.    Unfortunately, we became aware of some health problems during his years with us.  He had Tachycardia where the heart beats faster than normal and dogs with this usually don’t live very long unless it can be controlled.  He saw a cardiologist and an internist to control his health issues. He was on daily medications and his heart was stabilized.  Further in his years, he needed B12 shots, diarrhea medicines, and he developed a type of vertigo.  He did well on all the pills he took, but after New Year’s Day 2013, he took a turn for the worse.  He didn’t want to eat, he slept most of the day, and he just looked at me with those eyes and said “it’s time to go”.   On January 4, 2013, he fell over in the backyard and I knew it was time.  Sadly, he was euthanized on that day.  He loved going to the vet, so it wasn’t stressful for him.  I was with him the whole time telling him what a good boy he was and j sat on the floor petting him after he had passed.  I sit here crying while writing this and miss him dearly.  He slept on the floor next to my bed every night, and when I would wake up, I’d feel his little heart beat and thank goodness he made it another day.  And so this blog is a tribute to Shorty who blessed us with his presence every day of his life.