Let's See Your Dogs!!

We have some, that one is a semi-soft toy. The last one he had was the much larger size and he loved it because it was a durable long lasting toy that was actually soft and squishy to chew on. We loved it because it doesn’t make noise or slice our ankles and knees when he runs by haha. The larger one was the best toy he’s ever had and lasted months, this was the size in stock today

 

Kimo turns those red ones into shards pretty quickly. I'm always afraid he will choke on the left over parts.

 

We definitely have play alone unsupervised toys and only play tug of war or fetch with me then it gets put back up as not to be destroyed and choked on toys haha.

 

I generally keep his toys out of reach. Kimo can stand on his hind legs and shop--the look, can't touch kind What's really weird tho? I toss plastic juice bottles for him. He rarely crushes them. They are returned immediately. He hasn't tried to shred one yet.

 

Don't make the Chihuahua ride in the back!!!!

 

My 3 current pups

 

So great

 

Took Tessa to the dog park before her grooming appt yesterday. She and her new friend waiting patiently for the human to release the hounds.

 

At camp while Mom and Dad are away.

 

A better image of Beauregard, lol

 

Great face, great name. Love the brindle

 

I lost this one (Cooper) Tuesday, 4/30.

We adopted him 9 years ago from our local shelter. He had been turned in as a pup, adopted, returned, adopted, and again returned. He was fairly big (73 lbs), largely unsocialized, afraid of men, and in need of a break. We were looking for a friend of our yellow lab and these two got along, so we took him. He had been at the shelter for a while before we took him. He had a lot of energy, and was a little hard to handle. Not an ideal dog for a lot of people and no one had been interested in him. We took him home gave him a good walk, and after he had calmed down, brought him into the back yard. He went right for the lawn and rolled all over it. The shelter told us he had spent a lot of time in a crate in an apartment. Now he has a yard.

It took a long time to win him over. He was okay with my wife, but he didn't trust me and didn't like to interact. He was difficult to teach to walk appropriately and not react to others. He did not like men, and could become aggressive toward others, especially men with dark skin. Eventually, he began to come around. He always "supervised" me when working in the backyard. Always at my knee when cutting the lawn, or watching me while working in the garage. We discovered he liked to vocalize a lot. Once in a while, he would bay, but he mostly made "Wookie" noises, especially when it was time to eat. If I was late feeding the dogs, he would stand on his hind legs and make these crazy noises to get my attention. Once outside, he would slap his paw on the food container, and nudge me with his nose. He has also flicked my boys pretty hard a time or two - I think on purpose.

He became the bestest boy as he began to trust us. He was a ferocious and fearless guardian of our home. He wouldn't let anyone get between us and him. He has deleted numerous squirrels, opposums, trash pandas, and chased off coyotes and recently, a bobcat. I didn't want him killing the furry intruders, but he was hard-wired for it, and by the time I had any idea he was onto something, it was all over. I didn't like cleaning up the bodies, but he was doing something very instinctual. I had found him many times sitting on the patio in the rain at 2:00 AM watching the walls. He was highly scent-driven and liked to hunt things. He might have made a good SAR dog had we got him as a pup and were able to socialize him properly. He was a good athletic dog who needed a purpose.

He lived a lot of his life outside. He slept in the garage which is finished and heated. If he came in the house, he would sniff around a little but wanted out right away. For a big dog who was pretty kinetic outside, he was very gentile in the house. In the last four years, he became willing to sleep in the house. Now he wanted the interaction with the rest of us and needed less to patrol the walls.

As he got older he slowed down. A mile was enough walking for him. However, to watch him play, or carry on because he wanted to be fed, you would not think he was a 13 YO dog. In the last 2 years, he had some small instances of skin cancer which were removed and didn't seem to be progressing. About a year ago he began to have allergy issues. They had been seasonal and some Benedryl and/or a steroid shot would stop it. Now, I couldn't get it under control, I thought it was our Crepe Mertyls because the itching seemed to correlate with them blooming. I cut them down. We changed his protein source, added a probiotic, and used chlorhexidine shampoo, but it only made a dent in it. He looked like he had execema. It was so bad, I thought I might have to put him down because we couldn't get control of it and he was very uncomfortable. We started Apoquel, and it resolved almost overnight.

I know Apoquel is an immunosuppressant, and using it meant it lowered his defenses against cancer or anything else, so it was a lesser-of-two-evils choice. Eventually, I could see signs of cancer starting to appear. he had a few lumps which felt like lymphomas, but one came up that opened up, leaked some bad-smalling clear fluid, and wouldn't heal regardless of what we tried. However, he was doing just fine. Full of energy, eating, being him. Last Sunday, though, I felt something was wrong. Nothing looked wrong, he was himself, and nothing had changed; it was just a feeling. Monday, I was headed home and my wife called, crying, saying something had happened with Cooper. I got home and he was wandering around, drooling, and not really responding. Normally he begins to chortle when either of us pulls up in the driveway, and he comes trotting toward us with this silly expression on his face and this funny, high-step trot, like he's a lippizaner stallion. If it makes you laugh, he will ratchet it up even more. This time his eyes and face were droopy. The light had literally gone out of his eyes. His entire affect had changed. This was bad; I knew it was time.

The vet couldn't see him until the following day, which was okay as he was not in distress or pain. He likely had a seizure, but a seizure in an older dog, without a history of epilepsy, or who was running a fever, and so on, is often a sign of the onset of organ failure. We were going in late morning, which was fine. It was a beautiful day and I was thankful to be able to spend a little more time with him. We sat in the front yard watching the birds and enjoying the sunshine.

After it was over, I decided to take him to the pet cemetery for cremation myself instead of having them pick Cooper up from the vet. One last car ride, and the last thing I could do for him. I came back by the house before going to the cemetery to clean up and let our Staffordshire Terrier see him so she might have some understanding of why he's gone. She jumped up in the back seat and laid on him. She knew.

When it's the end of their life, it's always gut-wrenching for me. No amount of facts or logic will ever make it any easier. I hate making the decision, but I see it as my obligation to our friend. This one was harder because I wanted to give him the best life I could. I felt the early part of his life was wasted by people who couldn't or didn't care for him properly, and I wanted to make the rest of it as good as it could be. Dogs have such a short life, I hate for any of it to go to waste. Not my first dog, but it never gets any easier.

He will be greatly missed.

 

I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s so hard to lose our fur babies. It’s great that you gave him a much better home and life.

 

I saw this one day and it almost killed me just when I got our puppy. "The price of a great bird dog (dog) is a broken heart". Sorry for you loss. I miss every dog I've ever had.

 

I lost my little boy January 4th. I got him from the SPCA after he had been dumped in the desert in a rural county east of here like so much trash. He was about 2 when I got him and had him for 11 years. I had to have him euthanized at home. I lost my little girl 3 years and 1 week to the day before him. She was in 2 other homes before I got him. People just couldn’t handle her high energy level. She was creeping up on 16 years old when she went down hill quick and had to be euthanized. I use a mobile vet, so it was taken care of at home. My little boy saw it happen and knew that she was gone. He was 75 lbs and she was 65 lbs without a bit of fat on them.

 

Sorry for your loss. I know words don't help, but it sounds like he lived the best life he could have with you. RIP Cooper.

 

Beautiful post. As I lost my girl recently, thanks for the Friday evening cry. RIP Cooper, good boy.

 

So sorry for your loss... But it sounds like you gave him the best life.