Porter's Page!

Can't figure out how to make this damn thing work...

 

The neighbor in question was Shadow's owner...

 

@ColoradoTJ
@shakerhood
@Taco critter

And Porter even likes him!

 

Gwyn was hesitant to let Porter into the backyard out of fear that he would catch one of the rabbit and kill it; Here's my theory on my dog...

If it runs, Porter will chase it; If he catches it, he won't try to kill it, but rather just try to play with it and end up killing it by mistake because of the size difference...

 

Porter chases Gwyn's chickens all the time, but he has never actively tried to attack them; Porter has known Gideon the duck (who is actually a girl) since he was maybe 9 months old and she was just a little duckling...

I didn't know what would happen if Porter got close to Gideon, but I held her at Porter's level and he just sniffed her; Porter didn't try to attack Gideon and she didn't seem to mind Porter...

On a subsequent playdate, Gideon was actually following Porter around rather than Porter chasing her; It almost seemed as though Gideon thought she was a dog!

Gideon is now a full grown duck, and I honestly think she enjoys being chased by Porter!

 

As for cats, Porter takes them on a case by case basis; He will not chase them like the stereotypical dog, but rather he will approach the cat to investigate and perhaps try to make friends. More than often than not, this results in the cat hissing and taking a swipe at Porter; One of Gwyn's cats doesn't mind Porter, but there is one in particular that clawed him on the nose, and he remembers this cat...

Porter goes absolutely nuts when he sees this particular cat and will start barking and growling; The same goes for my neighbor's cat. This is the same neighbor who owns Shadow, and even though the cat took a swipe at him, Porter still looks for her in the front yard landscaping...

 

But yeah, the rabbit was cuddling in my arms rather hopping around, so Porter sniffed him a couple of times and then lost interest; Amazingly enough, he sat still long enough for Gwyn to take a picture!

 

Originally a thread called Remembering Mandy...


In September 2018, my parents and I adopted an 11-week old Corgi/Lab mix named Mandy; Our joy quickly turned to heartbreak within a month when we realized she was drinking excessively, and we took her to the vet, who believed she had kidney problems of some sort but didn't have the resources to accurately diagnose the issue and sent us to a specialist.

The specialist ran some tests and did an ultrasound, and it was a worst case scenario. Mandy had a rare kidney defect called Congenital Renal Dysplasia, which caused her kidneys to operate at just 40% capacity. This would get worse over time, and she was not expected to live past the age of two...

Aside from excessive thirst, Mandy did not show any significant signs of this serious illness until probably April 2019; It was sometime in April when she started to show signs of it. For example, she started to sleep a lot more and slowed down a lot, she started to lose her appetite, and she started to take bites out of the drywall in our house in what we believe was an attempt to compensate for an iron deficiency caused by her failing kidneys...

It was in May-June 2019 that she really took a turn for the worst; Her hind leg muscles started to atrophy, and her back half looked almost skeletal. She also stopped eating dog food in the last 2-3 weeks of her life and the vet said that if it wasn't obviously dangerous for dogs and she'd eat it, feed it to her; I discovered, quite accidentally after spilling some, that she would still eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch, so that is primarily what she ate for the last couple weeks of her life.

By the end of June 2019, it got to the point where there was just no quality of life and we decided to end her suffering. We put her to sleep on July 1st, 2019; We are unsure of her exact birthdate because she was a rescue, but we only had her for ten months and I'm pretty sure she was less than a year old.

My family had euthanized a dog before, but she was a 15-year old Black Lab with severe arthritis and failing kidneys; Her name was Molly. I was devastated when we put Molly to sleep (she literally died in my arms), but she lived a full life; Mandy was literally just a puppy, and putting a puppy to sleep is like emotionally taking an anvil to the stomach...

I was listening to a George Strait song in the Taco on the drive home from a friend's house not even half an hour ago, a song called "I Cross My Heart", and I started tearing up as I was driving because I started thinking about Mandy; Hell, I'm tearing up right now typing this!

We adopted a new dog, a handsome 5-month old Black Lab who we named Porter, less than a year after Mandy died; Porter is an amazing dog, but it's been two and a half years and I still get broken up thinking about the furry sister he never got to meet...

 

The picture above was actually taken the day before we put her to sleep; She looks 110% healthier than she actually was...

Here is a picture of her, also in my Taco, the day we brought her home!

 

Sorry bro, I can’t imagine the feeling. I have two dogs and their like children to my wife and I. Can’t imagine when it’s their time.

rip Mandy

 

It's always heartbreaking to lose a pet. Hopefully you can derive some consolation from the fact that you made the short life she was unfortunately fated to live as comfortable as possible.

 

Mandy has a memorial on the family bookshelf, and we kept her ashes...

 

Well, he made short work of this one...

 

Damn Bud tis stuff is hard, really hard. Sadly I know your pain far too well. It's been 9 years since the last one and I still miss him. I just try and remember all the good times we had together and hope we gave him a good life

 

that monkey is my dog’s all time favourite thing. It’s had arms and legs reattached more times than I could count.



Keep adopting dogs man. Everyone wins.

 

Sorry to hear about beautiful Mandy! Know exactly how you feel, we had to put our sweet Mayzie down in January of 2021 after having her for 15 years. Mayzie will never be replaced!
Eventually we will adopt!
Enjoy Porter and hopefully time will heal.....

 

Mayzie