Let's See Your Dogs!!

ImpulseRed008 · May 3, 2024

CPS-65 said: ↑

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.

Click to expand...

Sorry for your loss. RIP Cooper

Kbar · May 3, 2024

K who wants one?

Nevada Mike · May 3, 2024

Kbar said: ↑

K who wants one?

Click to expand...

Mine liked sleeping on the bed. He would have never slept under it like that.

SRH · May 4, 2024

CPS-65 said: ↑

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.

Click to expand...

❤️

jwctaco · May 4, 2024

CPS-65 said: ↑

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.

Click to expand...

So sorry for your loss, RIP Cooper

MarX · May 4, 2024

@CPS-65 sorry for your loss.

ian408 · May 4, 2024

What dogs do on a rainy Saturday...

JimboJones · May 4, 2024

My Callie girl trying to roll on the front lawn, super happy cuz she just ate a Chic-Fil-A sandwich.

powder1134 · May 4, 2024

Installed a sweet Corsa Pre-wheel exhaust on my buddy's brand new F-150 5.0l with my buddy and Roy's supervision. It felt so low to the ground, considering it is a truck. Also did an oil change on it for him.

Tatts521 · May 4, 2024

Alpha has a thing for towels. We'll anything for that matter. Anything he can fit in his mouth is fair game. If your not paying attention he will take a water bottle right of your hands. Anywho haven't posted in a while.

Tiny's Taco · May 4, 2024

Kbar said: ↑

K who wants one?

Click to expand...

Nevada Mike said: ↑

Mine liked sleeping on the bed. He would have never slept under it like that.
Click to expand...

My wife showed me this today and then said she'd need a step ladder to get in and out of bed.

Nadjr · May 5, 2024

Supervising us cleaning rooms after a busy weekend and needing a drink after all of the energy she expended doing her job.

TomTwo · May 5, 2024

Kbar said: ↑

K who wants one?

Click to expand...

I was just getting ready to post this great idea

kent50 · May 5, 2024

Kbar said: ↑

K who wants one?

Click to expand...

In my house the Wife and the dog would be sleeping up top leaving the lower section to me! LOL

leftright · May 5, 2024

Tiedie said: ↑

Found this morning.

Click to expand...

You have a new friend and thanks

leftright · May 5, 2024

El Taco Diablo said: ↑

Tucker is a great name!

This is our little Tucker. He's "helping" me edit a YouTube video

We think he's part Patterdale Terrier and something that doesn't shed. We found him half starved, dumped on the side of the road in the country (people fucking suck).

I tell him he would have been Coyote food all the time

The white dog in the background was also found dumped in my father in law's orchard as a puppy... wasn't kidding, I hate people.

Tucker isn't spoiled at all though.

Click to expand...

All 3 of mine are dogs people threw away best dogs ever you are correct sir people suck Tucker found the right spot was just hard to get to

SACTOWN · May 5, 2024

Tired after a 3 mile walk

SRH · May 5, 2024

SACTOWN said: ↑

Tired after a 3 mile walk
Click to expand...

It looks like a goat there!

SACTOWN · May 5, 2024

SRH said: ↑

It looks like a goat there!
Click to expand...

Yea or a grey hound. He is a sheepadoodle

SRH · May 5, 2024

SACTOWN said: ↑

Yea or a grey hound. He is a sheepadoodle
Click to expand...

Sheepadoodles look like goats…… who knew

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SRH My horns hold up my halo

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