The post by @Pulverizor, and especially the reply by @kammmmak touched my soul yesterday and I was inspired to share a story. I don't like to give personal info, but what the hell.
Last summer, we went on an outing. The day was set, we headed out of town to get our years supply of honey and wanted stop at one of those "you pick" places to get some honeyberries. We had a theme and a schedule but I have a bad habit of ruining my wife's agenda by pointing out a large "Yard Sale" sign. I LOVE going to rural yard sales because you find some fantastic things, and boy I must say we were in for a real surprise that day.
We met this nice lady and her husband was one of those "show and tell" types. He showed me this cool off-grid watering system that ran on battery power but his pump (the motor) was overheating so we were talking about how to cool the motor and got into a bunch of techobabble. My wife was probing me on when we were going to be done because the honey farmer was expecing us. The wife says "Oh, you're going to Miltons place? Let me give him a text to let him know you're going to be late". My wife and I were adoring her collie dog and commented how nice she was with her cats. I mentioned I would have a dog as long as it was "big, fluffy, but safe with cats" like her dog. She said "Oh, when you go to Miltons, you can meet my last puppy ... I gave her to him. If you like that kind of dog let me know because new puppies are availble from the same parents".
So ... we saw Miltons dog and my wife was impressed. I was impressed. What a smart and gentle dog. We collected our years supply of honey and I harrassed my wife hard to go back to the yard sale and find out where those puppies are to take a look. We postponed our honeyberry pick to go see and HOLY SHIT there were some HUGE dogs there. The people there appreciated our interactions with the pups and offered for us to just take one if we wanted.
Well, wouldn't you know it, we took too long and didn't have time for the honeyberries. But, we ended up with Honey - a 12week old, 40lb pup. This was last june. This dog changed our lives and got me out walking again - like 15-20 mile walks. This dog would do off leash in the woods and had perfect recall. She was a dream and as expected, was gentle with our cats. She did seem to have an agitation about her and so the cats never really became friends (as expected) but we were happy with the arrangement.
It was not perfect, however because we found out a month or so in that she had seizures during times of growth spurts. We didn't know not to pick the runt and while Honey was so sweet and would flop on her back to get petting, these were signs of a neuralogical disorder. She twitched a bit, and would go full grand maul seizure every six weeks or so. We tried to manage this as best we could and saw many people (vets, etc). We got into a groove with it and I just loved her as much as I could when she was lucid (most of the time when not having 'bouts' of seizures). I'd have done it forever. She was just a wonderful spirit even though she laid waste to our yard. She had such a big mouth that playing fetch required a soccer ball. For such a big monster, she was sweet like her name. Just pure Honey. Until the last bout.
Back in june she died in my arms while I was comforting her from the last seizure. She was again in full grand maul on this bout so I drug her to the middle of the yard where she wouldn't destroy anything or hurt herself. I had my hand on her chest to comfort her and always during the siezures I could feel her heart going wild until the seizure stopped. This time though, her heart just STOPPED! She went fully limp - basically flat out dead. Then, the fluids leaked out of her as though a great tension had been released. I knew she was gone because I saw her eyes change. Both my wife and I were lucky/unlucky enough to be there to see her off.
It was devastating. I have never been so sad. I have not cried over anything in literally 30 years but I cry often still and had one hell of a cry today. This was a great tragedy but it's essential to keep reading to get the point.
She was only 16mo old, but was already 140lbs. Imagine a 140lb puppy and then no puppy. She was my first dog since I was a kid. There was so many holes in my yard from her (she was a den digger) that could only be filled by another great dog. Within a day (less than a day, actually) of burying her I was so gutted I couldn't even function and I couldn't help but look for a match on the various channels where people advertise to rehome their dogs and found Larry.
Larry who was just a few months younger than Honey and was being forced off his farm because the owners were leaving the country in a week. They were desparate to find him a home. He was an unsocialized coyote killer and when we came to check him out and he ran into their back 40. He knew somehow right away that we were going to be taking him and he clearly didn't want to go.
Because his original masters didn't want him to go to a shelter and identified with our story about Honey (she had been gone for only a couple of days) they wanted to try and make it work. The husband had to rustle him up and "forced" him into the cab of our truck so we could interact and meet him. He was a very gentle boy in the vehicle so we took him on a trial basis. Within two more days we knew Larry was special and we knew we wanted to try and make it work.
Now, I am so thankful we went and found another dog about to be abandoned about the same age. He's not the same dog, but a bigger breed and just kicks ass. He doesn't have any hangups at all other than being mega shy with people ... until he decides he likes you and then he's a big fluffy cuddler. The cats didn't get eaten by Honey, but this new dog actually got them to come up and cuddle with him. He's the dog my wife always wanted.
There is a great deal more to the story, but let's just say that both of our trajectories were salvaged. Larry is now the yard captain, and now, we've atracted another 'urgent rescue' but he's only 10weeks (same breed as Larry).
I want to tell everyone out there who's lost a dog that there is always another one out there that needs you. It is worth it.
I don't cry often but did today writing this and remembering how great Honey was. That said I am so blessed right now. Honey would have loved Larry and Larry would have loved her too! Now, Larry loves us, and loves Kevin - his new trainee. Larry yields to the cats in the back yard and garden and we are again mouse free in there and have the greatest synergy than I ever thought possible.
Sure, we lost Honey, but we saved Larry. Both his and our trajectories were beyond salvaged. I will just say that the thought of any other asshole getting ahold my my Larry and not treating him as great as he's shown he deserves ... I just wouldn't be able to take it. It's a blessing and a tragedy that Honey let go when she did, but had she not Larry would have been in a shelter, labelled as hostile and put down (100% on that). This is because he was never inside a house or kennel since he was 10weeks and dropped on the farm.
If any of you goats met Larry now you'd never believe he was not socialized when we got him. Blessed is the only word I can think of.
