Calling All Dog Lovers

Bob,

I will be praying for Otis alongside everyone else. My thoughts are with you and Otis

DeeDee

I am so devastated for you and your horrific loss. Prayers out to you and yours. We had a black lab for many years also; he lived until 11. They are wonderful dogs

Thoughts and prayers for both of you and for all the animals out there

 

Dee--oh my God--that is so horrible. I am so sorry to hear that. You must be heartbroken. I have tears in my eys just reading that story. The poor baby.


Guys--Otis is okay. Turns out the lumps were just cysts of some kind. Thank God.

 

Thanks for the good thoughts everybody--it worked!

Hey Dee--can you post some pics of your little friend? I'd really love to see her as she was.

 

Dee Dee,

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss so suddenly. I think you are so right to have a test run to see what if anything she ate could have caused her such grief. I know how you feel in your loss. It is as no other. Our beautiful and faithful pets depend on us for everything and give only love in return. So when they die they leave such a huge hole in our hearts that nothing can fill. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

BobC, I'm so happy to hear that all those lumps are just benign thingys. What a relief for you. I've just seen this thread but I know how you love your pets. Thank goodness Otis is doing OK. :heart:

 

Zoomie--words cannot describe how much I love this dog. Here is Otis' story:

Ten years or so ago, my friend Shawn and I bought a house and my 23 YO Beagle Dincus had died a year before, so I decided I was ready to get a new dog. Shawn and I decided we wanted to adopt an older abandoned dog so we went to the Austin Humane Society to see what they had. As I walked through the door there was this really trashy looking guy standing there holding this Black lab puppy who was so young he couldn't even really walk yet--we're talking maybe ten inches long, if that. I went up to the guy and asked if he was adopting the puppy and he said no--that this puppy just "showed up" on his front lawn and was there for three days. As in, the guy just left him on the lawn for three days. I was dumbfounded--I asked this idiot if he'd been feeding the puppy and giving him water, and the gay said "Well no, I figured he was lost and would find his way back home if I didn't feed him."

"Give me the dog" was all I said, and gave him the most evil stare you could imagine. I took him home and named him Otis. Within hours Otis and I were inseparable. Even as a puppy, he never chewed anything up and was easy to potty train. I adored that dog.

Well one day I was driving somewhere and noticed a dog in a field. I didn't stop but on the return trip, hours later, the dog was still there in the same spot in the. I knew then that somebody had dumped him, as dogs tend to stay in the area they were dumped, hoping their "master" will come back. So I stopped andd got the dog, thinking I'd keep him for a playmate for Otis.

Once I got the stray home he almost immediately started throwing up water--I am talking projectile vomiting. It was the craziest thing--never saw anything like it. Turns out the dog had a disease called Parvo--which is caused by a bacteria that can live in soil as long as the soil doesn't freeze, and dogs pass it to each other. I had never heard of Parvo--being from Upstate NY where it freezes and kills the bacteria. To make a long story short--the stray had to be put down and Otis caught Parvo.

My little friend spent a week in the vet hospital, not getting better, and he was close to death. I would bring him my t-shirts so my scent could reassure him. Otis just wasn't getting better. I was distraught so I went on the old Justice Watch site and begged people for a suggestion on how to save Otis. Someone--I don't recall who it was--suggested that Otis be given a blood transfusion and so I told that to the vet, and she tried it. Otis was better within hours. He eventually fully recovered. I was so thankful.

That was ten years ago. The though of losing him again is unbearable.

 

BobC,

Somehow over all these years I have read or heard how much you love your animals. Your taking care of Otis all these years is a great story. I'm grateful you told me/us. My own little Dinky went to heaven in Oct 08. She was my constant companion always. She slept by my side and while watching TV she was always on my left side, always. She was a Terrier mix and a cutie. I miss her still and can't bring myself yet to bring another dog into my house. So for the while I still have my 3 cats that do keep me busy. Right now there is a darling little brown Terrier mix at the shelter who is there because she is an escape artist of the FIRST degree. She has even tried to open her kennel there at the shelter. She didn't succeed but she sure worked at it. But I'm just not ready.

Oh here is another cute little shelter story. A young woman brought in a kitten about 3 months old last week. She was crying but managed to tell us that this was not her kitten. She was so worried because the kitten was so ill that it was having trouble breathing and it worried her...hence her tears. When the officer took the kitten from her it was so cute and just sat there looking around like it was almost home. The officer asked why she thought the kitten was so ill. She said listen to how it is breathing...it makes that funny noise. Long story short, that delightful kitten was purring and quite happy and healthy. The lady had never even heard of a purring kitten let alone actually listened to one. She left the shelter very happy knowing that the kitten was well and would be adopted. Cute story and true!

 

Thanks to al of you for your kind words and prayers. Yes, pets do leave a hole in our hearts when they leave us. But I know I'll see her again.
Already seen paw prints in my bedroom. She never came in my bedroom- she didn't climb stairs. This is a new house. She had never been on the top floor. My husband was woken up the other morning by the sound of her bark in the den. She's letting us know she's around.

 

BobC,

You'd think by now I'd learn not to read your posts while at work. Just got here and my mascara is already running. Your love for Otis and the others, and animals overall just touches me so. I think I love you....no, I KNOW I love you. Bless you for having such a wonderful and giving heart to our fellow creatures that too many neglect and abuse.


Zoomama,

The above post to BobC goes ditto for you as well. What a wonderful group of loving and warm hearted people. Your shelter stories are always touching and interesting. Bless you


DeeDee,

My heart goes out to you. I remember when our black lab Zappa passed and for weeks, I kept seeing him pass by me or hear his footsteps in the house. It initially freaked me out, but then I found it a comfort, as you do. It eventually passed, but we love them so much that we never forget them and the hole in our heart never fully goes away. No matter how many years have passed, I think of him often, especially when I'm cooking. He always stuck around "guarding" the food and the stove, waiting for my handouts, which usually turned out to be a portion for himself AND whatever I "accidentally" dropped during preparation. He was such a good boy

Bless you all

 

Barbara

Ditto to everything you said. We are a bunch of soft-hearted bowls of jello. Pretty difficult keeping up our tough guttah exteriors sometimes.

I still get tears in my eyes when I think of my precious schnauzer man, Gunny, whom I lost in September of 2007. I miss him to this very day, and will always. That is him and his fuzzy face in my avatar, along with Little Em, another one of my beloved rescue pets. What an adorable piece of work that little girl was!

Just had to chime in to say I know how all of you feel, and how much I love being a part of this group.

 

Thanks everybody--we may be soft-hearted jello, but that's why I love the people here. They love kids and they love animals. I don't trust anybody who doesn't like dogs. In my little neighbor, I'm on a first name basis with all the dogs in a five or six house perimeter--and when those dogs escape their yards or get away they always run straight to my house. People don't even bother searching anymore, they just go directly to my house.

Dee and Zoomie--once again, really sorry about your pups. I believe that stuff about hearing and seeing signs of your little friend after they pass. When Dincus finally died, I would come around corners in my apartment and see him out of the corner of my eye, and then he'd be gone.

 

Driver which one is Gunny? The white one?

 

I love this thread and everyone on it. Thanks for sharing your stories and your fur-babies with us.

 

Yes, Bob, Gunny is the white whiskered, salt and pepper miniature schnauzer. Sweetest little man ever. Little Em's mother was a schnauzer... her dad was just a stranger passing through.. She was an adorable little chunk. The kind of little dog whose head swivels back and forth when you ask her a question or talk to her. I got her as a pet for another fabulous rescue dog I had. They were great pals. Snickers lived to 18 - she was a gorgeous mixed breed = looked like a small bearded collie, and she was just hysterically funny. Emmy's little heart gave out when she was 12. My life has been so enriched by dogs. I can't imagine the world without them.

 

Me neither, D. Me Neither.

 

Making her Debut....

Ladies and Gentlemen....this is what you get when a blue-tick hound jumps the fence to meet up with a purebred Jack Russell.....LOL - Miss Missy is quite the mix.....but someone had to save her and we couldn't enjoy and love her more! I fixed her hair just for you....

 

She is cool!

 

Oh Rat,

She is cute. Does she have the yo-yo jumping of the JRT? boing,boing, boing!!! They are so cute when they do that. What's her name? Never mind I got it. boing



boing


boing



b
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ng

 

Oh my lawd! RR, that dog is a piece of work! What a combination!

You know that I have a wire-hair Jack Russell rescue? In fact we are on our way to Charm School tonight. This is week 7. We don't call it Obedience School because Annabel does not believe in that. She is, however, into herding all of the other dogs, German Shepards and a Rhodesian Ridgeback included, during "free play" at the end of class. She is a constant embarrassment to me...she does nothing but reprimand all of the other dogs as they try to play! And yes, Zoo, she boings and boings and boings and twirls and twirls and barks and barks. That is Annabel. She is ADHD so she performs none of the required commands at school. She is too busy checking out everything around her.

 

RR rat an adorable dog!!! I love her!

 

Thanks!!!

LOL - She IS Too Cool, Bob - I was more than nervous about this combo, but she has ended up being the perfect pet for our home....and Yes Zoomomma! Not only does she Boing her little JR body with the mile long legs, she does it while running wide open like she's at the race track....we watch her more than we do the TV for entertainment now! She is on duty 24/7 and makes sure that every squirrel in our neighborhood knows not to come in her yard....so they taunt her from the other side of the fence, I swear! So Driver - Good Luck! Mine is only half JR and that's more than enough...I would love though to be a fly on the wall tonight at Charm School to see Miss Annabell (Love her name) in action! I'm just glad that our babies have a Happily Ever After Story....

Thor, Thor, Thor....I am finally a dog person! Are you proud of me?! She thinks she is human though, always standing up straight, puts her paws around our necks and gives hugs and kisses every time she sees us - even if we only left the room for a minute...no concept of time at all! LOL - and now with the summer rain - I am almost have her trained on wiping her feet on the mat when she comes from outside!

Now - I just have to ask.....you know those big black and yellow grasshoppers? Has anyone's dog found one, tossed it in the air with her mouth without hurting it....and then bodyslam it when the poor thing hits the ground?! Seriously, like a wrestler would do......I've never seen such a sight!