Last days of a dog

We who love our dogs, know at the bottom of our hearts when the time to part is near.

For some the day will come when they wake in the morning, find no familiar muzzle sniffing at their hand. Coming into the room finding their loved companion strangely quiet at their approach. Their fur somehow dishevelled and wrong looking. The reached out hand feels a hard coldness on that once warm body.

The lifeless body lies still and quiet forever.

For others there is a long decision time. You watch as your dogs eyes grow cloudy, the once strong legs that drove them on for miles on your walks, now shiver and quake as he stands. His walk is broken with a sudden crash as those legs now fail him. The day comes oh so fast when they fail to work completely and you know it is time to go.

Your heart aches as you take him on that last car journey together. Maybe your memory returns to the little excited puppy you brought home years ago. Bright eyed then, full of the chase,. You might think of the bulbs you planted one fall, those bulbs that suddenly reappeared on the living room carpet, chewed and broken. How the now grey muzzle had been covered with mud and dirt, he had pushed you to the floor in excited need of praise for his finding you your lost buried treasure.

Now he quietly lies. waiting with you as young pups, squeel at the new excitement of a vet's office.

You carry him to the waitng table, cold and hard, his last bed. As the liquid drains the needle he drowsily sleeps. Quiet now amidst the songs of squeeling puppies.

PetSmart Adoption Fair

I came upon this story in my news feed today. A couple went to a local PetSmart to buy items for their two German Shepherds and found an adoption fair going on at the store.

It's a really nice story and shows the good that such fairs can do. I would recommend looking at such fairs for a new dog or puppy, it is sad that they are necessary.

Only a couple of weeks ago I was talking with an adoption fair organizer in my local PetSmart. They have seen a 75% increase in abandoned animals over the last year. Some of the reasons are the economy and loss of jobs making owning a dog a harder commitment. When the money gets low, out goes the dog. This is in addition to those who buy a cute puppy which in weeks becomes a not always cute teenager. Ah Well! Now I rant.

Read this story. It shows a nice side of humanity and love of dogs.

PetSmart Adoption Fair

Friday was an Exciting Day!

Friday June 10, was quite an exciting day.

My wife, a high school science teacher was given an abandoned Turkey Vulture chick. A student had found it on his way to school in one of our city parks. So of course who would know what to do, but teacher?

My wife contacted the California Wildlife Fish and Game Department and they passed her on to a wildlife rescue service, as we live quite away from the rescues office we had to drive to Fresno to meet part way. That is a four hour rouns trip.

Before we left the chick was given a meal of best steak, he was quite a hungry little fellow. My wife had named him Victor for the day, though he might have been Victoria. LOL,

It was my first ever view of a Turkey Vulture close up. I have seen them on the roads around here on occasion. Also soon after moving here, five years ago, I caught Valley Fever, a nasty lung fungal infection, it leaves you weak for weeks and I had staggered to the local Starbucks for a coffee, sitting outside I heard a screech above and circling about one hundred feet above me were three turkey vultures. Maybe expecting a fresh meal. Quite possibly these turkey vultures were related to the chick as he was found only about half a mile away.

My wife used a pair of kitchen tongs to feed him the pieces of steak, though he was only about a week old, according to the wildlife collector, his beak was very sharp and gave quite a nasty nip as he snatched and gobbled down his meal. After she had finished, we closed over his box and with a lot of hissing and complaining we put him back into the car for the drive to Fresno. I was surprised by how prehistoric his hissing sounded, the sound effects people on Jurrasic Park must have gone to birds like the turkey vulture for some of their sounds of the prehistoric raptors.

It was a little sad to hand the little fellow over to the wildlife rescue people. But it is for his best and hopefully later this year he'll be flying over the mountains of Western California.

Captions Required?

I have a picture of one of my dogs, Brett (1986-2002).

I wonder if any of my readers might want to come up with a caption for the photograph?

Tell me what you think Brett was thinking as I took this picture.

Who chooses whom?

Do you choose your dog or puppy or do they choose you?

A dog breeder friend once told me that he could tell which puppy a buyer would pick for themselves in seconds. He actually showed me. The buyer generally picks the first puppy that comes up to them. It was true in the case which I witnessed. The puppy walked out of the pack of his litter mates to the ankle of the buyer and licked them. No matter which puppy caught their spouses eye, the woman whom the puppy had gone too, maintained that that was the best puppy and he was the one who went home with them.

My second German Shepherd, Brett, chose me. He had lived a few doors away and slowly moved himself down the street. He would lie on my front lawn. Knock on my front door. Yes I did say knock, he could lift the door knocker with his nose and rap it on the door. German Shepherds do have an uncanny knack at being able to draw the required attention to themselves. He could also open close doors by turning a door knob and then walking backwards on his hind legs just far enough to open the door enough to get his nose in the gap then dropping down and walking through, this was a self taught action, no-one showed him what to do, he just knew he wanted to be on the other side of the closed door and did what was necessary.
Brett's original owner finally gave up trying to keep him. If he was left in their yard, Brett would jump their seven feet high fence, then trot down the street to wait outside my house. After he was given to me, he never made any attempt to leave. I only had a low fence in my yard, but he never jumped it. He would even just walk beside me with no leash on ocassion, most of the time he would be on a leash because of traffic but I knew it was never really necessary.

It therefore seems to me that it is the dog or puppy who makes the real choice as to ownership. But if this is the case, would you say they own you?

The Talking Shepherd

The German Shepherd is, I believe, the most vocal of dogs. By vocal I don't just mean barking and growling. It also grunts, mumbles and grumbles.

As a child I loved to watch "Champion the Wonder Horse" on TV. OK Champ, you got top billing and credit, but for me the star was Rebel, the German Shepherd. He was the one who always carried the message to Champ and would scare of the bad guys or bring the Sherrif while Champ did horsey stuff.

Then came the great film, K-9 again the adage for actors came true,"Never act with children or animals." Yes James Belushi was ok, he got some good lines,but Jerry-Lee got the really Grreat lines. His constant mumbles and groans where often the funniest part. I know they were mostly added post production, but the director, writer and sound editor showed they knew German Shepherds.

In my twenty years plus life with at least one German Shepherd, they have all talked to me. The I've had a hard day, now it's time for bed, deep rolling growl as they settle down, the plaintive whine as I walk to the door in the morning. The you know where my treats are mutter as I walk through the kitchen. I would bet a months wages that everyone of you out there know exactly what I mean, and what your German Shepherd means too.

All the best.

Always Faithful

As someone who has a passion for German Shepherds and a history major, I was drawn to the book
Always Faithful: A Memoir of the Marine Dogs of WW II.
The books author, was a veterinary surgeon and commander of a force of K9's within the Marine Corps.

I have to say it is not always an easy read. I still cry at the death of every dog. The book tells the stories of the dogs and their handlers through training, to the battlefield and in to the post war years.The book however was a rewarding read for me. There are lighter moments as both human and canine heroes and heroines interact. There times when war is almost forgotten and there are times when war is revealed in its terrifying and deadly intensity.

This book is, for me, one of the greatest tributes to the dog in war. It is also a fascinating read for those interested in the history of the US Marine Corps as well as historians of the Pacific theater or World War Two generalists.

I include a link to this book via my Amazon Affiliate Account. I did not receive and will not receive any payment for this review. A small commission is paid to me if you decide to purchase via this link.

What's that smell?

It is past midnight. The breeze is shaking the trees. The sound of the croaking frogs fills the air. A heavy odour hangs, an odour that the breezr will not take away.

The odour of half burned matches, a sulpherous odour, Mmm now like fresh roast coffee, Urrgh, now like the bubbling of a sulphur pit. Heavily it hangs, an odour I now have come to know. Skunk!

Polly my German Shepherd had wandered out about 9pm, that was when the odour came. Since 9pm she has been washed, I have had two changes of clothes and I am looking to the porch, it will be there we will both sleep tonight.

I have tried to bathe her, but the odour is all pervasive. It clings, my hands smell of skunk, my body smells of skunk, Polly smells of skunk, even the air smells of skunk.

Until I moved to the US five years ago, I had smelled faint traces of skunk on travels around the States. Not until September 2006 did I know the real power of a skunk. Tonight is the third time Polly has found one of those black and white critters an irresistable playmate. Tonight again, I wonder if the world will ever cease to smell of SKUNK!