Posted on 05/21/2007 7:23:48 PM PDT by uglybiker
I'm so sorry for your loss.
He’ll be waiting on you and you’ll have a joyfull reunion.
I still have Porkchop’s cremation box on my desk, and the paw print is next to it.
In 1994, I had just gotten married, and asked my wife for a dog as my wedding/birthday present from her. I had gotten a cat, Leo, for her birthday, but Leo and I were battling males, trying to determine who was ht eman of the house.
We were intending to get a boxer from the shelter, but it was adopted before we got back to the front desk. This was really OK, because I really wanted an Am Staff. As a consolation they gave me the number of the local Pitbull/Am Staff rescue.
We spoke with them, and after they were convinced we weren’t looking for a fighting dog, they let us meet Porkchop. Immediately, as we sat on the couch, Porkchop entered the room and sat at my wife’s feet, as if to say, “Boss, these are the folks I want to adopt me.”
Pork was about 3 years old when we got her. She had been used as the bait dog to get two males into fighting frenzy. She had been put on the street after she got pregnant.
When we got her, the puppies had been aborted, and she was fixed (I hate that word, because she wasn’t broken), so no more Porkchops could enter the world.
I can only imagine the life she had before, but if the way she was with us was a contrast of her previous life, then she must have been treated horribly. At the time, our apartment had a 25 lb limit on dogs, and Pork met that because she was so malnourished. She eventually grew to 75 lbs. (Her example with us caused the complex to reexamine the 25 lb limit and had it removed.)
Porkchop didn’t respond well to normal commands, and had an independent streak in her, so instead of reinforcing what wasn’t working, I taught her military commands. At ease meant sit. Parade Rest meant lay down, Sound off meant speak. Present arms, she would roll on her back and stick her legs straight in the air (presenting her “arms”).
Animal Planet was so impressed by this that they had her on one of their shows.
One more thing I taught her, that I now teach all my dogs, before any other lesson, is “No bite”. I taught her this because a week after we got her, my wife instead of waiting for my direction, thought it was time for Leo and Porkchop to cohabitate the apartment. Before that day, I would kennel Porkchop while Leo roamed the house, and I would kennel Leo while Porkchop was out.
I was on a job interview. My wife calls the guy I am interviewing with, in tears. Porkchop had gotten hold of Leo and shook Leo like a rag doll. My wife thought Leo was dying. I didn’t get the job, but I did get home in record time.
Leo survived, and after I taught Porkchop, No BIte, they became the best of friends. Porkchop had learned no bite so well, it impressed the other people on the AP show. I set a sandwich down, told Pork, No Bite, made her parade rest, and walked across the room to talk to the producer who had called me over.
I walked back, finished my sandwich and gave Pork the last bite. The dog trainers were beyond belief in seeing this dog never even consider eating that sandwich.
Fast forward several years. We noticed Porkchop was favoring her side. We thought maybe she had injured herself going after a squirrel...her favorite exercise partner. After a week, she was still favoring it. The vet indicated she had cancer, and it was far to advanced for treatment.
We spent the next week video taping her, so that when we miss her, we can pull out the tape and remember her.
On the day she died, I was teaching Sunday School, and after it, I got the call from my wife that Pork was dying. I rushed home, but she had died five minutes before I got there. She had wagged her tail up to the last minute, looking deeply into my wife’s eyes.
A month later, we adopted Glamorous Glennis (G. G. for short). GG is a pitbull, but in all manners is Porkchop’s twin. One problem with GG, though is that she was abandoned in an apartment for two weeks, so she suffers from separation anxiety, but that has lessened int he past few years....but, she has a very potent flatulence problem.
But, we love her, and Stink Pot, our third AMStaff/Pitbull, and Peewee, our mini dachshund...who is the boss of the three.
I encourage you to take time to mourn, then open your heart and home for another dog.
It hurts like heck! Cry.
A very touching posting and my condolences.
Buddy was lucky to have you, and you him. I just know he’ll be waiting with his goofy dog grin.
Nothing like a good cry first thing in the morning :-)
Wonderful tribute to a good dog.
Ecclesiastes 3: 18-22 - thanks for this verse, Peace.
I am so sorry that you have lost your friend. I have lost so many over the years. I cannot bear to be without several hairy friends at the same time, so that when I lose one there will be others there to console me. I hope you find a new friend soon. There is one out there just waiting for you to find him. Best of luck.
Thanks for the ping, HOTD, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this story about Buddy.
There should’ve been a hanky warning on this one. Mine is wet with tears right now. Beautifully written tribute for a beautiful friend, UB. I’ve felt that sadness you are feeling now, and my heart goes out to you. I think you are right about the purpose of pets. They are one of life’s best blessings.
We had a female, mixed, come up to our place in the country about six years ago. Someone had thrown her out when she was a young dog, and she had survived on her own in the woods. We don’t know for how long, but it took my husband a couple of weeks of feeding her, talking to her, and reaching out to her, to get her to trust him enough to allow him to stoke her hair. She was very alert and watchful of every move, even then, and was for a long time afterwards. She is absolutely devoted to him today, and guards his truck, equipment, etc., very protectively.
She has become a loving pet to us and to the extended family, but every stranger is suspect to her. She has had a number of grown men dancing to the tune of her growling, if they got too close to anything without my husband around. :) That is good, I guess, because we live in town and aren’t always around. She is beginning to show her age, and we know she won’t be around many more years. We are thankful for the love she shows us, and that we can show her the love she missed out on during her early years.
God bless and comfort you in the loss of your friend, Buddy, UB.
My girl is getting on for 13 now, and I really didn’t need to read this and cry this early in the morning - and at work. She is part Irish Wolfhound and part Collie - one of those big goofy dogs. I cannot tell you how bad I feel for you. God love you.
You have my sincere sympathy. I’ve been a dog lover for many years (I’ve got a 4-year old beagle now). They are wonderful companions and it hurts deeply when you lose them. I know that’s sometimes hard to explain to people who haven’t been through it, but I’m truly sorry for your loss.
I hear you, brother. I lost ‘Max’ two years ago. A pup tossed from a moving truck, picked up by a senior citizen, who ran into my wife at the vet. He had been burned with a cigerette, and obviously beaten repeatedly. The older woman couldn’t handle another dog....and my wife talked me into taking the dog. I wasn’t really interested....
That was 17 years ago.
He wouldn’t eat food at first. After the second or third day, my wife was getting frantic...so I went into the kitchen and sat on the floor and hand fed him for an hour, a few ‘kibble’ at a time. As time passed he would eat out of a bowl...if I sat or stood there while he did so.
He was relatively small, about 40 pounds - a spitting image of the ‘Grinch dog’ from the old Christmas cartoon classic.
One night not long after we got him, he climbed into our bed and nestled at the foot (thank God for queen size beds0. In the morning when my wife went to wake me up, he snapped at her. That didn’t go over well with the wife....(chuckle). No matter what she did, he would throw his body over the top of me to ‘protect me’. For the next decade, I woke up each and every morning with Max jumping from one side of the bed to the other - my wife finally realized either she made this a ‘game’ or she’d get bit.....(another chuckle of that memory).
Eventually he grew to old to jump on the bed...but I never had a dog quite like him. He died on his bed, with me petting him - we think it was a heart attack. Like you we cremated him, and like you I kept the dog collar, which hangs on a picture of him in our bedroom on the shelf, along with two other well love dogs (Bear and Beau).
He was happiest in my car or truck, head out the window ‘flying’ ears straight out in the slip stream.
All dogs go to heaven, of that I’m sure. How could they not warrant that final reward, and how could they not be there waiting for us?
www.roadhomerescue.org
R.I.P. Buddy. Sorry for your loss biker.
Good boy, Buddy! Run and play now with Sasha and Spockie in Heaven!
*snif-snif*
{{{{{HUG}}}}}
‘Face
Thanks for the ping. *snif*
Almost too hard to read but beautifully written. I am so sorry for your loss - what a friend you had!
Take comfort in the fact that it looks like Buddy went peacefully in his sleep.
Yours was the first post I read today and it brought tears to my eyes. I am so sorry about Buddy. You were as true to him as he was to you and that is a wonderful thing.
You’ll see that goofy grin again on the other side.
Peace to you, FRiend.
I am so sad for you. When I lost my best friend I also posted a thread on FreeRepublic. My little guy was attacked by a coyotee. It’s taken a long tme to get over it, and I think about hime every day. But, if you are a dog lover, please consider adopting another loving pet when you are up to it.
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