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7 years ago
General
So 2004 was a difficult time for us, it was right after I graduated high school and then my dad died towards the end of that summer. So any plans I may have made essentially went on hold or were cancelled. Of course I was trying to find a way to cope so I kept tossing the idea of getting a dog for myself amongst everything that had been going on. She seemed slightly receptive of it, even if it was just to shut me up, but I of course ran with it. Started going through the papers, since that was the only option I had at the time and found an ad for some puppies that was a ways away from me. But I got a hold of them either way, set up a meeting and got their address. Luckily we had some shitty disc for our computer that let us look up addresses, so I at least had a slight idea on how to actually get there. But I've always been horrible at trying to find places on my own, even with some kind of directions.
So either later that day or something the next I headed out. Though maybe halfway or so through the trip I was deciding on if I wanted to just forget out it or not. Again like I said I'm really bad at trying to follow paper directions and figure out where I'm driving. So at one point I was in a turn only lane because I didn't know that's what it was and stopped halfway down the ramp. And after sitting there for a while I did the very horrible thing and drove backwards back up it. Luckily the shoulder was plenty wide enough, despite the big assed truck I had at the moment. I got lucky too because once I got to the top some road works went down the ramp and stopped about where I was at. Again I ended up debating on if I just wanted to say screw it and see if I could find any puppies closer to me. But I knew I had to push on, plus most of the trip was just a straight line, so as long as I watched which lane I was in it was fine.
Luckily there were no more issues and I made it there just fine. Though the one thing that I didn't feel completely alright with it looked like a mennonite family or something and they were breeding dogs, at least these huskies, just to get money. But I was there so I figured I could at least give one of them a good home. Of course then there was the hard part of trying to pick one of them. I had my eyes on the one red one, but it didn't seem really interested in interacting with me. Then Naki came over, rolled over in front of me and that was pretty much it.
He was my first dog, but I had done a lot of research on the breed, training and anything else I could learn. Didn't take me long to teach him tricks and other things. Just had some issues house training him since he was used to being outside all the time, but crating him at night and training fixed that. The one thing that was lucky, at least in the beginning, was that we were still living on the farm. So there was plenty of room to train him and let him run. In the beginning though, because of multiple reasons, he would do the usual thing and just run. It was nothing terribly excessive, but he would run a good ways out into some of the fields and I'd sometimes have to go into them to get him back. Luckily though that wasn't an issue for terribly long, because he got to the point where he bonded with me to the point where he wouldn't roam because he wanted to be with me. And he went pretty much everywhere with me. For a good chunk of his life if I went somewhere that wasn't work he would be with me. Winter of course wasn't a problem and summer I usually would keep the truck running with the air going either way.
For a good chunk of the first half of his life either in the morning or afternoons I would take him to a dog park that was a short drive from the park. I remember, especially during the winter, I'd be bundled up and spend at least 3 hours at times there with him, either running him around myself or letting him play with some of the other dogs. During the summer it wasn't that much of a problem, at least during the later afternoon, because he'd play for a bit and then I'd take him around the corner to swim a bit in the creek and keep repeating that. After a while though I wouldn't take him to the park as much anymore. It was in part because he wouldn't always play with the dogs that were there and I got tired of people that would bring aggressive dogs there and not watch them. The good thing was we found a group of people that started meeting outside of the park in the mornings and would either walk the path there or run the dogs around the soccer field in the same area. There were a lot of times in the evening where I'd stop at a little italian ice place plat was on the way back to get something and let him have some of the custard and lick the cup out sometimes.
After a while of course things had to change. At one point we were forced to move and moved into a townhouse area and I started going to the park a little less after a while, mostly because of how work had started getting with me. Though where we moved to was pretty nice. There was a creek around the corner, a small fenced in area for dogs and a sidewalk that was a mile long that led from where we were at out to the main road. So there were many many nights when we'd talk that long walk and sometimes multiple times. Having the creek so near by was amazing because I wouldn't have to wait till it was cooler anymore to take him out and could take him swimming anytime I'd want to.
Then it came to the point where we moved where we are at now and had Kep move here as well. Things became a little more difficult with getting him out, but it was also because I didn't know where anything was in the area. There was the woods behind the house if anything and I could walk him up and down the road outside the house, but people drove way too fast out there so I didn't like to unless I had to. There was a state park a few miles down the road at least so I could take him there and either let him swim or walk him around. It just sucked because I didn't find out till this last summer that there was a creek that I could have been talking him to, but at the same time it was a really bad route to get there so it wasn't all that worth it.
Granted he had been getting up in age at this point, but this last year was especially trying. His age was starting to show at least to a degree. Along with during that very warm December we had last year he got lyme disease. I had just thought it was his age and the cold weather we got shortly after that was making him weird. Thought it wasn't so much that that caused all the problems in the end, it was the pills to make him better. But he at least managed to get over it. It was trying to help him with everything after that and trying to improve him. This was one of those situations where I was actually trying to stay a bit optimistic because I knew how he was. Along with after I'd take him to the park to exercise, walking and swimming, he would perk up a good bit. But despite that I think it was just me and being extremely hopeful. Then there was the scare of the lump in his mouth and things just seemed to get worse from there. This past week he started getting really bad and was when we really began to worry. Though for him it was good in that for many of his meals and in between I was getting steaks to cook up for him. Two days ago things were looking really bad, but I was at least able to get off work early so that I could keep an eye on him after I took Kep to work. And it wasn't long after we went to bed that things went really bad. After talking to the vet this morning she was guessing he may have developed a blood clot in his lungs or something, because he was seizing badly before it went. Which just makes me feel horrible because he didn't deserve to go like that.
At this point I just keep looking for him or expecting him to show up somewhere and despite what others have said I know I'm never going to get over this or him. Even if I end up getting another dog at some point. Just because of everything he's meant to me and we've been though. Along with all the little weird things he'd do. One of our favorite things that he developed at the end was if you'd pet his head, even once at times, he'd pull his ears back and act like he was going to get pet again either way and how he didn't like it when it rained because his dainty paws would get wet. And how during the later years I'd come home, hug him and just cry for one reason or another and then we'd just head out to the park and have fun. Either way he will never be forgotten and I'll always miss him. He was one of the best things to ever happen to me and I was so lucky to have him.
So either later that day or something the next I headed out. Though maybe halfway or so through the trip I was deciding on if I wanted to just forget out it or not. Again like I said I'm really bad at trying to follow paper directions and figure out where I'm driving. So at one point I was in a turn only lane because I didn't know that's what it was and stopped halfway down the ramp. And after sitting there for a while I did the very horrible thing and drove backwards back up it. Luckily the shoulder was plenty wide enough, despite the big assed truck I had at the moment. I got lucky too because once I got to the top some road works went down the ramp and stopped about where I was at. Again I ended up debating on if I just wanted to say screw it and see if I could find any puppies closer to me. But I knew I had to push on, plus most of the trip was just a straight line, so as long as I watched which lane I was in it was fine.
Luckily there were no more issues and I made it there just fine. Though the one thing that I didn't feel completely alright with it looked like a mennonite family or something and they were breeding dogs, at least these huskies, just to get money. But I was there so I figured I could at least give one of them a good home. Of course then there was the hard part of trying to pick one of them. I had my eyes on the one red one, but it didn't seem really interested in interacting with me. Then Naki came over, rolled over in front of me and that was pretty much it.
He was my first dog, but I had done a lot of research on the breed, training and anything else I could learn. Didn't take me long to teach him tricks and other things. Just had some issues house training him since he was used to being outside all the time, but crating him at night and training fixed that. The one thing that was lucky, at least in the beginning, was that we were still living on the farm. So there was plenty of room to train him and let him run. In the beginning though, because of multiple reasons, he would do the usual thing and just run. It was nothing terribly excessive, but he would run a good ways out into some of the fields and I'd sometimes have to go into them to get him back. Luckily though that wasn't an issue for terribly long, because he got to the point where he bonded with me to the point where he wouldn't roam because he wanted to be with me. And he went pretty much everywhere with me. For a good chunk of his life if I went somewhere that wasn't work he would be with me. Winter of course wasn't a problem and summer I usually would keep the truck running with the air going either way.
For a good chunk of the first half of his life either in the morning or afternoons I would take him to a dog park that was a short drive from the park. I remember, especially during the winter, I'd be bundled up and spend at least 3 hours at times there with him, either running him around myself or letting him play with some of the other dogs. During the summer it wasn't that much of a problem, at least during the later afternoon, because he'd play for a bit and then I'd take him around the corner to swim a bit in the creek and keep repeating that. After a while though I wouldn't take him to the park as much anymore. It was in part because he wouldn't always play with the dogs that were there and I got tired of people that would bring aggressive dogs there and not watch them. The good thing was we found a group of people that started meeting outside of the park in the mornings and would either walk the path there or run the dogs around the soccer field in the same area. There were a lot of times in the evening where I'd stop at a little italian ice place plat was on the way back to get something and let him have some of the custard and lick the cup out sometimes.
After a while of course things had to change. At one point we were forced to move and moved into a townhouse area and I started going to the park a little less after a while, mostly because of how work had started getting with me. Though where we moved to was pretty nice. There was a creek around the corner, a small fenced in area for dogs and a sidewalk that was a mile long that led from where we were at out to the main road. So there were many many nights when we'd talk that long walk and sometimes multiple times. Having the creek so near by was amazing because I wouldn't have to wait till it was cooler anymore to take him out and could take him swimming anytime I'd want to.
Then it came to the point where we moved where we are at now and had Kep move here as well. Things became a little more difficult with getting him out, but it was also because I didn't know where anything was in the area. There was the woods behind the house if anything and I could walk him up and down the road outside the house, but people drove way too fast out there so I didn't like to unless I had to. There was a state park a few miles down the road at least so I could take him there and either let him swim or walk him around. It just sucked because I didn't find out till this last summer that there was a creek that I could have been talking him to, but at the same time it was a really bad route to get there so it wasn't all that worth it.
Granted he had been getting up in age at this point, but this last year was especially trying. His age was starting to show at least to a degree. Along with during that very warm December we had last year he got lyme disease. I had just thought it was his age and the cold weather we got shortly after that was making him weird. Thought it wasn't so much that that caused all the problems in the end, it was the pills to make him better. But he at least managed to get over it. It was trying to help him with everything after that and trying to improve him. This was one of those situations where I was actually trying to stay a bit optimistic because I knew how he was. Along with after I'd take him to the park to exercise, walking and swimming, he would perk up a good bit. But despite that I think it was just me and being extremely hopeful. Then there was the scare of the lump in his mouth and things just seemed to get worse from there. This past week he started getting really bad and was when we really began to worry. Though for him it was good in that for many of his meals and in between I was getting steaks to cook up for him. Two days ago things were looking really bad, but I was at least able to get off work early so that I could keep an eye on him after I took Kep to work. And it wasn't long after we went to bed that things went really bad. After talking to the vet this morning she was guessing he may have developed a blood clot in his lungs or something, because he was seizing badly before it went. Which just makes me feel horrible because he didn't deserve to go like that.
At this point I just keep looking for him or expecting him to show up somewhere and despite what others have said I know I'm never going to get over this or him. Even if I end up getting another dog at some point. Just because of everything he's meant to me and we've been though. Along with all the little weird things he'd do. One of our favorite things that he developed at the end was if you'd pet his head, even once at times, he'd pull his ears back and act like he was going to get pet again either way and how he didn't like it when it rained because his dainty paws would get wet. And how during the later years I'd come home, hug him and just cry for one reason or another and then we'd just head out to the park and have fun. Either way he will never be forgotten and I'll always miss him. He was one of the best things to ever happen to me and I was so lucky to have him.
