analog

So I don't want this to be a sad thread about loss, I want this to be a happy thread about sharing your favorite memories.

I call her my puppy, even though she's just turned 12. She's got cataracts in both her eyes... though she's not blind at all, she's definitely got vision impairment. I also think her hearing is going a little bit, because you could never walk up and surprise her before. Now, you can walk right up to her sleeping and she will wake up in a jolt when you pet her. So now, I will make some obvious noise as I walk up so I don't scare her.

But, my happiest memories of her are just sitting around. She'd come lay against me while I watched a movie, or she'd curl up ON my feet while I sit here at the computer lol. SHe also loves when we throw the ball for her, and I swear she'd run back and forth down the hallway until she literally exhausted herself and she HAD to lie down, panting wildy but obviously loving every second. Granted, it's bean a while since we've done that, but she still enjoys shorter sessions until she starts to tire out.

So, what are your stories of good times with your pets, either current or past? What are some of the great things you remember about them, or are currently experiencing?

TexanAvenger

In retrospect, the best feeling I had with Hook was just knowing that when I turned around, he'd be there. When I came in the door, he was there. When I woke up in the morning, he was there. When I looked back down the stairs, there he was looking up at me.

The loyalty and the deep bond that comes from having been together so long and the outright love... was boggling.

Being able to look down the stairs and know he's looking up at me before he climbs: that is my happiest memory of him.

Elphaba

My Gus puppy moved on a few months ago. That dog will never be forgotten because he was just plain odd in so many ways. One of the funniest things about him is that he was the pied piper of doggies. On a really hot summer day I had all of the windows and doors open and was working in my office.
I heard Gus coming in the back door and he happily padded past my office, followed by a little black dog who was followed by a midsized mutt, and a large Rottie followed him. The four of them plopped themselves down in the living room as if this was the most natural thing in the world to do.

The large Rottie never did leave but I'll save some of his silly stories for another post.

Very nice thread, analog.

eribrav

If any of you haven't read Marley and Me I'd certainly recommend it. It's a great book of reminiscence about the life of a goofy dog and his family. Very well written, easy to read. A good summer weekend book.

Cynthetiq

Bacchus my wife's childhood cat died at the beginning of the year at a ripe age of 18. It wasn't easy to watch her deteriorate but I think of her being with us during that time quite fondly instead of having taken her to the vet and put down.

I remember lots of things about her, how she used to play like a kitten even though most older cats couldn't be bothered. How she liked to share chinese food with me and lick my cereal bowl when I was done. I miss her.

Lakkris a little black kitten we adopted to be a companion for Bacchus evenutally had to be given away because she was tormented by Bacchus. She'd pee all over the house because she was afraid to use the litter box since Bacchus would ambush her there.

Lakkris acted alot like a dog. I miss her too.

even though I have two kittens which are wonderful and great, and a pain in the ass.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

JStrider

When I was a kid we had a big black dog, part lab, part german sheperd and part great dane. Was the dog I grew up with all thru elementry school. My dad named him Strider.

I used to read laying down in the back yard resting my head on him just laying out in the sun.

He had all these tunnels thru the various plants in the backyard that made great hiding spots, for hide and go seek or hiding from my mom.

he was a great dog, lots of great memories.

Now My puppy dog, 8yr old Siberian Husky... shes quite a character... her name is Sierra. Shes really smart, not hard to train, just hard to convince her to do the tricks later... if she doesnt want to she wont do them.

used to take her running with the cross country team in highschool, she loved that.

one time we were in the pool at my parents house and shes running around the edge and she decides she wants to join us, but shes not a big fan of water. so she jumped onto the little raft that was in the water by the edge of the pool. As soon as she jumped in and it floated away from the edge she started crying, It was so funny, I had to go rescue her.

and its always really funny when you give her a bath because she goes from looking really fat to looking really skinny, all that hair really makes her look a lot heavier!

__________________
-=JStrider=-

~Clatto Verata Nicto

shakran

I had a dog go nearly blind and totally deaf at 12. Lived till he was 15 - retrained him to respond to foot-stamp commands and he was delighted that he could still communicate even though he couldn't hear.

Elphaba

The entire history of Rottie in bullet points:

- found by acquaintance in another county with chewed off cable wire around his neck
- met Rottie when needing to use the phone of said acquaintance; love at first sight for both of us.
- follows Gus into my house
- I know where he lives and bring him to his home; two miles away
- Repeat multiple times
- Rottie starts returning with his toys; puts his head on my leg and looks into my eyes. No go.
- The neighbors come to me and say he is starving, I must take him. Call his owners and they don't give a shit! MY DOG NOW YOU BASTARDS!

The Rot came to me in one of the most disturbing times of my life and he refused to leave. Call me a fool if you wish, but he was sent to me by Tim to mend my heart.

Funny Rottie stories next, but you need to know where he came from.

jth

I miss my dog time to time. She passed away I think.... gosh 8 years ago. She was a Golden REtriever named Penny.

I walked her constantly, just to get out and break boredome. I always enjoyed taking her to the beach and letting her go insane, she loved rolling in the sand after a dip in the ocean which was hell to deal with afterwards, for any Retriever owners, you know what their coat can be like when stuff gets in it. She was compassionate and always was excited to see anyone.

What was the most oddball characteristic was that anyone with Facial hair she just loved to no end, only with my Father she was very submissive (alpha male thing) but my GOd father, when he came over she freaked out... she learned his name so that whenever we called out "Uncle Paul" she bolted for the door, her tail going back and forth a mile a minute.

She was so attached to my mother... and visa versa. I was out on my own when they had to euthanize her, it was a very sad day.

I have a photo of her though, I smile every time I see it.

Last winter my Brother and Sister in Law and I got a puppy from the SPCA in Dallas. The little girl was absolutely the most adorable little dog I ever saw. She was loving and so happy to have a home. I wish I had stories about her... but she had contracted Distemper in the pound and well, we all know how that ends.

I just shouldn't have pets maybe

But I want another dog asap

__________________
"A real leader faces the music, even if he doesn't like the tune." - unknown quote

REDL|NE

I read marley and me as well....great book. I have a 1 1/2 year old Austrailian shepperd....shes awesome. Out of 6 people living in the house she always follows me around, no matter where i go. It could be the bathroom, it could be to bed, she follows me. I love her.

__________________
"You learn more and more about less and less, until you
know everything about nothing."

ngdawg

When we decided to get a dog, we first went to the local SPCA, picked out this hairy little gray mutt named Angel, a year old. Three weeks later, she died-she had contracted distemper at the pound.
So, after the three months self-quarantine(the vet told us no animals for that time), I went to a place called The Puppy Barn and looked in all the pens. One of the last pens held 3 coonhounds and this white....thing. Those big coonhounds didn't stand a chance against her when I looked over; she was jumping like a flea, as if to tell me 'get me the FUCK out of HERE!' The puppy barn had a little 'get acquainted' room so you can interact with your choice. I knelt down on the floor and she put her head on my lap and sighed. Sold....
Angie was 3 months old and my dad said that was too old to housebreak. It was hard, but not only did she get housebroken, I taught her to ring some bells I hung on a string by the back door so we'd know she had to go.
No plain old tricks either. Her toys, I taught her the colors, ie; 'go get the green one, Angie' and she'd bring her frog to play fetch. Instead of 'play dead', we did 'Bang!' and she'd hit the floor; 'lay down' was 'go to your rug'. And when we sang "Here Comes Santa Claus", she ran barking to the front door.
Angie lived to be 16. Her last 3 or 4 years, she developed arthritis in her hips, her hearing was going-she couldn't even hear us come home. She had to be carried up the stairs. Her last year, she became incontinent, then lost control of her bowels. I found her one night have some sort of seizure and I knew it was a stroke. Her back was sharply arched, she was pooping and her head was cocked funny. After that, she'd fall over trying to pee, cry quietly....I took her to the vet, who tried to talk me out of it, but she was suffering. She didn't even fight and, while all her life a ride in the car would make her so nervous I would have to pull over and let her out, this ride, she just lay there.
My name is hers. 3.5 years later, I still miss her. I want another dog, but she's irreplaceable and quite frankly, I don't think I could deal with that pain again.

__________________
Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

Elphaba

My mother's sweet Boxer, Sammie, had to be put down yesterday due to the back problems that are typical for larger dogs. She is heartbroken of course, but she also remembers all of the silliness that they have shared together over the past four years.

Waking up in the morning, with hot breath on your face and giant brown eyes looking into yours became the agreed upon wakeup call. The rituals continued from there as to when, why, where, and what. Disruptions to the rituals would get Sammy into attempting *serious* distractions. If mom and I had been on the phone a tad too long for Sammy's liking, he would bark a major emergency concerning the front yard. Mom and Sammy had a very small war going on when Sam would drag his bed into mom's room so he could sleep in the same room with her. Mom pretended not to notice most of the time.

Some of their rituals involved habits my father had before passing. Ice cream at mid afternoon was a necessity for dad and it became a ritual for mom and dog.

Sammy was unique in so many ways and so devoted to my parents for being rescued and loved.

I recommend that anyone looking for a pet, first consider rescue dogs.

jorgelito

Damn Elph, my condolences on the loss of Sammie.

I also agree that rescues can be an amazing and wonderful experience for both person and dog alike. There's something miraculous that takes place in the bond.

Actually, I'm beginning to think we need boxes of tissues for the Pets Forum. *goes off to get a tissue*

Thanks analog for starting this thread and thanks to everyone for sharing.

StanT

A somewhat depressing thread.

While I've always lived with dogs, they were never mine; sister's dog, girlfriend's dog and wife's dog, but never my dog. 11 years ago I bought my wife a dog to replace one that had died several months previously. My wife had always had rescue dogs in the past, she really wanted a puppy this time. I prefer larger dogs so I bought her a Newfoundland puppy. My wife was busy with school at the time, so I took her to obedience school. 18 months of puppy school later, Picabo is my dog. While my wife is her second favorite person, she follows me everywhere. When I'm gone on a business trip, my wife saves a smelly unwashed Tshirt of mine for the dog to curl up with.

Picabo turns 11 on Christmas Eve, that's fairly elderly for a Newfie. She can't go on 20 mile hikes with me any more, 8 or so is her limit. Even then, I virtually have to carry her outside the next day, she is so stiff. She still bounces off the walls when she sees me put on hiking boots, but I know I have to pace the hike to her limits. I'm OK with that, I don't have the heart to leave her behind.

While old age sucks for all of us, it hurts to watch my constant hiking buddy struggle to do things that were easy a couple of years ago. She still has some living to do and she's every bit as stubborn as her owner. I believe she has another year or 2, but I'm really dreading the inevitable.

hambone

When my Golden Retriever used to be able to play around a lot, we would play monkey in the middle with him. Toss the ball over his head back and forth. The pup never tired.

The funniest things is right about when he would get to the person with the ball, he would start 'prancing' I guess. Just lifting his front legs real weird. So cute and so funny.

Now he just kinda lays around, but I still love him. Too bad he is back with my parents in the midwest.

__________________
"Like liquid white from fallen glass,
Nothing to cry over"

kurty[B]

I've had three great dogs. Pele, a mutt we found at the humane society, they said he would grow to be 70 pounds, he grew to be 120+ pounds. He would play Soccer together (yes, he'd run full sprint, nudging the ball with his nose into the goal). We'd take naps in the lawn, one of us would use the other as a pillow. He was deathly afraid of thunder, so if I were at school, or work I would just bail out of my class or work as soon as I heard a thunderstorm coming, put him in the laundry room, and play classical music with the drier running to keep him calm. He jumped our six foot fence multiple times, and ended up at the grocery store a few (just seeking cover from the thunder, and I'm sure he didn't mind snagging a few apples for himself). He died at 5 years old.

Leon was my golden retriever, always wants to play. Mi abuelo (grandpa) asked if he could have him (they were moving to a house in Utah, and would like the company). They're great, he still gets spoiled, he gets to run with horses everyday, and everything.

Bishop is my rottie/blue heeler. My hiking buddy. He'd run 10 yards ahead of you, and if he saw anyone on the trail he'd stop, and wait for me to leash him (people don't seem to react too well to rottie's out on the trails). He loved games of tug-o-war. I remember a friend trying to grab his toy from him, and struggling for 30 minutes before I finally said "Bishop, drop it", she was pissed when he just let go. Oh, and he loved the snow, running wild through it grabbing some in his mouth, just running in circles. When I left for Iraq I gave him to a friend who lives on a farm, and now he gets to run in the open spaces out there. When I get my house I'd love to get a dog, but it'd be just me, I couldn't see leaving the pup for almost half the day every day alone.

oberon

I had a 3-year-old cat who died in June this year. I had rescued her from a pound in August 2005. A few months later, she was diagnosed with a fatal, incurable disease called FIP. Not many cats survive FIP (the mortality rate is above 95%, less than 1 in 20) but I wasn't going to give up on her. Numerous visits to vets and specialists resulted in her eye being removed in November 2005. A mere seven or eight months later, she showed obvious signs of succumbing to the disease (yellowed ears, extremely difficulty walking, no appetite, particularly long periods in out of view places, etc.). I had her euthanized on June 15, 2006, shortly after 5pm, because she had obviously lost the fight (and the vets she saw shortly before that day agreed wholeheartedly). I could barely stand to sign the authorization papers, and spent a few minutes crying in the car before I drove away.

I only had her for ten months. But until near the end, she followed me around and sat on my lap and purred as I pet her. She groomed my other cat. She made biscuits on my leg frequently. I played with her. She rarely did anything bad at all (from a human's perspective, of course). I didn't have her long, but boy do I miss her. The fond memories I have of what a sweet kitty she was. I've never met a sweeter cat. And I strive to make my current kitty as comfortable and happy as possible. I value every moment she spends with me. Even if she's not as social towards me.

I also have memories of two dogs I had who died in their old age. Jimmy succumbed to a parasite at the age of 17. He'd lived with me and my family for 16 years, and I am not kidding when I tell you my brother and I, normally fairly stolid guys, walked around crying for a while. Jimmy was our childhood dog, and we both remember playing fetch with him and petting through the years.

The other dog, Fling, was 16 when he died. I taught him how to catch discs in the air and he was a wonderful australian shepherd. He was fiercely loyal to my mom; once, he bit a guy in the crotch because he yelled in her direction, even though Fling knew him. He followed my mom literally everywhere. He was awesome.

I totally agree with remembering the best times. Make the most of your pet's life. Make the most of your life too!

__________________
"There are finer fish in the sea than have ever been caught." -- Irish proverb

Dominic

HEY!! does any 1 have any tips on teaching ur dog to go fetch iv tryed every thing :S so can ya help ??