Tag: Dogs

Dogs I Have Loved Part III

By buckjones1951

On August 30, 2021

Continuing the stories of the dogs I have loved. After Ginger passed, we got Toby He was called Toby the Wonder Dog after he survived an encounter with a train. Since I have covered several incidents with Toby in previous blogs, I will move on to our next dog, Lizzie. We got Izzie from the Pikes Peak Humane Society (Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region (hsppr.org)). We went down there looking for a puppy and she was, I think, the only puppy there. We had a chance to visit with her in a separate room and fell in love. Because she was picked up as a stray, the Humane Society needed to hold her to allow time for her previous owner to come in and claim her. It was disappointing that we could not take her home. However, we could put a deposit on her for first dibs after the holding time elapsed. If she was claimed though, we would forfeit our deposit. We put our money down and after the waiting period went to see if she was available. When we got there, we prayed before going in believing God would provide us with the right dog. She was available and we adopted Lizzie, which was what the Humane Society staff called her. She was a sweet puppy and my wife held her in the car on the way home crying happy tears.

Lizzie lying on the love seat — Lizzie on the Loveseat

After our experiences with Ginger and Toby, we decided to go to training classes with Lizzie. Initially, my wife would take her to class so Lizzie would be her dog. But Lizzie was too strong for her and I ended up taking her to classes and she ended up as my dog, much like Bailey. Though my wife walked her regularly without any problems. She was smart and trained easily even passing the American Kennel Club K9 Good Citizen test (American Kennel Club (akc.org)). Unlike Bailey, Lizzie was well socialized and got along well with all the other dogs in class. One of the dogs was a wolf hybrid named Thunder who looked like a wolf. He was large and imposing but he and Lizzie became good friends and would sit or lie down next to each other licking each other’s faces. Though not as friendly as Lizzie, Thunder did not have any issues with the other dogs, except for a large male Airedale. They had to be kept separate or they would fight. I think it is interesting how dogs like people don’t always get along with everyone.

Lizzie at obedience training — Lizzie at training class

With the training and her social personality, Lizzie became an exceptional pet. She was also a ‘ball dog’. Ball dogs can be seen at most parks around. They are the dogs that will chase the ball, over and over and over again, until they are exhausted. They are not distracted by other dogs or people and are totally focused on the ball. Most retrievers are ball dogs, but many others are as well even dachshunds. Lizzie was a mixed breed who loved to chase the ball and would chase it until she was so tired, she would just lie down. Even when I went out into the backyard to do some work, she would bring me her soccer ball and bark until I threw it. She would continue to bark and chase the ball for as long as I was out there. Lizzie was perhaps the best dog we have owned because of her temperament and her training.

Lizzie and Richard playing ball — Lizzie playing ball with our grandson

Because we spent the time to train Lizzie, and the resultant good behavior, I think it prepared us for the challenges we were to face with Bailey.

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Dogs I Have Loved Part I

By doesbuck

On August 11, 2021

In Uncategorized

As far back as I remember, I have always been a dog person. I like cats just fine and we have owned several, though I am allergic to them, I prefer dogs. The first dog in my life was Princess. Before we moved into town, we lived North of the city in a place we called the Colonels. It was between Colorado Springs and Monument and West of the highway. Since I was young, I don’t remember a lot of details about the place except that it had an irrigation ditch running on one side and near to the house was an apple orchard. It was a good place for small kids to play outside with no traffic to worry about. However, we had rattlesnakes. One day, my brother and I were playing outside, and Princess started barking and raising a ruckus. When my mother came out to see what the fuss was about and got to Princess, she saw the rattlesnake coiled close to where we were playing. She killed the snake, and I am sure was grateful to Princess for alerting her of the danger.

Princess with my brother and me — Princess with me and my brother 1958

Another hazard of living in the country was porcupines. I don’t know what it is about porcupines and skunks, but dogs just can’t seem to leave them alone. I am not clear about all the details, but one evening Princess came in with a face full of porcupine quills. My dad got the pliers and, leading Princess to a doorway, had my mother hold the door closed on Princess’s neck. He then pulled the quills out of her face and mouth while the dog and both of us kids cried.

Princess and my dad — Princess with my dad 1955

After we moved into town, I remember watching Princess have puppies in the basement of the house we were living in on the Westside of Colorado Springs. She was a wonderful dog, and we had her from the time I was one or two years old until after I entered Junior High School (Middle School now). After Princess, we didn’t get another dog, but we had a cat.

I didn’t get another dog until after I married. My wife and infant son lived in a small, rented house in Colorado Springs when we got Bathsheba. She was a black German Shepherd puppy full of energy. Though not purebred, she looked like it. Unfortunately, she either jumped the fence or someone took her from our front yard, and we never saw her again after having her for only a short time.

Not long after we lost Bathsheba, we got our next dog, Fidora. She was a Saint Bernard Mix. A large, very furry dog that we did not allow in the house. I have a lot of regrets about Fidora. She was a good dog but had to stay chained outside since we did not have an adequate fence even after we moved into our current home. When I think about it now, I feel like we really deprived not only her but also ourselves of the companionship she would have offered. Occasionally she would get loose. This was only a problem when the neighbor a few houses up the street would go by and she would act aggressively toward him for some unknown reason. He thought it was because they had several cats, but I’m not sure that was it. I think dogs are like people and just don’t get along with some people or some other dogs. When we put Fidora down because she had cancer, it caused a lot of sadness in the house with the kids crying and mourning her passing.

Fidora as a puppy with my son — Fidora with my son on a camping trip in the early 1970s

We have since had four more dogs, including our current dog, Bailey. I will spend a little time on each of them in the upcoming blogs. But we did allow each of them into our home as a part of our family, which is what I remember my family doing with Princess. Dogs have so much love and companionship to offer it is wrong to not allow them into your life if you are going to own one.

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Bailey Almost Dies

By doesbuck

On June 14, 2021

In Uncategorized

When Bailey was almost two years old, she got very sick. She was vomiting and not eating or drinking. She became so lethargic we thought she was dying so we took her to an emergency vet clinic since it was Saturday and our regular vet was closed. The vet examined her and could not find any obvious causes either by physically feeling her abdomen or by looking at her x-ray images. They gave her fluids intravenously and sent her home with some probiotics. On the following Monday, we took her to our regular vet because she was getting worse not eating or drinking. The vet again examined her physically and took X-rays without finding any obvious causes. He wanted to keep her for observation with plans to do an exploratory surgery in a couple of days. Early that afternoon, the vet called to get approval for immediate surgery. He had cleared part of his schedule and thought she was sick enough it would be best to operate sooner rather than later. After the surgery, we were told that Bailey had intussusception in her intestine. The condition is when one section of the intestine telescopes into another section of the intestine causing a blockage. He cut out the affected portion of her intestine and reconnected the remaining sections. The bad portion of the intestine already showed signs of dying and the vet believed if he had waited the planned two days, Bailey would have died. (For more information on intussusception in dogs go to Intussusception In Dogs: Symptoms, Causes, & Treatments – DogTime)

Bailey recovered from her surgery and is a happy healthy dog. But it was not that easy for her. For the next eighteen months or so she would get sick and vomit not eating or drinking. Of course, after our experiences, we took her back to the vet right away. We were in the vet’s office about every six weeks initially. They treated her with anti-nausea medication and we watched her closely. The spells lasted a couple of days, then she would recover. The time between bouts gradually increased and it has been over a year since we last took her to see the vet except for regularly scheduled examinations and shots. Having a vet who is familiar with your dog is very important since they get to know the dog and its behaviors as well as the owner’s concerns.

If you enjoy my blog, please subscribe and comment. Next week I will take a break from Bailey and write something in honor of Father’s Day. Thank you for taking the time to read this.