I'll never forget the day I first saw him. We were driving home from Golden and Kathy said "Why don't you go this way?" We headed down a street I had never been on and found ourselves driving by a little strip mall. Then Kathy says "Turn in here a minute." Now my spidey senses are on alert, and sure enough, we wind up parking in front of a pet store.
Kathy had been out in Golden a couple of days before and had found Hootie sitting in a cage looking so lonely. When we walked in, there was a sad little puppy up high in his own cage, with a sign that had 2 different prices crossed out and the third was pretty low. He had been taken and then returned to the pet store. I knew right then that we were heading home with another dog, I had been suckered!
I still wasn't quite over the loss of our Golden Retriever, but I never do seem to get over the loss of a pet. Kathy knows that I need a replacement though, and seeing as we always have dogs in pairs, our female lab mix Bailey needed a friend also. So we headed home with Hootie, a mix of Border Collie, Shepard, who knows what all.
This was the dog that wasn't going to be on the couch with us. This is the one who would be trained damn it! After a couple of nights of whining in a box beside us, Hootie figured out the routine, realized we were not the obusive parents that I think he had before, and adopted us as his family. He also figured out that dad is a sucker, and soon took his rightful place on the couch beside us.
His first days with us were a little tough on him. First he walked by Bailey's supper dish and got the angry mama snarl and put in his place. Then he wandered up to our old tomcat to sniff him and came away with a bloody nose from a good swat. He was probably thinking "What do I have to do to catch a break?" But everyone got used to one another, and the family was complete.
Hootie was the only dog we ever had that never went to obedience classes. Somehow, he just knew instinctively what he was supposed to do, always came to us when we called him, and the only bad habit he ever had was chewing up stuffed animals. He lived his life to please, was the most sensitive animal to anybody's feelings. When a friend who had typical kids would come over, you never needed to worry about him. If a toddler would pull on him, or get too rough, he would just walk away. He would never snap at anybody.
On walks he would hunt bugs, doing a little stop and wiggle move, then pounce on them with his paws like you see in video of a coyote on TV. He was always surprised when he opened his paws and there wasn't anything to be found. I don't think he would have lasted more than a few days in the wild with those hunting skills!
The last year of his life brought blindness, and he slowed down a lot. But he still enjoyed going on our walks in the field and at the off-leash park. He stayed close behind me, relying on me to lead him by sound. I talked to him a lot as we walked, so he would know where I am and wouldn't worry. He learned to get in and out of the dog door by feel, only making a few messes in the house even as his days were numbered. And he always felt so bad when there was a mistake, you couldn't possibly be mad at him.
Finally, in these last couple of days, something changed. The walk was so stiff, and it hurt him to get up and down. Almost overnight, he stopped eating and just laid out in the yard and by the dog door. He had a couple of accidents, messing himself unable to move and just laying there. We called the Vet and they got us in pretty quick. I carried him from the van directly to the exam table.
Our vet came in and stopped at the door, shocked at how bad he looked. He said "This isn't Hootie". He carried him into the back to take x-rays and some blood samples. When he came in he said the chest and heart look OK, he didn't expect that as labored as his breathing is. The abdominal x-ray showed a full stomach and intestine, even though he had not been able to eat for a couple of days. Thing were not working right, but he didn't know why. There was also some type of a large mass beside his stomach. You never want to hear the word mass when your vet is talking to you...
The option was to take him to the Wheatridge animal intensive care, because there wasn't much that a family vet could do at this point, and Hootie needed intensive care. It was that bad. He looked at me while rubbing Hooties chest and told me that it would probably be expensive, at least 2 grand just to stabilize him until they could do exploratory surgery. He was giving me the option without telling me what to do. He has been our vet through all of our dogs, and is as good a man as there is.
I was crying, much like I am now, barely able to say the words "I can't put him through this, let's put him down."
Just a few short minutes after that, he breathed his last, labored breath, while I held him and told him how much he a meant to me. I felt better about my decision when it only took half of the syringe to stop his heart and breathing. His body was trying so hard just to stay alive that it was barely hanging on.
I will miss my buddy more than I can tell you, of all the dogs I have had he was the kindest, and most special one.
Just a little while after we got him, still scared.
Figuring out life isn't so bad here.
Hanging with Bailey, our female Lab mix.
He found another new friend.
Of course Bailey taught Hootie a few bad habits, but what the heck!
His only flaw, attacking and killing stuffed animals.
His last year, with blindness setting in.
Before and after pictures just a few weeks apart, the difference in him is striking.
Here are some more pictures, just showing us hanging together. I will miss him so much...
