A-Z Blogging Challenge- Day 4: D is for Dog

As I stated earlier...my approach to this blogging challenge is to just blog about the first thing that pops into my head when I think of the letter for the day.

Today's letter is D. And Dog popped into my head first.

Do you have a dog? Are you a dog person at all???

I had a dog growing up....her name was Blondie...a mix breed that we rescued from the SPCA. I never took are of her, never cleaned up after her. I liked her but she was just kinda there. I had always wanted a cat, but my dad was allergic.

It wasn't until I got married and had my own place and my own dog, that I really fell in love with an animal. My hubby had always wanted a rottweiler his whole life. When we got married, it was the first time either of us had lived on our own. And we didn't wait long to get a dog. We brought our rottie puppy, Chaos, home not even a month after we closed on our house (which was 2 days after we returned home from our honeymoon!).

Hubby had chosen the name years before. If we had know that he would be such a chaotic dog, we might not have named him that! He was wild when he was a puppy- he never liked his crate and used to make big messes in it. He chewed through everything. We had him neutered at 7 months old and not only did he rip out his stitches, twice, he tore open his skin after it had been surgically glued shut. And yeah...he had one of those cones on the entire time. He used it as an aid in his debauchery! That was two weeks of pure hell. When he got a little older, he calmed down. Plus, after having him professional leash trained, we could actually walk him! Not easy to walk a 120 dog if he wants to go his own way!

But he was such a sweet dog! We really think he thought he was a very small animal. He had no problems with climbing right up onto our laps. He greeted us at the door every day and just loved being with us. We used to take him to the park and just drive around with him...he loved it!!

When we brought home our daughter, hubby was really nervous. He had a real hard time restraining the dog. But he just wanted to look at her and sniff her. After that first day, we never had one worry. He was so good with her....

When he was 7 years old, we started to notice he wasn't himself. He just laid around. When he stopped eating, we knew we had to take him in to the vet. The diagnosis: lymphoma. We could have done chemotherapy, but it cost about $2000 and would only give us another year, max. We were torn over what to do. We decided to do what we thought was best and made an appointment for euthanization. We could have let him go and die at home....suffering for possibly months...but we just didn't think it was right. We had plans to go away on vacation and the thought of him dying in the kennel while we were gone just broke our hearts. We made the appointment and the vet gave us a prescription for prednisone, a steroid that would help him the last few weeks of his life.

Those last few weeks were great....Chaos regained his appetite and he was back to his old self. My husband questioned whether or not we were doing the right thing. I had to remind him that Chaos wasn't really better....the meds were making him better. The day came and we got a sitter for our daughter, who was 2-1/2. The excitement in Chaos was heartbreaking...he always loved going for a ride. He jumped and spun at the door as my husband put the leash on his collar for the last time.

We sat in the room with him the entire time. I can honestly say it was one of the hardest moments in my life.

We did get another dog, only two months later, actually. I'd wanted a small dog. Our tiny house had gotten even smaller after having a child and another big dog didn't sound appealing. We got a miniature pincher and named her Scarlett. We really have to give more consideration to our pet names, cause she was fiesty as all hell!! This 10 pound dog was just too much for us and after only a year, we found her a new home....a friend of my husband's from work who already had two mini pins. It only took her a week to become alpha dog...even over an older male.

We have been dogless ever since.....4 years. It's been weird....but also kinda nice. We never have to watch out in the yard for "piles" and when we go away, we don't have to worry about paying for a kennel or finding someone to watch the dog. Our belongings are never chewed. But sometimes I so miss having a head to pet and snuggle. When Chaos was around, I always felt protected.