***The Official Dog Thread***

[$kully]

Sorry about that Skull. Hopefully he pulls through. Loosing them is hard. I can still fight back tears over Thor's death. It's been over a year.

I have found that mixed breed mutts are by far hardier than purebreds. I lost two pure bred dogs to cancer before the age of six. Hybrid vigor. I don't remember if your dog was pure bred or not. Consider the above to be me prattling/chain of thought BS.

He’s a rescue so we don’t really know. We were told he’s a “morkie” which is a stupid name for a designer hybrid (Maltese x yorkie) and I’m not sure the mutt vigor applies to designer hybrids even though they’re technically not pure breds. Always had the impression that he came from a backyard breeder, he has crooked teeth and some traits that aren’t too desirable for those shopping for dogs at breeders.

 

[brukuns]

Woke up this morning with my dog bleeding from the nose. Took him to the emergency vet to find out he has a large vascular mass in his abdomen Girlfriend and I are absolutely crushed. Waiting on more tests but it doesn’t sound good. Today is not a good day.

Sorry about that Skully, I hope this turns out ok. If you have image exams and wanna send them over I can ask my sister who's. vet to take a look. I'm sure he's in good hands though.

 

[ElOgro]

Woke up this morning with my dog bleeding from the nose. Took him to the emergency vet to find out he has a large vascular mass in his abdomen Girlfriend and I are absolutely crushed. Waiting on more tests but it doesn’t sound good. Today is not a good day.

What causes that? I hope the little guy pulls through.

We've lost two in the last year. I told my wife and kids no mas. They need to run, I'm not all that ambulatory. I insisted with such conviction and vigor that we got another dog. In the beginning it was just going to be for a couple of weeks, the same deal as four of the six dogs we've had...

 

[crustBrother]

Woke up this morning with my dog bleeding from the nose. Took him to the emergency vet to find out he has a large vascular mass in his abdomen Girlfriend and I are absolutely crushed. Waiting on more tests but it doesn’t sound good. Today is not a good day.

that's awful, man... so sorry :-(

 

[ghostshaper]

Sorry to hear, skully. Best way to get over the loss of a dog is to get a new pup. There will never be a shortage of those that need homes.

If you want our 8 yr old poodle/ACD mix, he's yours. He seriously needs a new home. He's getting worked over pretty hard by the 2 pups. He's only 22 lbs. The covid pup is 60+ and the new pup will be just as big.

 

[LarryTate]

180+lbs Dane. Turns 2 in May. Had him potty trained in a few days, walks off a leash extremely well, loves meeting/playing with other dogs at the park, but is a bit anxious around humans (he'll hide behind me and look at them from the side.) If the person has a dog with them he's perfectly fine though. He's a big boy with a giant heart. His bark will rattle your eardrum if you're within 2 feet from him. It's pretty gnarly.

 

[brukuns]

180+lbs Dane. Turns 2 in May. Had him potty trained in a few days, walks off a leash extremely well, loves meeting/playing with other dogs at the park, but is a bit anxious around humans (he'll hide behind me and look at them from the side.) If the person has a dog with them he's perfectly fine though. He's a big boy with a giant heart. His bark will rattle your eardrum though if you're within 2 feet from him. It's pretty gnarly.

View attachment 146616

I want to hug him. Can I hug him?

 

[ElOgro]

I want to hug him. Can I hug him?

You have to take him out to dinner first. Still interested?

What do you feed that beast?

When I was a kid one of the neighbors was blind and he had a dane for his seeing eye dog. Marvelous animal.

 

[LarryTate]

You have to take him out to dinner first. Still interested?

What do you feed that beast?

When I was a kid one of the neighbors was blind and he had a dane for his seeing eye dog. Marvelous animal.

4 cups of food morning / 4 cups of food evening, a hardened pig ear as a daily treat, and a couple spoons of peanut butter from time-to-time when we need to trim his nails. Cost of food is like having another human in the house. Worth it though.

 

[SrPato]

He’s a rescue so we don’t really know. We were told he’s a “morkie” which is a stupid name for a designer hybrid (Maltese x yorkie) and I’m not sure the mutt vigor applies to designer hybrids even though they’re technically not pure breds. Always had the impression that he came from a backyard breeder, he has crooked teeth and some traits that aren’t too desirable for those shopping for dogs at breeders.

Man, I'm sorry to hear that. Dogs give us so much joy in very short amount of time.

 

[Maz]

How the heck do you really know when the time has come?

Our Vizsla is 13 and on his last legs. He has degeneration of the spinal cord, and arthritis, so can't really control his hindquarters. And he's deaf etc etc. He can barely get up, and walks are brief and mostly spent sniffing.

He was always a super active dog, running and chasing possums, cats, rabbits, and now he sleeps around 20 hours a day. But every time we think 'this is it!', he'll rally and be all keen and happy - until he goes downhill again.

I always naively thought it'd be easy to make the call to put him to sleep, but it's not.

 

[tenover]

Putting down your dog is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Long story, and makes me cry to this day....

We had a chocolate lab/mix named Lucy that we got from a rescue when our daughters were about 10 and 8. She was great.... Took her to the beach every morning, no health issues, she was about as "perfect" as a family dog can be.

Because my wife and I both worked full time(in the office pre-COVID), we thought we'd get another puppy to keep her company, so we rescued another Lab/Shepard mix(Daisy).

One day, out of the blue, Lucy started having issues going to the bathroom. We took her to the vet, and found out that she had a prolapsed urethra(look it up, its sad and gross). They told us that there's not much we could do for it. We had her in diapers for a couple months, blankets all over the house, etc... Finally called the vet again and they told us that she should probably be put down at this point. She was only 8 years old. This was over a holiday break, so we couldn't find anyone to come to our house to put her down, so we had to make an appointment to take her to the vet(walking disatnce from our house).

We were already in tears the morning of, and as we put the leash on Lucy to walk her to the vet to be put down, Daisy sat at the big bay window in the front of our house and watched Lucy, my wife and I walk Lucy away. The saddest part was that Lucy was just fine mentally, smiling the whole time...

We laid down next to Lucy as she was given the medicine and I bawled like a little baby(this was only a couple years ago).

Daisy, the puppy, has never, to THIS day, stopped sitting at the bay window waiting for her "sister" to walk back home. As much love and happiness that Daisy gives us, I can't help but think she's just heart broken.

Daisy is 5 years old now, still looking out the bay window for Lucy, and just went through a cancer scare of her own. She also has a little "sister" now, Piper.

This is Daisy and Piper, yesterday....With Daisy staring down the sidewalk where she last saw Lucy.

 

[Sharky]

Maz, It’s time. He’s in pain. My 13 year old mastiff mix got to the point where he couldn’t settle in his bed. He’d look at me whimpering. He was in pain. He was looking to me to fix it and I couldn’t. His last day, I laid down on the floor with him nose to nose. His eyes faded and his last breath exhaled into my face. I inhaled his last breath. I‘ll never forget it.

 

[Maz]

Thanks, guys.

Fwiw, I actually don't think he's in pain, but it's hard to tell cause he's a tough nut. He's on gabapentin and steroids, and he never whimpers or makes sudden noise. His legs just don't work. But I could be wrong, and we've been taking things one week at a time.

Tenover, that's heartbreaking about Daisy.

 

[crustBrother]

i cried like a goddamn baby while holding my dog, Misha, while the vet put her down last fall. reading @Maz and @tenover and @Sharky and @$kully posts brings tears to my eyes.

can you imagine being a vet and doing that again and again and again?

holy sh!t.

and speaking of last breath, @Sharky , when i was out in the back yard digging her grave, still just sobbing and crying uncontrollably (can't imagine what the neighbors thought of all that and don't much care), i sat down, feet in the grave, to take a break, listening to the birds talking and the bugs buzzing feeling like i was on a heavy acid trip... and Misha let out one final sigh. the rational part of my brain knows that was just gasses escaping from the body she used to inhabit but in my heart it feels like that was her final breath and i'll never forget that moment.



still have that collar and it still smells like her

 

[ElOgro]

Maz, It’s time. He’s in pain. My 13 year old mastiff mix got to the point where he couldn’t settle in his bed. He’d look at me whimpering. He was in pain. He was looking to me to fix it and I couldn’t. His last day, I laid down on the floor with him nose to nose. His eyes faded and his last breath exhaled into my face. I inhaled his last breath. I‘ll never forget it.

That's aloha if I'm not mistaken. All the bigger dogs we've had ended up with hip/back leg problems.

 

[manbearpig]

man this thread is taking a bit of emotional turn. my boy turns 2 tomorrow, cherishing every moment with this goofy hard worker.

 

[ElOgro]

i cried like a goddamn baby while holding my dog, Misha, while the vet put her down last fall. reading @Maz and @tenover and @Sharky and @$kully posts brings tears to my eyes.

can you imagine being a vet and doing that again and again and again?

holy sh!t.

and speaking of last breath, @Sharky , when i was out in the back yard digging her grave, still just sobbing and crying uncontrollably (can't imagine what the neighbors thought of all that and don't much care), i sat down, feet in the grave, to take a break, listening to the birds talking and the bugs buzzing feeling like i was on a heavy acid trip... and Misha let out one final sigh. the rational part of my brain knows that was just gasses escaping from the body she used to inhabit but in my heart it feels like that was her final breath and i'll never forget that moment.

View attachment 146650

still have that collar and it still smells like her

My friend Antonio Ochoa had a little poodle named Misha. Uncle Chuckles lived in a house with big rats. He caught one in a cage trap and took it down to the beach to let it loose. He opens the cage and the rat runs out at the same moment Misha bails out of the car and the chase is on. The rat makes a beeline for the nearest palm tree, about 15 meters away and just starts up the trunk when Mishu leaps and snags him. Shaking and beating the rat against the palm tree ensue.

 

[Maz]

When Viggo was young and fit

Old boy now:

 

[silentbutdeadly]

cried like a baby when I put down my 17 year old cat. It was pretty rough for us an the kids with our pug. WHen my current dogs go I'm going to need therapy.