One door closes, another opens

 Prior to Mavy's passing, I had been on the lookout for a Swissy. I'd been watching the rehoming pages and the rescue pages and I'd even suggested that we travel to like Colorado and California a few times to adopt a Swissy. None of that worked out, but life is kind of amazing when you let it happen. 

A few weeks after Mavy passed, I get a Facebook message from one of the Swissy people. She wanted to know if I was still interested in adopting a Swissy because she was going to Mesa to evaluate two. This would have come up on graduation day, May 21st. I said I was interested without talking to Hubby, because I figured we could always say no. Also, we had made plans to go to Hawaii since we had no dogs, and were leaving on the Saturday after graduation. So some back and forth messages with this person. She sent me videos of the dogs and her opinion of them. I put in an application with the rescue just to make sure they knew we were interested. 

Off to Hawaii we went and while we had a great time, we also realized that was probably the last time we would go. It is just not the same. We come back and I'm texting the rescue trying to find out what the deal is with the Swissy. There was a bit of back and forth with the rescue and the owners. Finally it was worked out and we would be taking him into foster. 

To me, this was was arranged by Bella and Maverick. After Mavy passed we had said that we wouldn't get a dog for a while, and they said - no way. I had been looking for a Swissy for years and now that Maverick is gone one pops up? Also, Maverick's name was Top Gun Ace Maverick, and I always said that if I knew that sooner I would have called him Ace. Guess what this guys name was??? Ace!!! I felt like this had been arranged by someone........

On June 14th, we picked him up and as soon as he got in the van he tried to pee on the seats. Oh, this was going to be fun. The ride home was hectic to say the least. This guy had lived his whole life with his brother and they were separated for the first time. They had basically lived in the backyard for the past 3 years as they had started marking in the house. He was completely untrained, wild, and a little nuts. As soon as he got in the house, he started marking things. Yeah, that was not going to work. So a quick trip to the store and we got him some belly bands - basically diapers for male dogs. One thing we noticed was that he was dripping a little blood. That was wild. So we took him to the vet rather quickly to get it checked. While there he got blood work done and all his vaccinations - he'd never had them before. Through that we discovered that he had low levels of Valley Fever and his kidney enzymes were a little elevated. So he was put on medication - expensive medication. Thankfully, the rescue picked up the bill for all of that, we only had to provide his food and snacks. We had him for about 3 months and it was a challenge. He was 5 years old and kind of set in his ways. Everything we were doing was new to him. He got daily walks - all new. He lived in the house - new. He did not have anyone who wanted his food - new. Everything was new. And he was excited and nervous about it all. I tried training him and his excitement would go over the top and it would get crazy. Walks were a real challenge because he pulled and lunged and he's big. I would be lying if I didn't say there were times when I almost regretted my decision. Then he would do things like lay on my lap and want to be petted, and I realized he's worth it. 

It's been almost a year now and it's been quite a journey, but he is adjusting. He knows most of our routines and habits. He listens - mostly. The walks are a lot better. Yeah, he's a good boy. He's a goof ball. 

Maverick 12/6/16 - 05/1/25

 

It just occurred to me that I never wrote here about Maverick's passing. He's been gone almost a year now and I still haven't written anything. Time to correct that. 

It all began on Tuesday, April 29th, 2026. He didn't want to eat his dinner. Well, I should actually back up a little bit. For a few weeks prior to this, he seemed to be gaining weight. He was getting rounder and rounder and he wanted to walk less and less. Then on Tuesday night he did not want to eat his dinner. That was weird for him because it was the Farmer's dog and he loved that. But he had his moments when he didn't want to eat so we didn't thing too much of it. We woke up Wednesday morning and he was definitely not himself. I called the vet first thing and got an appointment that afternoon. When we took him in he seemed okay, but definitely not himself and he was up 10 pounds in about 3 weeks - that was really weird. They wanted to do some bloodwork and some x-rays and I chose to go with just the bloodwork - I have kicked myself over that decision since then. Oh yes, he had thrown up a couple of times which is very unlike him. So we left with some anti-nausea medication and a promise of a call tomorrow with the results from the bloodwork. We got up the next morning, Thursday May 1st, and could tell something was seriously wrong with Mav. I set the camera up so I could watch him all day and he hardly moved. At one point I saw him sit up and then just fall over. Just plop over. I called the vet and we had an appointment for 3:00 pm. Hubby was going to take him in and I would be home as soon as I could. Hubby called me at a little after 3 to find out when I would be there. I was just getting ready to leave school and he said I needed to hurry. So I did. I'm racing down Baseline trying to get their quick and not get a ticket or get killed. It was nerve wracking. When I get there, Hubby is waiting outside and we go right into a room. The doc comes in and explains, they took a chest x-ray and his chest and abdomen are filled with fluid. His heart is having a hard time beating because of the pressure of the fluid. There was nothing they could do there and it's impossible to tell exactly what caused it. Could be cancer, could be an organ ruptured, could be a heart condition, impossible to tell at this point. We could take him to an emergency vet and they could likely drain the fluid but unless we found exactly what was causing it, it was most likely to come back again. Meanwhile, Mav is on the floor on oxygen and looking absolutely miserable. We decided not to prolong his suffering and just to say goodbye right then and there. It was so sudden, it was hard to wrap our head around it.  The next day, for the first time in 34 years, we woke with no dogs in the house. It was the weirdest feeling. For so long our lives had revolved around the dogs. We made vacation plans based on the dogs. It was crazy. And it was quiet. For the first time in 34 years, we cleaned the house and it stayed clean. We got all the hairballs up. I didn't have a dog to walk before school. It was so quiet in here. It took a while for us to get over his loss. We still talk about him and miss him like crazy a year later. 

In my completely unmedical opinion, I have come to believe that he passed from hemangiosarcoma. I've seen it come up and I've read some of the symptoms - there are none - and the outcome - sudden passing. And I think more and more this is what he had. It came on so suddenly and he was gone so quickly. I'm convinced that was it, but we will never know. 

So that's the story of Mavy. He was such a good dog. All my dogs have been such good dogs. 

Mama loves you Mavy.....

Lola 7/4/2008 - 10/11/2022

10/11/22 - Around noon today the vet will be coming so that we can say goodbye to Lola. It's hard to believe that it has been 14 years. It seems like she's always been with us. But in the last few weeks she has really gone downhill fast, so I know that it's time. She is not comfortable or happy and I don't want to drag it out for her. She has been a great dog for 14 years and now I need to step up and be a great owner. 

Lola, and her brother Axl, came to us as fosters. We had just lost Nala and Rocco was not doing well. We thought that maybe getting a foster would help since he'd never been alone. We only wanted one dog, but these two came a pair. 

This is Lola on the first day we got her. And this is Axl on the first day. They were both a mess. Axl was so skinny you could see his hip bones and it hurt to look at. Lola had wrinkles galore and an eye issue where her lower lid turned inward. They were a couple of hot messes. But, in spite of all that, I fell in love with Lola. She was just the cutest little thing. We decided to keep them since they came as a set. Not long after Rocco passed away so it was just us and them two. And it stayed that way for a long time.

Lola was a little spitfire and a Mama dog to Axl. She was the one with all the confidence and courage, he was a scared mess. Those two would play and it was crazy to watch. Lola would bite Axl's collar and drag him around the yard by it. I don't know how many collars we went through for him because she kept biting and chewing them off. She was also an escape artist. We called her Houdini in her younger years. She could climb fences. She would use her brother as a pummel horse to jump on and get over fences. I don't know how many times we chased her up that insanely steep driveway in Hawaii. She loved to go for walks and hikes and loved to visit new places. She was a real explorer. She was also a bit of a loner. She was extremely independent and didn't need to be cuddled or loved on all the time. Though she did like her belly rubs and would roll over if you started petting her. 

When Bella came along her mama instincts really kicked in. Both her and Axl were fiercely protective of Bella. They would get in between us if we yelled at Bella. They always treated her like theirs. Until they were both really old, Lola always cleaned Bella's ears after dinner. 

She was the happiest little dog ever. She was always content to sit and watch the world go by or go out on a great adventure. I hope her and Axl and Bella are running free, playing with no pain. 

2/24/24 - I never finished this post. The vet came and I was just never able to come back to this post. Lola left us that day. It was so sad but a much needed release for her. After she was gone, the vet could feel a very large mass in her kidney. Yikes. She was probably in more pain than we even considered. 

In the almost 2 years since she's been gone its just been Maverick. We miss both Bella and Lola so much, but we have Maverick to keep us entertained. 

So many moments that we stop and smile because of memories of Lola. Every time we get the back bushes trimmed we laugh at how Lola loved to walk through them and peek out through the holes. Whenever we try to give Maverick a piece of broccoli, we laugh and remember Lola - the vegetarian dog. So many little moments that those who have gone before come up in our memories. I often wonder if Axl would have like Arizona. Or Nala. Or Rocco, or Mana. So many dogs. So much love. So many memories. 

The end is near for Bella

On Tuesday, May 31, 2022 we have a vet coming to the house to put Bella to sleep. This is hard. Really, really hard. I'm not sure I can go through with it. All the other dogs we've put to sleep has been on their last legs. It had usually become something incredibly serious and they needed to be euthanized today. With Bella it's different. I can see her deteriorating and I know that she would hold on for weeks longer if I let her, but is that fair to her? She is so loving and so loyal that she would hang on for months if I asked her to. I can't ask her to do that. She is in a great amount of pain. She can hardly walk and frequently collapses when standing. Her toes fold under while she walks - that's called knuckling - on both her front and back legs. She has little quality of life. She gets up, drinks water, pees/poops, and lays back down to sleep. She sleeps probably 20 hours a day. As I said, I know she would stay around as long as I asked her to, but I can't ask anymore. She has been the most loving, loyal, dog that I've ever had. I have to show her the same love and devotion that she has shown to me over the years. So tomorrow morning I will take her on her last car ride. We are going to go to Starbucks and get a puppachino, then head over to a park to sit and enjoy it. We may take a ride to Laveen so Jinxy can say goodbye to Bella. Maybe stop at the dog park where we all used to go. Then it's home to be loved on all day until the vet gets here. I've never planned so far in advance for a euthanasia and it's weird to have days and days to think about her leaving us. This house is going to be so empty without her. My heart is going to be so empty without her. She is the dog I always wanted. The dog I literally waited years to get. The only pure bred dog I've ever owned. Losing her is going to be the hardest thing I've ever done. But I have to do it for her. I have to be strong for her. I can't have her living in pain just because I can't say goodbye. So tomorrow is the day. This will be a sad place for a while. 

Tuesday, May 31st:  Today is the day and I am sad. Really. Really. Sad. But I feel like I'm coming to terms with it. I keep thinking this is the last......  and I don't cry. I want to make a tribute post to her, but that may have to wait until tomorrow. I am feeling a tiny bit guilty because in some ways her passing will be a bit of a relief. She takes a lot of care. She can't get up by herself most of the time so we have to help her. She pees in the house occasionally - not often but enough that I feel like everything smells of pee. She pees right outside the back door and that area out there does smell like pee.  She gets up 3 or 4 times a night and that means I get up too. She takes a plethora of pills every day. Those pills cost me about $400 every month. Plus I pay for vet care that we no longer use. Her last few vet visits have cost me $500. Not that I begrudge paying it, I would pay twice as much if it helped her, but it will be a bit of a relief financially. I am going to miss her like crazy, but I know that she will no longer be in pain and suffering. 

A death in the family

 

Last night Cluse passed away. He'd been having trouble for a while now. He would have episodes where his feet wouldn't work. We put it off to arthritis as is was an old bird, but now I'm rethinking that. I'm wondering now if he was having mini-strokes like humans do. Anyway, we found him on the floor last night with his wing in his mouth like he had been preening and blood on the side of his head. He was gone already. Hubby is devastated. Cluse was his drinking partner and general hang out buddy. I'm sad too even though Cluse hated me and always tried to bite me. 

We got Cluse in November of 2010. We had just moved into the Hawaii house and had a bird room going. We started him in the bird room but he quickly bonded to Hubby so that didn't last long. Hubby set up a cage and a space for him outside in his carport and that was that for 6 years. He flew with us when we moved to Arizona and went on all of our ill fated adventures in RVs. He weathered 6 Arizona summers and 7 Arizona winters. Although a bit of a jerk, he was a lover to Hubby and they were really bonded. It will be strange not having him around. According to what I wrote when we got him, he was believed to be about 18 years old then. We've had him 11 years, that would make him 29 years old. But I thought that he was around 24 when we got him and that would make him 35 years old. Since they live to 30-35 that would make more sense to me. But I could be mistaken. All I know is that he was mature when we got him and that we have had him for 11 years. Rest in peace Cluse. 

In strange news, Mavy was acting weird last night during dinner. He was whining like he wanted something. When he has a ball or a bone under the couch or under the table by the TV he will whine and bark until we get it for him. He was whining like that last night, but there was no barking or digging under the item where the ball hid. We could not figure out what was going on with him. He did this all through dinner. It was right after dinner that Hubby found Cluse on the floor. I can't help but wonder if Mavy was trying to tell us something was wrong with Cluse. I guess we'll never really know. 

It's been one week.....

 since I posted here. Not a whole lot is happening on the doggie front. Mavy had his second class and he knocked it out of the park - as usually. He is smarter than we give him credit for. 

Bella is doing great though she has had more accidents in the house recently. Not sure what is happening with that, maybe I should take her to back for a check-up. 

Lola is slowly fading right before our eyes. She is eating less. It's harder and harder for her to move around. She seems to like get lost in the backyard. It's sad  to watch but I also know that it is inevitable. I just want to make sure that we don't keep her around too long. I don't want that girl to suffer unnecessarily. 

And that's about it really. We are in the middle of a 5 day weekend. And they love having us around all day. Mavy and I have been taking nice leisurely walks in the afternoon, it has been so nice here. 

I did take Mavy to bathe him last Sunday. He was spitting out clumps of hair so much I finally decided that he needed a good bathing to try and get rid of some of them. That was crazy. He had so much hair come off him, I don't understand why he isn't bald. Seriously. From his butt area, right under his tail, these huge clumps of fur came out that were kind of matted and thick. It was so crazy. They have about a 3" drain in the sink there and the entire thing was filled with hair. It was insane. The good news is that I think it helped some. He doesn't seem to have as many clumps that can just be picked off him. I do have to groom him more. Today, I will take him out back and groom him today. 

That's really it. Not a whole lot more to say about the kids, so I guess I'll wrap it up here. 

Now, to the present

 So here we are all up to date. Maverick started training again. I'm not sure I mentioned this but he had been in agility for almost 2 years. His heart really wasn't in it though and so I decided to pull him out to work on our relationship. Shortly after that Covid hit and the training place shut down. So that was the end of that forever. During Covid there was no training happening even though we could have done it outside. And when things started up again it was kind of slow going. Finding places and getting spots, it was difficult. Originally I thought Maverick was done with any kind of training. He's 5 years old and all we do is walk. But he is also really bright and he gets bored. So I thought we'd do just some basic obedience, maybe do some Rally, something for fun, not like agility which is so serious and takes a lot of work. So he's in an intermediate class which focuses on the connections between the dog and handler. That is exactly the kind of stuff I want. Now, I have been a bad dog mom this week because I haven't practiced with him. We have homework and I haven't done any at all. Part of the excuses I use is that with 2 other dogs in the house it's hard to train. That is literally BS. There are many ways I could train with 2 other dogs in the house. I just use that because I haven't fit it into my schedule or worked out the best way to do it. So that changes today. I'm going to figure out when and where and how to get a few minutes of training in whenever. I'm going to put treats all over the house, hmmmm, need containers for that 🤔. And I'm going to set my alarm for times when I'm home and I'm going to stop and do it. I need to do things like that until it becomes habit. Of course, all that we are covering right now he pretty much knows already, it's just a matter of cleaning up the cues and the responses. 

Okay, that will do for now. I'm off to do some cleaning and enjoy my Sunday.