A Dog's (Short) Tale

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon when we met.  My husband and I had just looked at a piece of land in Wakulla County and were discussing what to have for lunch as we came to a stop sign.  We stopped and I looked up the road to see a very large truck approaching at a high rate of speed - and closer to us, a dog so intent on sniffing something that it didn't see the truck coming.  Knowing what was about to happen, I jumped out of the car and called the dog.  It picked up its head and ran straight to me.

The truck whooshed by and the young dog ran around me in circles before flopping over and giving me her belly.  I petted her tummy and she jumped up, eager to play.  My heart ached for her playfulness despite being so thin; I could see her ribs, backbone and hip bones.  And she was little over puppyhood.  The decision was made immediately - this dog would be coming home with us and I took her back to the car.

She was so good on the ride home, though she wanted to be in my lap.  I got in the back seat with her and she snuggled right up and tried to kiss me.  Her breath was a nightmare...  she'd been eating roadkill in her efforts to survive and her kisses smelled like death.  I got her to calm down and she laid down on the seat and fell asleep with her head in my lap.  Stroking her big head and looking at her too-thin body, I wondered about her.  I thought that someone had loved her once.  She was very affectionate and wanted to please me.  But she'd obviously been out here long enough to be starving.  The temperatures were to drop to freezing tonight and she probably wouldn't have survived that.

At home, she explored everywhere.  Lois was cautious and the cats displeased, but the now-named Hootie loved it all.  We started with food, feeding her a little bit several times over the course of the next few hours, not wanting her to wolf a bunch down and then have it come back up.  She was covered in ticks, so my husband took her out on the back porch and took off as many as he could find, then I pulled a few more off while he got a bath ready for her.

She remained calm and accepting through all of this, and when it was over, she seemed grateful.

She found her place – this would become Hootie’s chair.  Because it was going to be cold that night and she had no fat on her to help keep her warm, she got a blanket to snuggle into.  That kept her comfy but it also helped her feel safe.  She wouldn’t come upstairs at bedtime, so she stayed in her chair.

We came down the next morning to find a puddle in the livingroom.  So, not totally housebroken…  she’d also gotten into a few things, so we went and bought a large crate for her to spend the night in.  We also got Greenies to help with her breath, Milkbones for her teeth and to supply a few calories.    While Lois wasn’t pleased with her new sibling, she LOVED the “Let’s fatten up Hootie” diet!  Hootie gets treats; Lois gets treats!    What’s not to love about THAT?  Hootie took to her crate well.  When she was feeling unsure of herself, she would retreat to the crate and look out into the room from her safe haven.  I draped a blanket over the top, so it would hold in some warmth.                                                                                                      

Come Monday, we got an appointment with the vet to scan for a microchip and get vaccinations.  No chip, all vaccinations administered, and judged to be in pretty good shape in spite of being very thin.  She came back home with heartworm preventative and a flea/tick control.  The basics taken care of, we settled into daily life.  Hootie also had an appointment to be spayed in two weeks after she’d put on a little weight.  She spent her days in the back yard while we were at work basking in the sun and she was just as enthusiastic eater as Lois.  The breath-mint treats and good diet fixed the horrible breath.  She got lots of hugs and pets and walks.  This was OUR DOG now.  One of my friends came by to meet Hootie, who was very sweet and well-behaved until my friend sat down…

Hootie decided she was a lap dog!   My friend didn’t mind though, and she sat and cooed and pet Hootie for a good long while.  When she left, she said Hootie was the sweetest dog she’d ever met – and I agreed.  There was a beautiful soul living in that fur.

Not long after that though, she began becoming a little withdrawn.  Still loved eating and getting pets, but not as outgoing.  I began to wonder if she was having trouble seeing.  Then a few days later, the pacing began.  She went round and round, only stopping to put her head in a corner or small space that was dark.

Even in her chair, she faced the wall and would press her head against it.  This alarmed me, as I had read somewhere that head-pressing was a sign of neurological damage.  I called the vet first thing the next morning and they made space for her in their schedule that day.

My husband met me there from work, and when the vet called us in, I showed him video from the night before that showed her pacing unsteadily and pressing her head on the walls and standing in corners.  He took her into the back to weigh her (all the weight she’d put on was gone again) and watch her walk around.  Then he brought her back in.

And gave us the bad news.  She had neurological damage, probably caused by distemper or rabies.  And I learned that both of those are viruses.  Often, they first show up as lung issues.  The dog coughs or swallows more than usual.  Hootie did that.  As the virus moves to the brain, they become unsteady on their feet and engage in the pacing and head-pressing.  If it’s rabies, it progresses to being unable to swallow water, but the saliva is still active, causing the foamy mouth symptom.  For both diseases, there is no conclusive test until after death.  Distemper does have a small chance of cure if caught VERY early, but in this case, (if it were distemper) it was already in the brain.  And it could have been in her system for almost all the 6 months of her life, so the vaccines we gave her the previous week wouldn’t have done anything about it.  Vaccines PREVENT.  They don’t cure.

We were, of course, distraught.  In less than two weeks, this beautiful creature had made a home in our hearts.  But when our long-time, trusted vet said that if she were his dog, he’d put her to sleep because it wouldn’t get any better than this and would get much worse in very short order, we decided to put our beautiful, funny, loving Hootie to sleep.

We stroked her and talked to her and told her how much we loved her as our vet injected her…  and then she was gone.

Yes.  That’s a picture of our dead dog.  You may be wondering why I felt it was necessary to include this.

Christmas is coming, and the animal shelters all over the country are asking people to adopt a puppy or dog (they do it year round, but I suspect more people actually do it this time of year).  If the urge to get a puppy is hitting you hard, please think long and hard about it before committing. 

Pets are a responsibility.  They aren’t for until you get tired of it, or you can’t afford to take it to the vet, or it chews up something you left lying around.  They aren’t lawn ornaments for you to leave in the fence and ignore or chain to a tree and forget to feed and water.  They are not temporary!

If you can’t afford to vaccinate your dog or feed your dog – DON’T get a dog.

If you don’t have time to spend with a dog, taking it for walks or playing – DON’T get a dog.
If you value your things more than a furry, loving being – DON’T get a dog.
If you aren’t willing to commit to 10 to 15 years, caring for it appropriately for every age – DON’T GET A DOG.

We were ready, willing, and able to make all of the above commitments to Hootie – but because someone else didn’t care enough for their dog, we only got to have her for almost two weeks.  The disease that took her was totally preventable. In spite of all the wonderful moments we had with Hootie, that last picture will stick in my mind forever.  It didn’t have to be this way.  

We will grieve Hootie for very long time.

PLEASE BE A RESPONSIBLE PET OWNER IF YOU DECIDE TO ADOPT AN ANIMAL THIS CHRISTMAS.  They are not toys to be discarded when you get tired of them.  They are living, breathing, loving souls who will love you unconditionally if you take care of them and treat them right.