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Faces to best friends

Taco

This is, for me, a painful thread. My dog, my friend, Taco, Passed away peacefully recently. He was 18 years old, a full blooded Chihuahua, and his registered name was Hot Taco to Go. I'm still getting over it. Taco was beautiful, friendly, and eternally happy to his dying day.
 

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Groovekiller, sorry to hear about Taco. I know how painful your feelings are right now, I've had to deal with the exact same feelings. My condolences, and try to take solice in the thought that Taco had peace and love in his life.

Julian
 
My condolences as well. Treasure the time you shared together. That can never be lost.
 
View attachment 1566

(Click for a bigger pic.)

There he is: Jonah. He's co-opted my youngest's pink bear. Yes, the bear is supposed to be flat. The dog is lumpy because of lipomas (benign fatty tumors). Green eye is because I don't know how to use a camera with a flash.

About a month ago, he started having severe balance problems and had problems raising himself from, say, the position you see pictured into a standing position. My wife and I, and some others that saw him, concluded that he was just old. However, he got much worse in the past few days, so we took him to the vet. He had a stroke.
At 11am AZ time (1 hr ago), we had to put Jonah down. He was getting progressively worse and three vets said he probably had a brain tumor. We used a service called http://www.happyendingseuthanasia.com. It made things much easier, despite the name.

I'll miss him. A lot.
 
My deepest sympathies Pete. It is tough to loose a close friend like that. My feeling is that it is for the best when no quality of life remains. I just wish that we could have the same humanitarian values where people are concerned.
 
I've commented elsewhere about how having a pet is setting yourself up for grief. I understand the feelings towards dogs, cats and the like, but having to put down a loved pet every eight years is more than I care to deal with.

A few years back, I was taken with the idea of keeping either an octopus or a cuttlefish. Both are extremely intelligent and have personalities of their own, which is pretty extraordinary for animals that share more with snails than they do with mammals. (Octopuses (the true plural) can even escape from a poorly guarded tank, walk across the corridor to an adjacent fish tank, climb in to the fish tank, eat the fish, and then crawl back into their tank and sit there, staring out at anyone who dares to suspect them.)

Two things put me off of the idea. One is that you need a huge salt water aquarium to maintain them in good health and spirits. Salt water tanks are hard to maintain and very intolerant of any variation in water chemistry.

The other was the clincher, however. Both cuttlefish and octopuses have a lifespan measured in months rather than years. Having one as a companion for a short time would not be worth the grief in losing them.
 
I've commented elsewhere about how having a pet is setting yourself up for grief.
A great philosopher once said that life = pain. No pain, no life.

Aaaaaaannnyhow, one of life's amusing turns happened about 15 minutes after I made my post: a neighborhood dog decided to invite himself over. My wife insists she just left the door open for a minute. Yah, that's it. Well, we are trying to find the owners of said doggie. He has a collar, but no tags. My wife went to the vet to return some of Jonah's unused meds and also took the neighborhood dog in to check for a microchip. Nope. No tattoo in the ear, either. We've talked with a lot of our neighbors and no one knows who owns it. Unfortunately, I'm very allergic to the dog (who, of course, likes me a lot), so the dog will be going to the animal shelter this weekend if owner isn't found.

Oh. It's a black & tan Dachshund. Probably about 2 years old. Has a red collar. He looks well fed, but not overfed, so I'd assume someone's been taking pretty good care of him.

Many years ago I had an aquarium. Fresh water, because Terry's comment about salt water is very true. My cat couldn't get at said fish. However, she could get at the thermostat. She cooked the fish one day I was at school.
 
Pete, if you have to take the dog to a shelter, I hope you take it to a no kill shelter. My wife and I have been rescuing cats for as long as I can remember, and we've found two no kill shelters in our area.

Julian
 
We'll call around. http://www.dachshundsonlyrescue.com may be an option, depending on if they consider Mesa part of Phoenix Metro. There are a lot of no-kill/never kill shelters in the area.
 
I've had to say good-bye 6 times, but also felt the joy of having 6 wonderful companions.
 
I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

 
If pain is needed for a life, then I've already got more life than I can deal with...
Same here.

I definitely miss my doggie, but I've got lots of other pain, too. Have I told you about my nerve damage ...?

============

Dachshund update: my wife and youngest daughter are currently taking him to his new home at a farm. IIRC, the new owner has five other dogs of varying sizes and two horses. Couple of teenager kids, too, I think.

I'm still surprised that nobody contacted us on the "lost dog" thing. He's a beautiful and very friendly dog. You'd think the owners would have done more checking.
 
Same here.

I definitely miss my doggie, but I've got lots of other pain, too. Have I told you about my nerve damage ...?

============

Dachshund update: my wife and youngest daughter are currently taking him to his new home at a farm. IIRC, the new owner has five other dogs of varying sizes and two horses. Couple of teenager kids, too, I think.

I'm still surprised that nobody contacted us on the "lost dog" thing. He's a beautiful and very friendly dog. You'd think the owners would have done more checking.

I wished I lived closer... I have a pack of dachsies and would adopt him in a heartbeat.
 
Update on the update: so, the "dachsie" was taken to da farm. He got out of the car and immediately tried to attack one of the really, really big dogs. (I had watched the dachsie play with a couple Chihuahuas earlier in the week and they didn't have any problems.) New owner called my wife back and said that she'd have to find a new-new home. Probably without dogs. New-new home was found later in the evening.
 
Sounds like a typical dachsie; they are a big dog in a little package. My cousin lost his dachshund when he attacked a German Shepherd. They are a fearless breed, especially considering they were bred to hunt badgers. Dachs = Badger in German.
 
Yesterday, my family adopted a new dog from the Arizona SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, aka "the pound"). Already named "Ozzie," before we got him. He's a 50lb Basenji and (possibly) Weimaraner mix that was given up because the owners had to move. He's a very pretty dog with a very good personality. He was originally brought in with a German Shepherd 9mo puppy, which got adopted out. I also took him to see a friend's 120lb yellow Lab mix and they did OK together, so he's good with other dogs, but the little Chihuahua mixes on the other side of our fence scared hm. He's OK with my 9yo daughter. Dunno about cats. Active. Playful. I have had no allergy problems. Fixed, licensed, chipped. Deep, Doberman-like chesty bark, when you walk into "his" yard (sorry, neighbor boy!).

As an aside, I had also applied to adopt two dogs and a cat as a "package deal." I filled out an application, waited three days, finally talked with someone, told I had to wait until the foster family contacted me. Waited three more days and was told that another family was probably going to adopt the trio. I had applied for two other dogs at other locations and never got a response, even after leaving voice mails. You wanna adopt the dogs out, right? You might want to respond to folks that want to adopt!

Anyhow, we plan on getting another dog in a week or two. The AZ SPCA adoption fees are half off (so $55, for dogs under 5) if you get another within 30 days.
 

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Thanks, Groove. He's more impressive in person. I get you on the on the Egyptian, too.

We took him in for his vet follow-up yesterday. There was a lot of speculation as to what kind of dog he is. Definitely a mix and the original owner did confirm Basenji, which I doubt. The folks at the vet's office posited blue Doberman and Belgian Shepherd. The blue Dobie looks like your classic Dobie, but kinda washed out. The Belgian Shepherd is a really long-haired dog, so I don't think so. The non-AKC grey Doberman is fairly close to Ozzie's color and can have the green/brown eyes that Ozzie has. My opinion? Doberman and German Shepherd.

What you can't see well in the pics I posted is that Ozzie has a white stripe that goes from his chest to across his stomach. Yes, he has a racing stripe and he's very fast ... a fact that the neighborhood cats have learned this AM :).
 
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