An ode to The Best Dog Ever
His name is Titus.
Once upon a time, the dusty aviary had no children in it. Just two "adults" and two pooches. Scout was first - a mutt with an attitude. Howard was next - the sweetest mutt, but dumb as a doorknob.
Now, when Howard was about a year old, he developed a very strange cancer. We tried to get him treated, but he died unbelievably quickly. Within 2 weeks after he started acting strangely, he passed in our living room. Birdman was devastated. So, we decided to get another dog to replace him. And, though we were decidedly not purebred folk, we decided to go with a Border Collie. I think the influence on this was the Scots farmer with his dogs on the train in Scotland. They were just amazing dogs. We wanted to see if American borders were similar.
Who could resist this pup?
Titus is the smartest dog. He caught a rabbit by TRAPPING it. Not simply chasing it. In his prime, he was the fastest tennis ball chaser east of the Mississippi. He could catch that thing out of nowhere. When Stinky was little, we were once up at Harvey County, playing ball with Titus. Another dog came out and tried to play, too. Titus wasn't mean about it, but that dog was not serious enough. Stinky agreed, Nother Dog needed to stop interrupting the ball game!
Titus loves Harvey County. He loves to get in the pond (indeed he also loves to get in the stream behind our house) and chase the water dogs. He does this weird thing where he splashes the water and tries to viciously catch the droplets that come up.
He's great, but he's certainly strange.
He also has horrible luck. When he was a pup, he almost died eating a treat I got from the pet store. It was a chewy that splintered. Another time, up at Harvey County, he was bitten by a rabid raccoon. No joke. The thing came out of the swamp, marched across my mother's yard, and bit Titus on the butt, when he was tied up in the yard. Another time he broke a tiny bone in his foot playing fetch. It almost made him into a tripod. But modern surgery (and a second mortgage) saved the leg.
Now, Titus is ailing. He is mostly blind and deaf. He hurts too much to go up even those back porch steps into our house (see picture at top). It is a horrific choice, but I think we are going to ease his way into his next adventure. I've watched a dog die a nasty, awful death. I've watched one get so old and full of cancer that her life was misery. Titus is, and will always be, our dog, our friend, our brilliant pup. But it's time to let him go.
We will miss him, and remember him forever as the best dog, ever.
Once upon a time, the dusty aviary had no children in it. Just two "adults" and two pooches. Scout was first - a mutt with an attitude. Howard was next - the sweetest mutt, but dumb as a doorknob.
Now, when Howard was about a year old, he developed a very strange cancer. We tried to get him treated, but he died unbelievably quickly. Within 2 weeks after he started acting strangely, he passed in our living room. Birdman was devastated. So, we decided to get another dog to replace him. And, though we were decidedly not purebred folk, we decided to go with a Border Collie. I think the influence on this was the Scots farmer with his dogs on the train in Scotland. They were just amazing dogs. We wanted to see if American borders were similar.
Who could resist this pup?
Titus is the smartest dog. He caught a rabbit by TRAPPING it. Not simply chasing it. In his prime, he was the fastest tennis ball chaser east of the Mississippi. He could catch that thing out of nowhere. When Stinky was little, we were once up at Harvey County, playing ball with Titus. Another dog came out and tried to play, too. Titus wasn't mean about it, but that dog was not serious enough. Stinky agreed, Nother Dog needed to stop interrupting the ball game!
Titus loves Harvey County. He loves to get in the pond (indeed he also loves to get in the stream behind our house) and chase the water dogs. He does this weird thing where he splashes the water and tries to viciously catch the droplets that come up.
He's great, but he's certainly strange.
He also has horrible luck. When he was a pup, he almost died eating a treat I got from the pet store. It was a chewy that splintered. Another time, up at Harvey County, he was bitten by a rabid raccoon. No joke. The thing came out of the swamp, marched across my mother's yard, and bit Titus on the butt, when he was tied up in the yard. Another time he broke a tiny bone in his foot playing fetch. It almost made him into a tripod. But modern surgery (and a second mortgage) saved the leg.
Now, Titus is ailing. He is mostly blind and deaf. He hurts too much to go up even those back porch steps into our house (see picture at top). It is a horrific choice, but I think we are going to ease his way into his next adventure. I've watched a dog die a nasty, awful death. I've watched one get so old and full of cancer that her life was misery. Titus is, and will always be, our dog, our friend, our brilliant pup. But it's time to let him go.
We will miss him, and remember him forever as the best dog, ever.
posted by birdwoman | 5:48 AM
5 Comments:
You forgot when Scout almost choked Titus....
*HUGS*
I am so sorry. Titus will have plenty of stories to share with Howard over the Rainbow Bridge, where there are rabbits and ponds and tennis balls.
One of the most difficult decisions.
Great dog, great memories!
You brat! I got teary eyed reading this. Don't know if you remember hearing about my dog Chip getting chomped to death by Brutus (you were just a baby), I never cried so hard except maybe when Dad died. Lori and I also had to put Jennifer's kitty to sleep after an awful painful weekend of failed kidneys...I threw my glasses across the room. As hard as it is, you and Birdman are making the right choice.
sorry Johnny. Yesterday, the fire siren went off, and Loki, who has never howled, started howling. This was a Howard thing, that passed to scout, to titus. But titus wasn't there to howl. Loki looked so lonely, like he was crying.
That got me teary eyed.
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