Animal Chatter

Fourteen years ago I received a phone call about a German shepherd pup that was so abused that you could barely get to it. It hadn’t been abused in the sense that anyone beat it, it’s just had no one bit of human contact or touch since it had been born 3 months prior to my call. Since I had my own grooming business and could take the pup to work with me and socialize it, the person thought I would be a good choice to take him, so I did. I named him Kaiser. We worked through all his anxieties. He vomited or pottied everyday in the car on the way to work for a month. He wouldn’t go near anyone, we would have to pull him from under the end tables at home just to touch him. I would lie on the floor looking at him for hours explaining to him that no one would ever harm him. Eventually, he became one of my best friends. Still shy with others until he got to know them, but a great dog.

Then, two years later, I boarded a Rottweiler at my kennels that wasn’t wanted by its owner anymore. The boy had moved to Florida and taken the sister to the rottie, but couldn’t take them both and dumped him on his parents. His parents not seeing any humor in that boarded him with me. Eventually, they didn’t want to have that bill anymore so they wanted to get rid of him. Over his time of stay he became very close to me and my family, but we just weren’t sure how well this unneutered massive rottie would get along with our German Shepherd who had already been through so much. But, I was talked into taking Zeus home, and the rest is history.

They immediately became the best of friends. Playing together, eating together, getting in trouble together. They were inseparable. They were quite a duo, Zeus and Kaiser, a combined weight of 240 pounds of love and sweetness.

At the age of 7 Zeus had to have disc surgery. He couldn’t walk, and the doctors were not sure if he ever would. Some encouraged us to put him down, others said to give it a try. Putting him down was never an option. As a surgical vet tech, I knew I could get him through this, and with vigorous therapy and exercise for weeks on end, he eventually began to walk, albeit a funny gait and a little hard to get up on the tile floor, but he managed. Through his entire recovery, Kaiser was there. Laying right against him at night, and standing by his said all day.

Then horror struck for Kaiser, he developed prostate cancer. I knew his time was very limited, and he made it only 5 months till we had to put him down. A very sad day for all of us, especially Zeus who had lost his best friend.

Being an animal lover and rescuer, I knew that I had to get Zeus another buddy, and also open up room for the rescue to take in another dog. I told them I wanted one that was a bit older and that had special needs. They had the perfect dog for me. He was rescued from death row in Nashville, you couldn’t really get a hand on him, his face showed the signs of battle with his scars. But, he would come live with me, and never have to battle again. At first Zeus was stand offish with him. He was certainly an odd one. After much prodding from me and my family, they became friends and Thor relished that he had a buddy that didn’t bite him or fight him, but one he could play with, well sort of play with. Zeus limited ability to move made it difficult, but Thor seemed to understand his handicap. After a bit, we came to realize that Thor was probably only about 18 months old. He blew an entire coat becoming a different color, and took on more of an adult look instead of a puppy over the months.

Alas, Zeus was stricken with cancer in his toe, and we had it removed. The report came back showing clean margins, but guarded condition. We were told if he went 6 months clean, it had been taken out with his toe. We counted every month, chest x-rays and daily lymph node checks. No cancer, it was looking good. Five months down the road, still looking good, but a choking and gagging spell one day led to something completely different, and Zeus began to seizure. He never came out of it, and had to be euthanized. Most certainly one of the saddest days of my life, and hardest to accept. Not only for me, but for my family and of Thor, who had lost the only other dog he trusted. With nose to the floor, he constantly went from room to room looking for his buddy. He was no where to be found.

Our vet had told us he had been the recipient of a 10 month old black German Shepherd that was dumped in his pasture. He couldn’t keep it. With a pregnant wife and three other dogs, they just couldn’t do it, but they couldn’t give it to just anyone. They were working diligently with this dog, which was scared of everything, thin and ragged looking and unneutered temporarily. He begged us to take him saying he thought we would be the perfect home, so, we decided to let the dogs meet and see what happened.

Nothing much happened. They sort of looked at each other, walked around together, got along fine, but not an instant attachment. Of course, Thor, still grieving for Zeus and suspicious of other dogs, is biding his time. It’s just been a couple days but we are hoping that we have the next era of Thor and Jove, like our beloved Zeus and Kaiser era. Maybe that happens just once in a lifetime.

However it turns out, we know that Zeus and Kaiser are once again together in doggie heaven, playing, laughing, and probably making fun of “those obsessive humans” they had.

Kaiser

Zeus

Thor

Jove