[ Post a Response | Ask Cheryl Carlson ]
Posted by Carole Field
on 3/21/2009, 10:41 pm
UKC Service Dog Judge
Many of you know what it is like to lose a dog. In my own lifetime, I have lost 5 German Shepherds, 2 Miniature Schnauzers, 1 Yorkshire Terrier and 5 cats. Eleven of them died of old age, 1 died of cancer at age 5, and one was stolen. The anger I felt as a child when one of our Schnauzers was stolen out of my mother’s car in 1966 has strangely resurfaced this week, when I again lost a dog for no good reason.
When people asked me at dog club today what my dog died of, my only accurate answer was “stupidity”. Why are terriers born with the biggest Napoleon complexes in the world? How on God’s green earth does a 19 lb pound dog think he can challenge, bite and win against 2 Shepherds with a combined weight of 175 lbs? It’s senseless and stupid, and yet so very typical. We all LOVE our terriers for their swanky attitude and fearless zest for life.
My little guy was no different, except that maybe he was skewed a little too far to the left of normal. He had barrier frustration issues. He flunked his anger management class. When he became aggravated behind a fence, he would lash out at those near him… first in dirty dog language, and then with his teeth. He lost his first puppyhood home because of this… when he decided to chew up and throw his older 18 lb sibling through the air in frustration. So, he came next door to live with me, where my 100 lb male German Shepherd kept him in line for 2 years. Boys will be boys, or so they say.
Enter the female. The female herding breed is so much sharper than the male… still affectionate and loving, but very unlike the softer “Mama’s boy” type. The female is quicker and stricter; born that way to tolerate and teach youngsters how to live in the world, I guess.
Let us return to the circumstances of this past week. Although I was less than 50 yards away, it was my physical position on the OTHER side of the fence that caused the frustration. (Try living with that guilt for the rest of your life.) I certainly know who started it, but I don’t really know who finished it. Unfortunately, I think it was a team effort. In the blink of an eye, the damage was done. Lesson learned, the hard way.
So my classic little Wrangler-Man is gone. What a clown he was. As a puppy, he coveted my red velour robe in a carnal way…. That memory still makes me laugh out loud. He was a strikingly handsome dog, with a very polite nature…. even when he shouldn’t have been. During terrier racing, he would pull up short and let the other dogs pass him into the shoot first… almost as if he was saying “After you!” Yet he was hardheaded and stubborn. He was a cat killer. He was also the ONLY dog I own that actually bit someone through the fence. (The lawn mower guy thought he was SO cute barking at him that he stuck his finger in the fence to pet him… CHOMP!)
He loved to run and swim and retrieve his tennis ball. He would bark himself horse in excitement over bite work and loved the burlap rag or jute tug. He truly wasn’t very bright, and sometimes you could almost hear the echo in his brain as he tried to perform a simple task… but somehow that made him more lovable.
Unfortunately, that lack of sense and smarts probably did him in.
So he is now in a better place they say, chasing field mice and bunny rabbits through that big meadow in the sky. He is romping with all my dogs that predeceased him… my German Shepherds Nitti, Oliver, Fala, Britta & Rudy, my Miniature Schnauzers Little Bits & Cindy, my Yorkshire Terrier Scampi and… Oh, NO! My cats!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Wrangler” with his grandson “Spalding”
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