Post by trina b on Apr 8, 2015 16:26:43 GMT -5
We got Macy, a German Shepherd mix, when she was 10 months old and completely untrained. That was in March of '02. She was energetic, a puppy in a dog's body. She didn't even know her name. Which made giving her a new name easy, I suppose. She had been bought by a truck driver as a companion when she was tiny, and she traveled with him eating cheese burgers until she was around 6 or 7 months old, when he apparently realized that that was not the life she needed. He gave her to the waitress at our local Pizza Hut to find her a home. The waitress was a single mom with 2 young kids, one a crawler/toddler, as I remember. This lady did her best to take care of the puppy, but had no time and no idea how to train a puppy AT ALL. (The only thing Macy had learned was that she could out-run people, and that doing so was a fun game...)
Our 2nd oldest, who was 10 at the time, had convinced us that he was ready to take care of a dog of his own. (We already had 2 dogs...) We found Macy listed in the paper for $20 as a purebred German Shepherd, and had the lady bring her over for a "meet the family/other dogs". I could see the potential in her immediately. She was good and patient with all the kids (6 of them, ages 1-11), didn't try to hurt the cats, and didn't fight with the dogs. I just knew she would be a great dog, after she had some training & time spent with her. The lady let our son have her for $10. She said the original price was just to weed out the riff-raff, and insure the dog got a good home. Against DH's better judgement, we kept her.
From the beginning, she was head-strong, and would do whatever she could get away with: take food (gently) from kids' hands; take food off the table and counters; chew on the blinds; and her favorite, knock people over to get out the door to RUN! We even came home from church to find her asleep on the kitchen table! One Sunday, she had torn up part of the kitchen carpet trying to get an apple out from under the dishwasher--she had gotten the apple out of the basket on the counter. We live on a country road, so not a lot of traffic, but the cars that do go by, very rarely go the posted 35mph speed limit--usually they're going 45-60....and our driveway is at the top of a small rise. Whenever Macy got out, she made a bee-line down the driveway & across the street into the field, which is apx 1/4 mile across, and 3X as long. I was afraid she was going to get hit by a car, like 2 neighbor dogs had. The ONLY way to catch her was with a dog cookie. Otherwise, it was the "you-can't-catch-me" game---man, do I HATE that game!!!
Every time we left, she got into/destroyed something. I don't know how much margarine we went through, because she kept taking the tub off the counter, eating the margarine, and leaving the tub in thousands of chewed up pieces all over the house...
We could not leave her outside in the dog kennel, she climbed the fence. So, for the first couple weeks, I took her and our other female dog, Sophie, with me in the cargo area of my van. Macy and Sophie quickly became inseparable. Finally, we got a tie-out cable, about 10 ft long if I remember correctly. Macy had it attached to her collar 24/7 for months. No, we didn't tie her outside, we actually tied her to a table leg in our family room, as she couldn't budge the table across the carpet. No more kids doing backflips over her back as she ran "under" them to get out the door! And, now I could easily catch her when she got across the road. It sounds mean, but when I stepped on that cable & caught her, I proceeded to spank her with it! It didn't cause any injury, she has a long thick coat, but it DID get the point across to her--after the second time doing that, she came to me when I called her, ESPECIALLY if I was mad! I NEVER spank a dog that willingly comes to me, and she knew that.
The older kids liked taking Macy out to play, and having her drag them all over the yard by that cable--lol, til they got hurt... And they taught her some tricks, like jumping to take the bone out of their hands. They would stand on the top of the little tykes slide in the family room and have Macy sit. Then they would hold the bone up high, and tell her to "get it!", and she would jump up and carefully take it out of their hands. She ALWAYS aimed for the end of the bone farthest from their little fingers! Or we would hold a dog cookie in our fist & have her sit and "smell it", then tell her to "stay" while we hid it in the other room. (Never in a place she wasn't allowed to take things from, like on top of the coffee table) Then we told her to "find it!", and she learned to use her nose to find the hidden cookie.
Macy always acted like the "dominant" female (neither one challenged Max as the alpha, ever), she would posture over Sophie's back, etc until I made her stop. Sophie never cared about dominance. If Sophie got hurt & yelped (she was the biggest wimpy baby EVER--she would yelp if she even THOUGHT you were going to step on her, she tried to climb in my lap if there was a thunder storm...), Macy was right there checking on her and posturing. They only ever got in one fight, in the house of course, with kids all around-- I kicked them right between their faces and yelled (like only a Mom can). That stopped it in it's tracks & they never did it again. Those two would wrestle by the hour. Macy loved dragging Sophie around by her collar to get her to play, and she would be very persistent, until Sophie gave in and would wrestle. But when she was done, she was done! If Macy kept dragging her, Sophie would flatten Macy--she had her flipped on her back and her mouth on Macy's throat with lightening speed, then just walked away... So I always wondered, who was REALLY the dominant female?
Sophie was two years older than Macy. When she was around 5, Sophie started to have seizures. Not often enough to justify the cost & side effects of medication, but often enough. And being spayed, she started having a little bit of a weight problem. So, we put her and Max on diet dog food, at our vet's suggestion. Macy stopped eating. Macy was young, energetic, and at a healthy, trim weight. But she would NOT eat, if she didn't get the same food as the others. She would be so hungry that she'd throw up stomach acid on the kitchen floor, but she refused to eat her food right beside her. Odd dog! Obviously we switched her food, too. Not the best for her, but better than starving herself to death!
We started finding pee spots on the family room carpet on random mornings. Now with small dogs, you get a puddle--with 50+lb dogs, you get a lake.... Macy always acted guilty, so the assumption was that it was her. Sophie had been potty trained for 2&1/2 years, and Max slept in our room. When Sophie was 7, and Macy was 5, (2 years of random lakes in the house...) Sophie died suddenly of kidney failure. Looking back, there were warning signs, including the family room pee spots, but as each one happened it seemed isolated. The neighbor vet said it was most likely due to the diet dog food being too much protein for her liver on top of the seizure disorder. We were all devastated! There was never a sweeter dog than Sophie Mae. She was the one who would not leave the side of a sick child until he or she got better. And to make it worse, I had taken the kids on a week long visit to my sister's 6 hours away, and she died the day we left. My poor DH came home from work to a dead dog he had to bury himself. ;,( Macy was super depressed! She barely ate for weeks, and was almost listless. I honestly don't think she ever fully recovered, part of her died with Sophie.
When she was 7, we had to put Max down. He had just turned 15. He had developed arthritis in his hips as a puppy, and by this time he couldn't even get himself up from lying down anymore. He was just too stiff, it hurt too much, and he didn't have the strength. Then he developed emphysema. His last week, we had to literally pick him up & carry his awkward 70lbs out to pee, and hold him up while he did so. I am convinced the only thing that kept him alive that long was his stubbornness (he was 1/2 lab, mixed with shepherd & rottie). Even though Macy didn't really even acknowledge him most of the time, she got depressed again when Max was gone. She recovered with a lot of love and attention, but again, part of her was missing.
Since we were down to one dog, we took her places. Sometimes to the park, sometimes out on the boat at the lake (she didn't like this as well, though, lol), sometimes to play on the beach at the lake--but always on the leash. I never could fully trust her to listen & obey well when away from home.
When DS #2 found a dog at a Maverik store a few years later, he kept her, with the understanding that he'd take pay for her food/care & take her with him when he moved out the next summer. He named her Maverik, or "Mavvy". She was similar in coloring and size to Sophie, and Macy attached to her immediately! She about drove poor Mavvy crazy sometimes, and we are certain that at the very least, Mavvy reminds Macy of Sophie. Some of the kids still think that Macy thinks Mavvy IS Sophie...
Well, Macy is 14 this spring. She lays around, and has been confined to the kitchen since fall, because she has accidents frequently, and targets the new carpet in the family room... Most dogs go to the door if they have to go, and have accidents there if no one lets them out--not Macy. She will LEAVE the door, and go to the family room to go... So, the kitchen is blocked off for her. She is still where people are most of the time, and since that's the door most often used, she can greet those who come & go.
Unfortunately, she has gone downhill recently. Her food is mostly white rice, because dog food-and everything else- gives her diarrhea. (We have tried different dog food with the same result.) She has about 1/3 serving of dog food, and a bunch of rice, so at least she's not constantly hungry, but she has lost weight. She no longer tries to "tell" anyone (even if we are right by her), she just wobbles over as close to the family room as she can get & poops/pees on the floor. We wake up to messes every morning now, plus at least 2 more during the day, sometimes 5-10 minutes after coming in from going potty. She doesn't even enjoy being outside anymore. She used to really like wandering the yard sniffing around (apx 1 acre yard, including the house, driveway, etc), and now she just wants to come back in & lay on her blanket. This can't go on. I feel terrible, but I called our neighbor vet today, and he is coming Friday to put her down. The boys & I will be digging a hole at the bottom of the pasture over the next couple days. This decision is so hard. I feel like we shouldn't give up on her, but she has no life, and is causing stress with all of the messes. Not to mention the potential damage from her urine sitting on the floor in a puddle against the baseboards....in a kitchen that we just remodeled 4 years ago... And we can't be gone more than a couple of hours at a time... I am sad. We have had her as a part of our family for 13 years. I also know we will all be relieved afterwards, even though we will be sad and will miss her.
Thanks for reading all this, I just needed to tell her story. She won't be forgotten.
Our 2nd oldest, who was 10 at the time, had convinced us that he was ready to take care of a dog of his own. (We already had 2 dogs...) We found Macy listed in the paper for $20 as a purebred German Shepherd, and had the lady bring her over for a "meet the family/other dogs". I could see the potential in her immediately. She was good and patient with all the kids (6 of them, ages 1-11), didn't try to hurt the cats, and didn't fight with the dogs. I just knew she would be a great dog, after she had some training & time spent with her. The lady let our son have her for $10. She said the original price was just to weed out the riff-raff, and insure the dog got a good home. Against DH's better judgement, we kept her.
From the beginning, she was head-strong, and would do whatever she could get away with: take food (gently) from kids' hands; take food off the table and counters; chew on the blinds; and her favorite, knock people over to get out the door to RUN! We even came home from church to find her asleep on the kitchen table! One Sunday, she had torn up part of the kitchen carpet trying to get an apple out from under the dishwasher--she had gotten the apple out of the basket on the counter. We live on a country road, so not a lot of traffic, but the cars that do go by, very rarely go the posted 35mph speed limit--usually they're going 45-60....and our driveway is at the top of a small rise. Whenever Macy got out, she made a bee-line down the driveway & across the street into the field, which is apx 1/4 mile across, and 3X as long. I was afraid she was going to get hit by a car, like 2 neighbor dogs had. The ONLY way to catch her was with a dog cookie. Otherwise, it was the "you-can't-catch-me" game---man, do I HATE that game!!!
Every time we left, she got into/destroyed something. I don't know how much margarine we went through, because she kept taking the tub off the counter, eating the margarine, and leaving the tub in thousands of chewed up pieces all over the house...
We could not leave her outside in the dog kennel, she climbed the fence. So, for the first couple weeks, I took her and our other female dog, Sophie, with me in the cargo area of my van. Macy and Sophie quickly became inseparable. Finally, we got a tie-out cable, about 10 ft long if I remember correctly. Macy had it attached to her collar 24/7 for months. No, we didn't tie her outside, we actually tied her to a table leg in our family room, as she couldn't budge the table across the carpet. No more kids doing backflips over her back as she ran "under" them to get out the door! And, now I could easily catch her when she got across the road. It sounds mean, but when I stepped on that cable & caught her, I proceeded to spank her with it! It didn't cause any injury, she has a long thick coat, but it DID get the point across to her--after the second time doing that, she came to me when I called her, ESPECIALLY if I was mad! I NEVER spank a dog that willingly comes to me, and she knew that.
The older kids liked taking Macy out to play, and having her drag them all over the yard by that cable--lol, til they got hurt... And they taught her some tricks, like jumping to take the bone out of their hands. They would stand on the top of the little tykes slide in the family room and have Macy sit. Then they would hold the bone up high, and tell her to "get it!", and she would jump up and carefully take it out of their hands. She ALWAYS aimed for the end of the bone farthest from their little fingers! Or we would hold a dog cookie in our fist & have her sit and "smell it", then tell her to "stay" while we hid it in the other room. (Never in a place she wasn't allowed to take things from, like on top of the coffee table) Then we told her to "find it!", and she learned to use her nose to find the hidden cookie.
Macy always acted like the "dominant" female (neither one challenged Max as the alpha, ever), she would posture over Sophie's back, etc until I made her stop. Sophie never cared about dominance. If Sophie got hurt & yelped (she was the biggest wimpy baby EVER--she would yelp if she even THOUGHT you were going to step on her, she tried to climb in my lap if there was a thunder storm...), Macy was right there checking on her and posturing. They only ever got in one fight, in the house of course, with kids all around-- I kicked them right between their faces and yelled (like only a Mom can). That stopped it in it's tracks & they never did it again. Those two would wrestle by the hour. Macy loved dragging Sophie around by her collar to get her to play, and she would be very persistent, until Sophie gave in and would wrestle. But when she was done, she was done! If Macy kept dragging her, Sophie would flatten Macy--she had her flipped on her back and her mouth on Macy's throat with lightening speed, then just walked away... So I always wondered, who was REALLY the dominant female?
Sophie was two years older than Macy. When she was around 5, Sophie started to have seizures. Not often enough to justify the cost & side effects of medication, but often enough. And being spayed, she started having a little bit of a weight problem. So, we put her and Max on diet dog food, at our vet's suggestion. Macy stopped eating. Macy was young, energetic, and at a healthy, trim weight. But she would NOT eat, if she didn't get the same food as the others. She would be so hungry that she'd throw up stomach acid on the kitchen floor, but she refused to eat her food right beside her. Odd dog! Obviously we switched her food, too. Not the best for her, but better than starving herself to death!
We started finding pee spots on the family room carpet on random mornings. Now with small dogs, you get a puddle--with 50+lb dogs, you get a lake.... Macy always acted guilty, so the assumption was that it was her. Sophie had been potty trained for 2&1/2 years, and Max slept in our room. When Sophie was 7, and Macy was 5, (2 years of random lakes in the house...) Sophie died suddenly of kidney failure. Looking back, there were warning signs, including the family room pee spots, but as each one happened it seemed isolated. The neighbor vet said it was most likely due to the diet dog food being too much protein for her liver on top of the seizure disorder. We were all devastated! There was never a sweeter dog than Sophie Mae. She was the one who would not leave the side of a sick child until he or she got better. And to make it worse, I had taken the kids on a week long visit to my sister's 6 hours away, and she died the day we left. My poor DH came home from work to a dead dog he had to bury himself. ;,( Macy was super depressed! She barely ate for weeks, and was almost listless. I honestly don't think she ever fully recovered, part of her died with Sophie.
When she was 7, we had to put Max down. He had just turned 15. He had developed arthritis in his hips as a puppy, and by this time he couldn't even get himself up from lying down anymore. He was just too stiff, it hurt too much, and he didn't have the strength. Then he developed emphysema. His last week, we had to literally pick him up & carry his awkward 70lbs out to pee, and hold him up while he did so. I am convinced the only thing that kept him alive that long was his stubbornness (he was 1/2 lab, mixed with shepherd & rottie). Even though Macy didn't really even acknowledge him most of the time, she got depressed again when Max was gone. She recovered with a lot of love and attention, but again, part of her was missing.
Since we were down to one dog, we took her places. Sometimes to the park, sometimes out on the boat at the lake (she didn't like this as well, though, lol), sometimes to play on the beach at the lake--but always on the leash. I never could fully trust her to listen & obey well when away from home.
When DS #2 found a dog at a Maverik store a few years later, he kept her, with the understanding that he'd take pay for her food/care & take her with him when he moved out the next summer. He named her Maverik, or "Mavvy". She was similar in coloring and size to Sophie, and Macy attached to her immediately! She about drove poor Mavvy crazy sometimes, and we are certain that at the very least, Mavvy reminds Macy of Sophie. Some of the kids still think that Macy thinks Mavvy IS Sophie...
Well, Macy is 14 this spring. She lays around, and has been confined to the kitchen since fall, because she has accidents frequently, and targets the new carpet in the family room... Most dogs go to the door if they have to go, and have accidents there if no one lets them out--not Macy. She will LEAVE the door, and go to the family room to go... So, the kitchen is blocked off for her. She is still where people are most of the time, and since that's the door most often used, she can greet those who come & go.
Unfortunately, she has gone downhill recently. Her food is mostly white rice, because dog food-and everything else- gives her diarrhea. (We have tried different dog food with the same result.) She has about 1/3 serving of dog food, and a bunch of rice, so at least she's not constantly hungry, but she has lost weight. She no longer tries to "tell" anyone (even if we are right by her), she just wobbles over as close to the family room as she can get & poops/pees on the floor. We wake up to messes every morning now, plus at least 2 more during the day, sometimes 5-10 minutes after coming in from going potty. She doesn't even enjoy being outside anymore. She used to really like wandering the yard sniffing around (apx 1 acre yard, including the house, driveway, etc), and now she just wants to come back in & lay on her blanket. This can't go on. I feel terrible, but I called our neighbor vet today, and he is coming Friday to put her down. The boys & I will be digging a hole at the bottom of the pasture over the next couple days. This decision is so hard. I feel like we shouldn't give up on her, but she has no life, and is causing stress with all of the messes. Not to mention the potential damage from her urine sitting on the floor in a puddle against the baseboards....in a kitchen that we just remodeled 4 years ago... And we can't be gone more than a couple of hours at a time... I am sad. We have had her as a part of our family for 13 years. I also know we will all be relieved afterwards, even though we will be sad and will miss her.
Thanks for reading all this, I just needed to tell her story. She won't be forgotten.