|
|
Joined: November 2011 Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | I hoe you'll indulge me this little story that has nothing to do with guitars. It's all I can think about right now. My oldest son has a very beautiful rottweiler/shepherd mix dog named Maverick. He is by far the most intelligent animal I've ever encountered in my life. He could be half starved and if my son filled his bowl and told him to "sit, stay", a half hour later he would still be patiently sitting and waiting for the ok to eat. He could do every trick any dog was ever trained to do. My son's house never needed a burglar alarm. MavDog's bark had the same ferocity and volume as a lion roaring, the windows would rattle. I was particularly impressed that it took my son less than 3 days to train Mav to retrieve a beer from the refrigerator for him. He tied a dish towel to the door Mav would pull on to open it. grab a long neck bottle sitting in the bottom of the fridge, and use his head to bump the door closed. He would come running with his tail wagging and deposit the bottle in my son's lap. I asked my son what was to stop him from raiding leftovers and he said Mav had never done it.
Mav weighed in at 120 pounds, a big boy. Many pictures exist of several family members who sat on the couch only to have Mav jump up and lay across their lap. He was FAR from a lapdog but he never knew it. My son had a bubble machine and Mav would chase bubbles in the yard relentlessly until he had completely exhausted himself. You could drive him berserk with a laser pointer on the floor and up the walls. He'd almost pull your arm out of the socket if you gave in to his demands to play tug of war with his length of nylon ropes.
Recently, at ten years of age (which is around the high end for very large dogs), Mav stopped eating and would whine a lot. Within a month a very large bump appeared on his right hip. The heartbreaking diagnosis was he had very aggressive bone cancer. He was deemed too old to adapt to the amputation of his leg. He was prescribed heavy duty narcotic pain relief which kept him constipated like it does in humans. My son said when it got to the point Mav no longer got up to enthusiastically greet him when he got home from work he would know his time was up. Last weekend my son, who is an expert beef brisket smoker, prepared a big BBQ for the entire family where everyone was encouraged to Let Mav finally have their table scraps he had been denied his whole life. I wish I had the pic of his basketball size head laying on the counter, eyeing the sliced up platter of meat. It's hilarious. We all got to feed him from the table and he finally had a voracious appetite. He was very careful not to bite anyone's fingers.
This week Mav stopped getting up off his mat to greet my son at the door. His breathing became labored. At 9 o'clock this morning my son and his wife will have him at the vet to be relieved of his suffering. I don't mind admitting I'm crying now as I type this. I offered to go take care of this for my son. I recall two dogs we had when my son was growing up he dearly loved that had to eventually be put down. My son wasn't able to make himself go with me for it. I'm immensely proud of him for being able to do this with a dog who is genuinely loved as a true member of our extended family. I'm heartbroken picturing my hulking, 6'-3" son I know will be crying his eyes out soon as he watches his beloved friend depart this life. They intend to have him cremated and bury him in their yard. This is a very difficult day for all of us. Visiting my son again will be hard without Mav there to greet us. He loved coming to our house in the country to visit with my neighbor's horses at my back fence, some of the very few animals he ever encountered that were bigger than him. When 9am gets here our whole family is going to be a mess!I apologize for the minutes of your life you'll never get back by reading this. It's just that Mav was the most almost human creature who ever came into our lives. |
|
|
|
Joined: February 2016 Posts: 1768
Location: When?? | Well that sucks. Condolences to all. I thought sure you were going to tell us that Mav played the guitar. |
|
|
|
Joined: November 2011 Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | Love O Fair - 2019-03-26 9:28 AM
Well that sucks. Condolences to all. I thought sure you were going to tell us that Mav played the guitar.
I'm certain my son could have taught him to strum an open tuning. |
|
|
|
Joined: April 2008 Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | It's just like losing a member of the family - except it's the member everyone likes. |
|
|
|
Joined: December 2017 Posts: 96
Location: Gardnerville, NV | I apologize for the minutes of your life you'll never get back by reading this. It's just that Mav was the most almost human creature who ever came into our lives. No need to apologize and many condolences. I don't know where dogs go when they die, but when I die; I want to go where they are. |
|
|
|
Joined: January 2019 Posts: 15
Location: West Australia |
Thank you for sharing your post .... it highlights that we have more in common than this site would suggest
Condolences to your family and everyone who knew Mav
Baggy
|
|
|
|
Joined: January 2009 Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | TAFKAR - 2019-03-26 11:44 PM
It's just like losing a member of the family - except it's the member everyone likes.
Boy, is THAT the truth... |
|
|
|
Joined: January 2009 Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | DaveKell - 2019-03-25 9:08 AM
It's just that Mav was the most almost human creature who ever came into our lives.
Who says THAT'S a positive? I love my dog cos she's NOT a human. |
|
|
|
Joined: February 2016 Posts: 1768
Location: When?? | My first girlfriend was human.. but, then again, she was a dog. |
|
|
|
Joined: April 2019 Posts: 16
Location: Texas | I had a friend with a shepherd rottweiler mix. He was a very beautiful animal with a piercing stare from intelligent looking eyes. He was never trained as you say Mav was. I do recall the vibrational intensity of his bark. It seemed to me this combination of dog species would make a great new breed. Cancer in dogs is becoming more common for some reason. I heard of someone paying over two grand for an artificial hip joint/femur bone implant to fix a dog with bone cancer. Sure sounds like Mav was well loved. Sincerest condolences on the loss.
Edited by Ellem Ennopee 2019-04-07 5:24 AM
|
|
|