The best dog ever

In year 2 of vet school, I spent months to almost a year looking for a dog. I visited several shelters over and over. I met a sweet black wire haired terrier mix, but she submissive urinated and I wasn’t sure if that was going to be trained out of her or not. I finally stumbled upon a craigslist post about a dog who was going to be euthanized at the Rosenberg shelter, went to visit her, and picked her up the same day.

The shelter was dirty. Covered kennels that were partially open to the outdoors, concrete floors, about 3-4 per side (small). The animal control officer let us take her for $8 (this was back in 2008), unspayed, and we went straight to the vet and had her spayed. I brought her home, picked fleas off of her, then she slowly walked (due to the anesthesia) to the garage before releasing her bowels. I never had to potty train her; she knew to go outside already. She was around 6-8 months of age. She had a minor case of ringworm but this cleared up quickly.

She was wild. Sweet, hyper, full of energy, chewed everything, destroyed many things: a favorite rug, any toys with fabric, nylabones lasted the longest but I still threw many away after they became a hazard for ingestion. She had a large kennel in my bedroom that she hated, and since she was potty trained, I never kennel trained her (something I’d come to regret later).

In College Station, I signed her up for training class. I got a long leash and I’d let her run at the park as I ran. She was fast–always faster than me, and I had to make sure to leash her because she loved to run. I’d take her to school and we’d practice procedures on her: how to perform a physical exam, how to draw blood, she was a demo dog for an echocardiogram once. She pooped inside the vet school–in retrospect I realize she was probably nervous.

We took her to Austin when we attended my cousin’s wedding. We stayed at a pet friendly hotel, and I learned she has some separation anxiety as she tore up and dug at the carpet at the door of the hotel. Somehow my dad trimmed the threads back and although we were honest and told the hotel staff we’d pay for whatever damages they’d charge, they never did. I took her to Dallas–aloft hotel–for a conference I attended alone; she protected me outside downtown. I took her running at Memorial Park around dusk and she lunged at a strange man who was trying to get my number but was getting way too close. She’s also lunged at children (oops, my fault for never socializing her with kids).

It took around 3-4 years for her to calm down and not be as hyper. She’s met all of my exes and my current partner. She loves people (adults). She used to be able to sit, lie down, roll over, “bang” (play dead), shake (either hand), beg, fetch, and come. I did not do a good job leash training her so she always pulled, but she did love to walk. She was attacked by a dog at a dog park once, but fortunately did not have any major injuries. We learned the hard way not to visit dog parks anymore; we just walked around them, or at regular parks, on leash.

When she was younger she threw up a lot–this ended up being bilious vomiting, and though I had her worked up at the vet school, I stopped short of having endoscopy performed on her, and over time the vomiting lessened. Other than this she was almost always healthy. She did have some cervical neck pain that would recur later in life, and pancreatitis after age 10. For the last few years, she gradually lost hearing and vision, though if you yelled loudly she did seem to respond to this.

When I’d pick her up after work from my parents, she always recognized me (when she got close enough) and got excited, and always followed (though she started walking in circles and could never stop pacing). She was hard to give medication, very picky, and her treat options were limited due to the pancreatitis. Despite all of this difficulty, she was still the best dog I’ll ever have had. She loved me unconditionally. She was the dog I had always wanted–she was my heart dog.

♥ 2008-2023