A sad day

It is a sad thing indeed to see a pet go. Whether they leave due to death, or because you are moving to a home that does not accept dogs, or because you can no longer care for the dog. Whatever the reason, it is a sad day indeed.

Two weeks ago, our boxer, Daisy, attacked our other dog Brisco. The two have been living fine side-by-side for years, and often played together. But this was no game. Nor was it some attempt by Daisy to seek dominance over Brisco. Daisy tried to kill Brisco. If we had not interviened he would not have lived. What had caused this? Well, we had assumed that Daisy retaliated when Brisco stole her treat (she was playing with it instead of eating it). We seperated them for the rest of the day, but later that evening they played together as if nothing had gone wrong.

A week or so later, Daisy attacked Brisco again, this time it happened when Dad had come home, and both dogs went for the same window to watch - and somehow that spawned a fight. It happened twice in that one day, and we feared we would have to give Daisy up.

Dad had a thought however. He had noticed that Daisy had a bit of an ear infection - and she he proposed taking her to the vet. Perhaps she was in pain from the infection, and that was causing the trouble and making her snappy. The vet confirmed she had an ear infection and gave her medication. We needed to apply it for two weeks.

In the past week Daisy has attacked Brisco two more times, both with the intent to kill, and has even drawn blood on a couple of the occasions. Brisco is now terrified of Daisy and sleeps in my room while Daisy is locked in mom and dads bedroom at night. We keep them seperated, and mom has started taking Brisco in to work.

But yesterday, when Dad and I came back from the grocery store, Daisy attacked Brisco once more. She got her teeth stuck in his collar, and bloodied her own mouth a bit before we were able to pull them apart. Last night, while I was with Joe at the movies, mom and dad decided that Daisy has to go.

The reasoning is simple.

1. Brisco is terrified of Daisy, and growls and snaps at her if she gets too close. Even if this is a medical problem and will go away when she is no longer in pain of the ear infection, he is terrified of her, and that may never be fixed.

2. This is how she reacts to pain. If she should get another infection, or anything else - this is how we would know about it. We would come home to find Brisco - or one of the cats - dead.

3. There is also the chance that if she somehow gets sick or in pain, she could just as easily turn on any of us.

So, the deicion was made to take Daisy to the Animal Refuge League. They will take her, continue to fix up her ear infection, and give her some behavioral tests. It could be that they will discover she is just fine to be adopted to a home without other animals, and probably not small children. Boxers are a popular breed, and they should have no trouble finding a single person or a couple, or a family with older children in which to place her, that has no other animals.

I do not think that they will need to euthenize her. I do not think she will try to attack adults. At least I hope she wouldn't. She is showing no aggression at all towards us, or towards the cats that we have noticed (Though Anubis is keeping his distance from her lately for some reason. The two used to play together a lot).

I am sad to see Daisy go... but I know both Mom and Dad are taking it harder then me. Mom doesn't like giving up any animal. And Dad always favored pure-bred boxer Daisy over mutt Brisco. I think he is having the harder time. I think he would much rather give up Brisco and keep Daisy. But because of the cats, and the fact that Granny isn't comfortable around Daisy - thats not an option. Besides, he also realizes that Daisy as a pure bred boxer will have a much easier time being adopted then Brisco, who is getting old, and isn't very playful.

Mom and Dad have both decided that this is it for dogs. They will keep Brisco, but once he is gone, they won't be getting anymore dogs. I think that is probably a good idea. Mom loves dogs, but Granny is constantly complaining about the barking and so forth. And mom and dad have become increasingly busy with yard work and projects fixing up the house, and they just don't really have the time and money for more dogs.

They did say, however, that if I am still here after Brisco is gone - which I doubt I will be - I am more then welcome to get a small dog.

I someday want a dog of my own of course - but that probably won't come until I have my own place. Which hopefully with be sometime between now and 2012. When I do have my own place, I already know which kind of dog I want. Though our German Shepard, Tye, was the best dog we every had, and the entire family's favorite by far, the dog I remember enjoying most was Oliver - one of our two cocker spanies. He was a chocolate colored spaniel, an American cocker spaniel (as apposed to an English cocker spaniel) and he was my dog. My name was on his paperwork and everything. He followed me around, slept in my bed, and sat and howled at the door when I left for school in the morning, and was sitting right by the door when I got home.

I remember keenly the time one of my mom's old professors, who I grew up calling "Uncle John" came over. Oliver had never met him before. But I invited Uncle John in, made him some coffee, and we sat in the livingroom talking until Mom got home from work. Oliver spent the entire time in my lap, glaring over at John as if to say "Make one move buddy, and I am going for the ankles..." lol.

At any rate, I would want to get a little cocker spaniel puppy, and I would take it with me everywhere. Hiking, and for walks, and maybe even get it to climb into a canoe or kayak with me :) That would be fun.

But, future plans and dreams aside... we will be taking Daisy to the ARL in 15-20 minutes... I am going with Dad because I don't think he would like to go alone. I think he is taking this harder then anyone else.