Tributes

The following stories are about animals that hold a special place in our hearts.  Everyone has stories and I guess Mike and I have more because we’ve been blessed to have so many that were so special.  Please join us in reading their stories and remembering them.  (Warning: Have a box of tissues handy…this is not for the faint of heart!)

Fern

I left for college in ’97 and up until that point had had dogs around me since I was born.  So, going away and not having a little furry four-legged bundle of joy to be waiting at home for me was awful lonely.  But as we all know, in college you have no money to get basic food items, much less take proper care of an animal.  So I waited until Logan (see his cute little Sheltie page here).  But the first dog I wanted to take home after leaving for college was Fern.  She was a beautiful dog, part Rottweiler, part whatever else, that was at the local Petsmart one Saturday.  She was cute, still a puppy at 6 months old, smart and oh-so-loveable.  The man who kindly took her to the volunteer organization named her Fern, because she was found continually laying in his fern bed…and thus killing them!!  At least he had a sense of humor!  They offered me a leash (the old hook em and bait em) and I took her out of her kennel around the store…she walked beautifully and even learned how to shake hands in 10 mins.  But as I thought about it more and more, the more I knew I couldn’t have her.  My roommate at the time disliked dogs (she’s a cat lover) and my boyfriend at the time absolutely would not let the dog come with me out to visit him for the weekends and I didn’t want to leave her two days alone with someone who disliked dogs.  So I gave the nice volunteers back her leash and cried and cried as I said goodbye to Fern.  I rubbed her belly, scratched behind her ears and kissed her nose.  She hadn’t even made a peep the entire time she was at Petsmart or while I had her, but as I walked away sobbing, she barked and barked for me to come back.  It still gets me…it was like a child crying, “Mommy, Mommy, please come back!”   It was one of those few moments in a lifetime, that you look back on and realize that fate was so strong in that moment…that instantaneous bond between two living beings.  To this day, I try to avoid Petsmart and Petco on Saturdays when I know there are adoptions taking place.  Too much heartache for me.  I hope and pray she found a home with someone who loved her as much as I did in 30 minutes.

Lucky   

Lucky was Mike’s dog.  A cute little Lab or Golden mix, that Mike found wandering a mile or so from the farm house when Lucky was only 3-4 months old.  Thus the name Lucky, as in he was lucky Mike found him.  Mike took a particular liking to Lucky (and you can see why…wasn’t he cute?).  Now since Mike lived on a farm (at that time in Ohio), stray dogs were bound to show up and Mike attracts stray animals like there’s no tomorrow!  But he takes care of and fends for all of them.  However, those days for Mike were not particularly happy.  His former stepdad…well there are not words to describe the man…and most of them cannot be printed here .  Let’s just say that he was a hard, unforgiving, lazy and VERY controlling man.  He got a wild hair one evening and decided that the farm had too many dogs.  He picked Mike’s favorite, of course, and told Mike (at the tender age of 12) that if Mike didn’t get rid of the dog, he would.  The rest of Lucky’s story too sad and heartbreaking to tell, just know that he was loved until his last moments on this earth.  Lucky still holds a very special place in Mike’s heart.  And so do I…for Mike and for Lucky who

never got the chance at a long full life because of evil men in this world.  Mike hopes to see Lucky on the other side of Rainbow Bridge with a wagging tail and a smile.

Magnum

Oh there are not enough words to describe this dog.  My mom and I picked him up from an ad in the newspaper that advertised ¾ Lab, ¼ Blue Heeler.  (We found out later as he grew…he was ½ Black Lab and ½ Black Chow).  For $20 bucks he was ours and I think it was the best money ever spent.  He was SMART.  And I mean smart in the way that you didn’t teach him things, he learned them on his own.  There are so many stories: one about the tongues of shoes, which he loved to chew, the one about my brothers and I playing Darth Vader with a blanket wrapped around us while he was tugging at the corners.  There was also the fact that the standard rule in my parents house was “No dogs on the furniture!”  My parents didn’t know that he had been up on the furniture

all his life with us kids…he just knew not to be there when they were home.  Boy were they shocked!  :-D  He LOVED ice cream and pistachios and would do almost anything for them.  He knew all sorts of tricks, was a snuggle bear and trusted us with anything…even putting hydrogen peroxide on his hot spots (we blew at them though!).  The only fault poor Magnum had was allergies…he was allergic to fleas (and we think the grass!) and would lose his hair, get hot spots and just be miserable.  He also had more ear infections than ANY dog I’ve ever known.  He passed away at the tender age of eight, eaten up with Lymphoma cancer, of which we knew nothing about.  It took him so suddenly, we were all in shock.  His ashes rest at my parents house.  Rest well Mag, my friend, til we meet again.

Snoopy

Oh my goodness, what a cute little Shetland pony.  Snoopy was Mike’s constant companion as a child and boy, did he love that horse.  He was riding that little guy when he was 18 months old!!  They had an awful good time together, wherever they traveled even after Mike got too big to ride.  Snoopy would let Mike lead him ANYWHERE!  And Mike was the only person that pony wasn’t crabby to.  However, Mike’s parents went through a divorce, and Mike went with his mom to Ohio and Snoopy stayed here with his dad in Texas.  Snoopy disappeared one night a few years later when Mike was about 13 and although police reports were filed, Snoopy never made it back home.  Mike’s first horsey, may they find each other again, somewhere over the rainbow.

BJ Prima Vera

	I had always wanted a horse since I was a little girl in blue jeans and snakeskin gray boots.  The hunger was so bad that, once, after stopping to feed the horses some grass, I cried and cried and cried and couldn’t understand why we couldn’t take the horse with us…in the Volkswagen Beetle my aunt was driving.  My family still laughs about that one.  But the first horse that was really mine was Vera.  And oh my what a gorgeous Strawberry Roan Arabian she was.  She IS the horse love of my life!!!.  Mike gave her as a gift to me…an engagement present.  She was the best.  Comical, independent and stubborn, just like her mom! (See Prima here).  She had the most beautiful mane and tail, with no work.  Thick, long and just gorgeous.  She was a pasture horse and yet her tail still grew to the ground.  Although this did cause problems when she decided she wanted to go roll in the burrs down by the tank.  As a side note though, once she had my attention, she never again got one burr in her mane or tail and hardly ever rolled in the mud after a rain.  I truly think she knew how beautiful she was both to the world and in my eyes.  I learned how to trim hooves, and really take care of a horse and so did she!  She was a big puppy dog in a horse suit.  She didn’t care really what you were doing as long as you were loving on her.  And boy did she LOVE to eat.  I take that back…she was part horse, part puppy dog and part pig!  I started ground training her with Mike’s help at 6 years old, a little late.  We worked
on leading, the halter, etc., etc.  We had our battles along the way, but being just as stubborn as her, it usually all worked out.  Although I did end up with really bad rope burns on my right hand, a broken left foot and some other injuries that I just can’t remember right now!   One story that I must tell is the day she took a small chunk out of her frog from something in the pasture.  We had arrived that Saturday to clean out hooves, brush her and Prima down and just spend some quality time.  Well immediately I noticed she was limping.  Well I can’t stand my animals being in pain, so I started to get upset.  Mike was like…Wait a minute…let’s check her out first.  It turned out her foot was really sore cause of a bruise and missing piece of frog.  In Mike’s vast experience, he said not to worry, she had probably just injured it today and although it would be bruised a couple of days, the frog would grow back, she’d quit limping (probably tomorrow) and would be just fine.  I was kinda like…okay, I guess.  Well the next thing is what sent me
into tears and laughter at almost the same time.  She walked over to Mike to get a treat WITHOUT limping.  He said, “Look!  See?  She’s just fine!”  Well I felt really better then, until….she turned to me to get that last treat and limped like she was dying tomorrow.  SHE WAS A HAM AND PLAYING IT UP FOR ALL IT WAS WORTH!  She knew who her momma was and where exactly to get the attention from if she was “hurt.”  I said she was comical…she was also a terd!  She was fine with Mike, but oh-so-hurt with me.  She did things like that a few more times and always, I’d have to watch her and be on the sly.  How she acted with Mike determined if I was irritated at her for causing me to be upset and whether Mike bent over in laughter to see her do it.            We had only a brief time together though…from really late spring of 2001 to the summer of 2002.  Unfortunately, we lost Vera while training her to ride July 4th weekend of 2002.  She spooked hard and went through the round pen and then through the metal gate.  She broke her leg and had to be put down.  I will always miss her and her antics and thank her for giving me what I always wanted…a horse to love.  Thanks for the memories Vera and all you taught me.  Until we meet again to make new ones.  I love you, my beauty.