MAGNUM

Magnum was an Australian Cattledog mix that I had the pleasure of meeting and looking after. He had so many adventures in his life that I cannot record them all here. His story is a great one. His life started with abandonment as a puppy at the side of a country road. He was left there with his sister, who ended up getting killed by a car, but Magnum did not leave her side. Eventually he was found and picked up by a caring stranger. He travelled on from there with many different guardians who loved and cared for him very deeply. He was extremely intelligent, a great mouser, had his sea legs and enjoyed camping and the great outdoors. I swear he understood spoken word and sometimes I thought he could see into my soul with his wise eyes. He was protective but never aggressive and quite the ham when he wanted to be. In November my good friend Dawn, who also had the pleasure of knowing and caring for Magnum, and myself had to make that dreadful trip to the vet to put an end to Magnum's story. That was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I've seen dozens of euthanasia's before, I used to work in a veterinary clinic, but this was so different. I cried for days afterwards, even though I knew it was the best thing we could've done for him. He was old and suffering from liver failure and it really was his time to go. I lost a part of myself that night, maybe a piece of my heart? If it is with Magnum then I don't mind losing it. Rest in peace my son. We will always love you and never forget you. See you at the bridge.

Snow Dogs

Winter is here once again and I keep saying how much I hate it. When I get home from work and take all the snow gear off (hat, gloves, scarf, boots, snowpants, jacket, two pairs of socks, long underwear, etc) I do not want to go back outside. I would rather stay in where it's warm, where my skin doesn't feel like it's turning into iced leather. Then I feel it. As soon as I sit down, there she is, my dog resting her little chin on my lap, looking up at me with those big, brown eyes. I know exactly what she wants. She wants out. She wants to go play in the snow. She loves it. I don't understand how she possibly could. Is she crazy? She hardly has any hair on her stomach and is constantly picking up her paws when out in the cold. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to drag a hairless belly across the snow, ouch! I do put her in a winter jacket but half the time it just fills up with snowballs and I end up removing it anyway. Booties are impossible to get on and they look absurd. Still, she convinces me that it will be fun and so I bundle myself up and out we go. It's true, once you're out there, that it is quite fun to get down to her level and romp around in the fluffy snow. I sometimes think that we actually have more fun in the snow then playing in the grass in the summer. In the snow we can jump higher, land softer and climb to heights that we cannot achieve in the summer, thanks to all the man made mountains at the side of the walk and driveway. So I guess I'm learning to love certain aspects of winter, like spending time outside with Sadie. I hope she appreciates it, well, actually, I know she does. I can see her tail wagging everytime I get my snowpants out.