I’ve lately been so reminded of that. But almost no better example than when I took my Doberman and my Basenji mix to St. George Island for the New Year’s holiday weekend. Troughton the Doberman had a lot of trouble with it. He was scared in the car, whereas it used to be that riding in a car was one of the chief delights of his existence. Most of the houses there are on stilts, including our rental house, and the stairs up to the living area were steeper than any of us could remember from rental houses past.
Troughton had a lot of difficulty with this too. Going up was scary, because you could see between the steps, and he was stiff from riding in the car. In the morning, he was stiff going down. After walking, he was brisk about going back up again. Yeah, Troughton. Me too.
But Troughton is not in pain in his normal life, and he is content. But Troughton is now 12. The biggest change in him is his appearance. He’s lost most of his muscle mass, which is most evident on his head and face. Once this great majestic dog, his face now looks skeletal. And there is no help for that. All I can do is watch.
But people are still scared of him anyway. Which just amazes me. So I started thinking about unintended consequences. They aren’t always for the worst.
Pre-Troughton, I had a Rottweiler named Hansel, and there was a short overlap when I had them both. I didn’t get Hansel for “protection” but it worked that way anyway. I didn’t get Troughton for that reason either. But it dawns on me that…it’s worked out that way anyway.
I don’t want an alarm system (it can’t bite anybody, can it?), I don’t want a gun. I want a big dog. I am about to lose this one. Now what?
I myself am at the stage where handling a big dog is just about beyond my capability. I’d prefer to adopt an adult dog, but not only can I not handle the physical aspects of owning a big dog, you don’t know what you’re getting. I don’t mind that either, if you have the time and patience to work with the dog. And you must have that. Or, I could get a puppy. Ditto what I said about time and patience. Doubled.
So, the bottom line is that I have crossed one hurdle. I’ve decided that I will have a big dog again. What kind and when is up in the air. I’m kind of fond of Catahoulas. But hounds are really pretty nice dogs. I might need a breed with a more evil reputation. If I wanted to adopt a pitbull, there would be no shortage of oppotunities around here. Every one of them that I ever met, was sweet, but not everybody understands that. That’s what I mean by bad reputations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww5GXbk58R0
Just wait until you run into a pitbull that views you as a pork chop!