Should you go first and I remain, one thing I'd have you do;walk slowly down that long, lone path for soon I'll follow you. I'll want to know each step you take that I may walk the same, for some day down that lonely road you'll hear me call your name.
~A.K. Rowsell
I miss you, my son. David-4/26/78-11/22/02
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.
~Harriet Beecher Stowe
"There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were.”
~Dwight David Eisenhower
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind
~William Wordsworth
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind
~William Wordsworth
In 2000, I got an email from the Irish Setter Club that the dog shelter in our area was closing and they were transferring animals. Discount was on all the animals. At the time we had cats, so I decided to go and get a cat. Well, I saw Cinnamon. She was listed as a Bull Mastiff but I knew she was a Dogue de Bordeaux. I spent an hour deciding what to do. We already had 4 dogs, English Mastiff and 3 Irish Setters. But Cinnamon's eyes looked at me like she was saying, "Please shoot me!". So for $20, I left with her. I thought I would just turn her over to the breeds rescue, so I contacted them. While I waited for them to find someone to come and get her, she bonded to Markie-our Mastiff. I didn't have the heart to break up that friendship. So I called the rescue and told them I would keep her. Found out she was bred by a breeder here and that she had been abused..the owner had mental issues and tried to kill her by running her over with his car. When that didn't work, he dumped her at the shelter. I took her to the vet to get her spayed and x-rayed. She walked with a limp. Turned out she had torn ligaments. I didn't have the funds for surgery. The vet said she would probably need to be put down within the year. I said that would be the best year then she's ever had. Well, Cinnamon decided to stretch that year into 8 years. After Markie died from cancer at the age of 7, she seemed to start to go downhill. When she could no longer get up, I let my girl go. Up until that point, due to her high prey drive, she could out beat the Setters if a rabbit was found in the yard. She never killed them. Just brought them to the door. Released them when I said "drop it". I miss her so.
Cinnamon didn't mind the cats we had at the time but would kill my birds if given an opportunity.
We got Markie from a show breeder in Canada. From the age of 3 months, he never was comfortable around kids. Ours were grown and gone. I would use the neighborhood kids to work on his socialization with children but he never was comfortable around them. He had severe separation anxiety. He made a friends doggy door bigger as I was on the other side, broken through a friends screen door for the same reason, chewed my stairs when I left, etc. He felt better crated when I was gone. When he was diagnosed with bone cancer, we elected to let him go. The vet wanted to remove his front leg but at 200lbs(and since being a Mastiff-they carry their weight in the front) it would have been too difficult. Your with Cinnamon now my big guy.
Magnus was from a breeder in Wis. We got him at the age of 8 weeks. His food alarm went off at 3am every day. He would paw me till I finally gave in and fed him. He changed my sleep patterns which have stayed the same even to this day. He was a big mommas boy. He always had to have me in his sight. Where I was, he was. He didn't play with the other members of the pack, just content to be by me. When we let him go at the age of 11, my grief was as deep as when I lost my son. I was never so loved by a dog. He was my heart dog and as much as I have loved all the dogs I have had, he was always my favorite
Maura was an excellent example for the term "bitch". She did not get along with Cinnamon. Cinnamon tried to ignore her but Maura will just suddenly attack Cinnamon who wouldn't back down from a fight. Maura, who was hubby's dog, went to live for awhile with my sister-in-law then came back to live with us. Hubby continued to try to get them to get along but it never worked. We kept them separated will Cinnamon passed away. Hubby loved her very much, me not so much, and so when she passed away I got him our Great Pyrenees, Ariel, to comfort him.
