Dirge

[Parmigiano]

Poor Remy, 6 years are really too short. Thanks god I was spared from the decision to put her down or try to keep her alive until possible, I think it's a horrible loss-loss situation.
It's funny, I would not be kept artificially alive myself but when it comes to someone you care of it's very difficult to be rational.

My ex partner sent me a lot of pictures, so here is Mostrino in her natural environment and caught in 'flagrante delicto' : that evening the cake remained a dream for the humans...

Doug, how is Muggsy doing?

 

[DOUGRD]

Hi Parm, Muggsy seems to be doing OK. His eating is still on again, off again but he's still not messing with the cats food so I know he's not feeling good. The Vet gave us some Meds that seem to be easing his discomfort so for now it's still wait and see. Thanks for asking Parm. Torch, Remy sounds like he was the ideal sidekick. Poor guy. I had to laugh when I read about the natural rabbit hunter. A couple of days ago Muggsy was out in the back yard doing his "nature call" and a rabbit came out from under the deck and scared the hell out if him. The funny part was instead of turning around and chasing the rabbit Muggsy ran as fast as he could back up on the deck and barked like crazy to be let in. ( Before the Big Bad Bunny ate him)

 

[DOUGRD]

Well Parm, it's over. Poor Muggsy was put to sleep today at 2:00 PM CST. Last night he seemed to be having a good time playing kick ball with me but this morning my wife called me at work and said he had been laying down in his room all morning and the one time he tried to come out his legs just collapsed under him. I came home at 1:00 PM and we took him to the Vet. She checked him out and said he was extremely anemic and he wouldn't make it to the Holidays like we had hoped. (Muggsy loved sniffing all the Christmas presents and sleeping under the tree) So the Vet gave us the fateful choice and we decided it was more humane to put him asleep than to see the little rascal suffer. You're very right about one thing Parm, even though he used to drive me nuts at times and bark for no apparent reason, it was very, very hard to stand there and hold him that one last time while the Vet gave him the injection. She thought it would take about a minute because he was so anemic and his heart rate was down but it was over in twenty seconds. No pain ,no mess just quietly slipped out of our lives. The last thing my wife whispered to him was "Go find George, Muggsy." (If you remember earlier on I wrote about how we had to put George down about three years ago and Muggsy took it hard) So hopefully they are together again wherever it is that good dogs go.

 

[DBII]

I am sorry. I know how much it hurts.

DBII

 

[Downwind.Maddl-Land]

DougRD, deepest sympathies. Mine used to love Christmas too - really sad that Muggsy didn't make it through the Christmas break. Know exactly how you must feel.

 

[DOUGRD]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I wish I had a scanner so I could post pictures of George Muggsy on the forum. Oh well. Before I forget and this thread slips away let me tell you a funny story about Muggsy. We bought him from a gent who was the maintenance manager at one of the beach hotels in Virginia Beach, VA., not far from where CCheese lives. So we had to fly him back to Minneapolis when we returned home. To make a long story a little shorter I'll dispense with the preboarding events. Anyway, we flew Northwest Airlines, who I worked for at the time as an aircraft mechanic, and we were flying standby up in first class. I hadn't been working for the airline very long and I was sort of nervous about being in first class and the head Flight Attendants looks weren't making me feel any better. I thought she was pissed about "Non-revs" being in "Her" first class and with a puppy no less. So after take off the younger Flight Attendant can by and said we could bring Muggsy out of his carrier and she told us about her dog which she had to put to sleep a few weeks before. A little while later as we're trying to entertaining Muggsy and keep him quiet I get a tap on my shoulder. It was the Head Flight Attendant with a smile on her face no less and she asks if she can take the puppy up into the cockpit. (this was pre 9-11) When she had been gone for about 15 minutes I turned to the wife, who was seated by the window, and said "Do you realize no one is flying this airplane? They're all crawling around the floor playing with your d*mn dog." As she was laughing at the remark I noticed the gent across the aisle from me yank on his seat belt and put a death grip on his arm rests. I reassured him I was only joking. He was not reassured. TRUE STORY!!

 

[Parmigiano]

Doug, I just read the new.
Unfortunately there is nothing I can say to make the situation easier, this feelings belongs to one's very private sphere.
A big hug to you, your wife and to the little bastard.

 

[DOUGRD]

Thanks DBII, Downwind Parm, My wife and I appreciate it very much.

 

[lesofprimus]

Really sorry to hear about ur losses guys, always a heartbreaking moment...

Theres a reason why we call them Mans Best Friends...

 

[Njaco]

Doug, sorry I hadn't checked this thread in awhile and sorry about Muggsy. I hope your holidays are not so sad and you make it through. Being an animal person I can understand what both you and Parm are going through. Hold onto the memories.

 

[Downwind.Maddl-Land]

Well, if we're telling anecdotes……….

Location: RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North YORKshire. Circa 1993.

Situation: HRH The Duke of YORK (get the connection?), aka The Prince Andrew, is on a Royal Visit to York – at a weekend. Now, being a Flying Training Unit, although V busy Monday to Friday, LOO is not usually open at weekends. Therefore, the potential for ATC-related screw-ups is large (eg local GA aircraft poncing through the area getting in the way - unaware of the establishment of Purple Controlled Airspace - gliders using the runway for safe land-outs, people walking around the airfield 'cos "those gits in ATC won't be there and because I CAN", etc). All this can be extremely career-limiting for the Senior Air Traffic Control Officer (SATCO), so I am in the Tower overseeing the departure of the Royal Flight. The Royal Aircraft is all manned, pre-starts complete, awaiting the entourage in about 30/40 minutes.

Telephone rings: It is my Best Beloved:

Her: "Dog's gone walkabout!"

Me: "What? Where?"

Her: "Dunno. She was out the front a minute ago, sunbathing,

(mental picture of Large Furry Hound (LFH) in a deck chair, parasol up, Pimms in paw, applying sun-screen…)​

and now she's not. I think she's headed up towards the Airfield in search of you."

Me: "Christ! I'll go look…"​

I 'handover watch' and jump in the ATC Landrover and go back to my Quarter; no, she's not returned in the intervening 6/7 minutes, so I start quartering the Technical Site in search of LFH.

No sign.

Then, just as I am turning down a one-way street, I see out the corner of my eye a familiar black-tipped bushy tail disappearing around the side of a Hangar onto the Manoeuvring Area! Damn – got to continue down the one-way street (180º the wrong way of course), back-track, and enter the Apron from a different point. Do so.

And there, pacing towards the Royal Aircraft, with a purposeful gait, is LFH. Her whole demeanour is: "I scent Corgis! Must investigate! And chase off intruders from Dad's patch! It is my Role In Life."

Visions of uncomfortable invitation to the Station Commander's Office on Monday - complete with Hat On, no invitation to sit down and no complimentary free tea, coffee or biscuits - loom large; as does incarceration in the Tower of London 'At Her Majesty's Pleasure'. I catch- up with LFH just as she reaches the bottom of the Airstairs and with, obviously, every intention to going aboard to see what's what….

"Just picking up the Apron Security Dog, Captain…."​

I explain helpfully to the Aircraft Captain, who is staring down at me and LFH, from 'on-high'.

"Apron Security Dog? – never heard of that before. Still, can't be too careful these days"​

No, I haven't heard of one of those either, I think to myself.

As I exit stage-right, with disgruntled LFH in the passenger seat, head out of window staring in general direction of Royal Aircraft, HRH enters stage-right coming the other way and, I swear, waves at LFH, who – ears flapping in the slipstream – gives him, free-gratis, best Paddington-Bear Stare and large "Woof " to send him on his way!

Still the aircraft got away on time and no one was the wiser. I hope!

 

[DOUGRD]

Doug, sorry I hadn't checked this thread in awhile and sorry about Muggsy. I hope your holidays are not so sad and you make it through. Being an animal person I can understand what both you and Parm are going through. Hold onto the memories.

Thanks Chris. You won't believe what happened today. We got a small package from the Vets office. In it was a plaster cast of Muggsy's paw with an inscription on the back and a sympathy card signed by the whole staff. I never saw that before. Really, really nice of them wasn't it?

 

[DOUGRD]

Really sorry to hear about ur losses guys, always a heartbreaking moment...

Theres a reason why we call them Mans Best Friends...

You're right Les, unfortunately sometimes we don't realize how much they mean to us until it's too late. This is one of those times that my wife describes so well "Life sucks!"

 

[Njaco]

Doug, our vets over here have started doing the same thing. I think its nice for the family.

 

[Torch]

Here's my Golden going on 14, my Sheperd is 3.5. The old one sleeps more and more every day, all sorts of allergies but a fanatastic dog.

 

[Njaco]

Torch, that could be the brother of the shep I had about 13 yrs ago. Hip Displasia real bad. Have a Maltese mix right now I found running the streets at 5 months old. Not much for small hairy dogs but this one is the best behaved and well-mannered dog I've ever owned. Of course my vet, knowing what I do for a living, can't believe I have a foo-foo dog.

 

[DOUGRD]

Hey downwind, great story about the Apron Security Dog. Isn't it great when you can pull off a total B.S. story like that? I've done it myself several times during my military career and I still can't believe some of the tall tales I created on the spur of the moment and got away with.

 

[DOUGRD]

CHRIS HAS A FOO FOO DOG???? What is the world coming to?

 

[Torch]

That Sheperd of mine she's something else. Towards the wife and I she's a total mush, what a baby, typical female constantly yapping and talking back to you. But what a guard dog. I love it when a solister rings the door bell and she does her barking and I open the door and they are standing back 10 ft from the entrance, tell her to sit,stay and she does not take her eyes of the person until they are gone...Just FYI anybody who lives at altititude like I do here in Colorado Sheperds get a disease called Panis(spelling) which if not treated with steroid eye drops they can go blind after 3 or 4 years, you can see a membrane started on the bottom of her eye but seems to not be progressing so far..

 

[Downwind.Maddl-Land]

Thanks Doug RD! I didn't have time to smile to myself at the time (have you ANY idea of the BS that surrounds a royal visit?!) but chuckle about it regularly these days. Its even more piquant that an Air Trafficker 'gets one over' on a captain of a Royal Flight aircraft; they can get a little - shall we say - 'up themselves' with very little provocation!

Torch - Great pair of Woofers there! I always wanted to be a GSD man until I made aquaintance with its 2/3rds scale model, the BSD. Same loyalty, courage but even more intelligent - mine used to look at me when I opened the door to strangers with that look that said "Do you want me to take his leg or arm off, Dad? Which one huh? leg or arm - I don't mind, which one? Just say huh - Aw go on, let me...!"