Selecting a puppy

 Posted by
Mar 132012
 

In light of recent news, I thought I would share this paragraph I wrote last semester, for my English 080 class.  The paragraph does not include the suggested corrections/changes made by my teacher.

Hope you enjoy it!

Sasha @ ~ 14 weeks

Selecting a puppy is not easy, but Carlos and Liliana would make a fun and exciting adventure of the process.  After they had been together for a couple of years and were now getting a place of their own, they wanted to expand the family.  Often they talked about how much they loved dogs.  After work, on a cool November evening, they took a trip to Frazer Zoo, located in Frazer, PA.  They were greeted by Andrew, an easy going guy and the owner of Frazer Zoo.  He was also the owner of Mesa, a gorgeous American Bulldog female.  Initially, Carlos and Liliana wanted a Pit Bull, but the apartment complex where they were moving to, would not allow that breed.  After meeting Mesa, they loved her look and friendly personality so much that they decided to look for an American Bulldog pup of their own.  A few days later, per Andrew’s suggestion, they went back to Frazer Zoo to take a look at a new litter of pups.  To see seven puppies all together was exciting for Liliana, as she had never been around so many puppies before.  Birds were chirping, puppies were yapping, and the scent of cedar was strong in the air; the Zoo used cedar wood shavings as bedding for the animals.  The litter had five males and two females.  As the puppies played, barked and wrestled with each other, Carlos and Liliana watched them while pondering which one they would choose.  The couple was looking for a puppy with spunk.  They searched for one that was lively, not submissive to her litter mates and enjoyed attention from people.  After studying all the pups, they chose one of the females.  They were seduced by her frisky personality, her unique and beautiful brindle markings, and her sweet disposition toward them.  Now, the couple needed to think of a name for their precious girl.  Carlos and Liliana thought of several names for the puppy, and they chose Sasha.  The couple was not able take their new friend home with them for several weeks.  They were living in a place that did not allow pets, but soon they would move to a new place where Sasha would be welcomed.  While they waited to move into their new home, they visited Sasha every single day.  Liliana would take her out of her pen and carry her like a baby around the store.  She would grab treats from the “bag your own treats” section and feed them to Sasha, who seemed to enjoy them along with all the love, attention and special play time she was getting.  Even though they saw their friend daily, they were heartbroken to have to say goodbye to her at the end of each visit.  They would put her back in the pen with her brothers and sisters.  The bars on the pen door were like the bars on a jail cell door.  At least, that is how the couple felt.  Sunday January 7, 2001, was an exciting and emotional day as Carlos and Liliana finally took Sasha home.  Their first night together would be special.  For the couple, Sasha was like a new toy to a child on Christmas morning.   They played with her and took turns holding the new puppy.  When it was time to sleep, Liliana placed Sasha in her little bed and covered her with a blanket.  The couple said good night to the little girl as if she were a child, and then went in to their own bed.  Actually, the couple was using a pile of blankets as a bed because they had not yet gotten a new mattress.  An hour had probably passed before the couple fell to sleep.  They were too excited about the new addition to their family.  In the morning, Liliana was the first to wake, but Carlos soon roused from his dream world too.  Liliana told him to be careful, and motioned with her eyes for him to look between their two bodies.  Sasha had left her bed in the middle of the night and crawled between the couple.  She laid her head down on a little corner of Liliana’s pillow like a tiny little person, and with that sweetness, Sasha had worked her way indelibly into Carlos and Liliana’s hearts forever.  This was their first puppy, and she would become a very special member of the young family.

 

 

 

The paragraph was written in the third person, and I think it takes away some of the feelings that writing in the first person would evoke.

XO,

~L.

Mar 122012
 

After hours of reading, Carlos and I talked about our options to treat Sasha.    If we did nothing, she would be with us for maybe 6 months, but likely much less than that, and most of the time, she would be in a lot of pain and not able to enjoy herself and be happy.  So, amputation seemed like our best option for our girl.  It will provide immediate pain relief, and on average, dogs live for about 370 days, so we’d have a year (more if we are lucky) with her.  After her recuperation, we plan on doing all the things she loves.

For now, we just had to wait for 4:30 pm so that we could pick up our girl.  It seemed to take forever.  Once it was time, all I wanted to do what see and hug Sasha, but we had to speak with our vet first and we asked him to get us a quote for the surgery.  He informed us of our options, which was everything Carlos had already read.  He supported us on the decision we were leaning towards and we appreciate that, he knows the type of people and owners we are, and knew it was the best decision.

When Sasha was brought out, she looked SO happy, her tail wagging, ready to go home.  Her happy face is embedded in my mind.  Once home, we got her comfortable and I lay with her for a while.

Tommy wanted to be close to Sasha.

My favorite picture.  I like pencil drawing.

Sasha stayed on my arm for a while, which is strange because she’s not a cuddler.

Tommy wanted to be close to her as well, and near her ‘wound.’

Tommy moving in for a lick.  Alli near, on the other bed.

And he got to lick my nose.  He was really sweet, and Sasha didn’t mind him being that close.

Dogs, they sure make our lives whole.

March 6, 2012

 Posted by
Mar 102012
 

Back in August, we took Sasha to the vet and to see an orthopedic surgeon because this was going on.  At that time, X-Rays were taken of her paw and wrist but nothing above that.  The X-Rays didn’t show any signs of fractures or anything else.  She got a couple of medications and within 24 hours, she was back to her spunky old self.  It was a relive and her condition remain a mystery.

For months she was normal and we continued with our normal routine or playing in the yard with sticks and frisbees.  We continue going for walks at our parks, which she absolutely loves.  We had been planning on going to the beach and camping with the whole gang, because we don’t have dog sitters and it would be so costly to leave them in a kennel.  Earlier this year, we noticed she was limping again.  At times, she would be really spunky and run in our yard, but then something would hurt and she’d squeal. This happened a couple of times before we decided to limit her activity in hopes her”injury” would heal.  After about a month of her leg not getting any better, we decided to take her to see our vet, Dr. N., again.  She showed very brief sings of pain and where exactly the pain was, was undetermined.   With these results, our vets asked us to allow for normal activity to aggravate the injury and find it, in order to correct it.  As much as I didn’t want her to hurt more, we allowed her to do what she wanted in the yard, but only took her for short walks around the neighborhood.  After two weeks, her “injury” worse.  We scheduled another appointment with our vet and Dr. Clary, our orthopedic surgeon, was going to re-check her.

Through out this time, my heart’s been heavy.  I feared the worst and though I love all my dogs, Sasha and I have a special bond and I love her to death.  I did grow up with dogs, but they were always outside and they were not “my” dogs, they were mainly my brother’s.  Sasha was my first dog.  Out of a litter of seven pups, we had chosen her sister, but after seeing how spunky Sasha was, we switched our decision.  From the day we chose her, we visited her every day until we could take her home with us, and that was probably about a month.  So every day, we would leave work and go to see her, and this was no different during the weekend.  Our first priority was to go visit Sasha and spend a good couple of hours with her.

Her appointment was scheduled for Tuesday March 6th and we were to drop her off as early as possible.   Around noon,  I received a call from Dr. N.  It was the worst news I could possibly hear.  All I recall Dr. N. saying is, “its not good news”,  and “Sasha has Osteosarcoma on her right leg’s humerus.”  I could not bare to continue listening, so I handed the phone to Carlos.  My heart sank, I couldn’t breath, and all I could think of was how Sasha is supposed to live forever, and wondering why this was happening to her, its not fair.  This day so quickly became one of the saddest days of my life.

I know it is not fair, but I always thought (expected really), that Sasha would live to be at least 15 years old.  I thought we might loose Argus first.  I know its not right to think this way and I do love all of our dogs very much, but Sasha is my baby.  She was the first puppy Carlos and I got and I recall those times as if they were yesterday.  Her and I have a special bond.

After the devastating phone call, Carlos and I sat together for a while, just thinking about Sasha and how much we love her.  Carlos kept saying he was sorry, because she is my girl.  Then Carlos started telling me with our vet said were our options.  And he right away started reading all he could up until we could go pick her up…