Moe is our July 1, 2012 Pup of the Week

I don’t know if I’d want to be a human.  I think human’s lives are quite hard.  There is work, losing work, money, losing money, children, children moving away, parents, parents passing on.  It’s a weekly drama.

During this time us dogs sleep, snuggle, play, pee, poop, and bother humans for walks and attention.  But we also know when humans are down and we can put a smile on their face so easily, with a smile, a sad look, a soft paw on the arm, just the gentle peace of us sleeping next to them.  We are obliged to do it.  This is our mission in life.   I know they pick up our poo, put up with our housebreaking problems, feed us, pay huge medical expenses for us, endure our senseless barking, our getting you up before they want, and the random half eaten couch, but it’s a pretty even trade.

Except for the slight problem that 100% of our lives take up about 15% of theirs.  Humans seem to outlive everything but humans.  It’s not like a turtle or a sponge ever owned a human and said “wow, that one only lived to 64, that’s the fourth one I have owned and I’m only 182.”

To paraphrase the comic Louis K: a human finds a dog, it loves the human more than the human ever felt it could possibly be loved, the dog lives to be 15, is loyal and true, then dies in it’s sleep leaving the human alone and heartbroken, and that’s the best case scenario.  But I doubt that Kristina Lawson, Scooter and Lilly feel they are experiencing the best case scenario.  

This year they have sent three of their pups to Rainbow Bridge.  First Jack, then Jilly Girl, and finally Moe, at 14 years of age.

There are downsides to being a pup.  There are those pup who never find their humans and die sad lonely deaths, and I don’t think there is any worse life than that, to be created to love and never being able to find that love.

Our relationship with Moe and his pack goes way back to the early days of Doggyspace.   They were five dogs collectively known as the Lawson Gang.  That was five years ago.  And that is part of the reason for the sea of sadness that has overcome us recently.

Many pups who signed up for Doggyspace were approximately seven years old.  Now that first generation of cyber pups is going to the Bridge which is why this month has been so hard.  But there are the young pups who are our future and hopefully they will carry on the traditions us older pups have established if we have taught them well.

Moe’s Mom still has Lily and Scooter to carry on but I am sure it’s hard for them to find the words to post right now.  Hopefully they will soon.

Moe and his gang joined the Tanner Brigade rebels in August 2007, their reasons being the same as so many, Scooter was in love with Hattie Mae and wanted to be with her.
His first few blogs here dealt with family:  Scooter catching his first vermin, him sleeping in the dryer, Lily upset when her Daddy forgot her birthday.

Moe was having some problems back then.  He had the itchies and was on steroids which made some nosy neighbors mention he was putting on weight.  Seriously, who puts on more weight than a human?  Moe also would impart jewels of wisdom on us like this:  “Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always, have to mix love & hate.”

In February 2010 Moe posted a blog letting us know how loved he was:  “Am I really the cutest dog in the world or is this something every furkid's mom says to them? Mom grabs my wrinkles every morning and says "You are the cutest dog in the world." Is this just another mom conspiracy or am I really the cutest, if so I want to cash in on some of my cuteness. Paws up! Love, Moe “

Moe’s Mom is one of our warrior Moms fighting for us.   A year ago she was driving down the road and found a box with an abandoned puppy.  Being a warrior Mom she found a home for the pup that day despite recovering from surgery.  Five months later she would find another dog walking on the side of the road, cold and hungry and she took him home and found him a new home.  A few months later, despite having a pack of five, she took in a Shih Tzu as a foster pet.

Moe, despite his advancing years, had some tricks up his paws.  He would go to bed with his Mom.  But he would hear his human brother come in with his friends.  He would climb out of bed and find those humans, then stay up all night with them eating snacks.

Moe was also part of a great love affair.  Big Moe with the beautiful wrinkly face loved little Lily with the white fur.  Whenever the pack got in trouble Moe was barred from speaking with Lily.  He was one heartsick pup.

But the true love of his life was his Mom.  They did everything together including getting hurt in an ice storm when Mom fell right on top of Moe.  They were both sore and spent some time on a heating pad.  His Mom thinks she fell on him but the truth is Moe threw his body underneath her to keep her from harm.

On his 14th birthday, October 24, Moe wrote this in answer to his Mom’s wish that he would be with her forever:  “I am trying real hard but some days are pretty hard but I take my giddy up and go pill and I am on the move once again.  Yeah I know all our moms want us around furever.  I been with my Mom through lots of tough times and she has helped me through some rough times.  I feel really lucky to have been around this long and I have the best Mommy in the whole world.  I will enjoy my ice cream today and whatever specialities come my way today.  I am most of all blessed to have come to know you all!  Love, Moe (aka - Moesie)”

Shortly after that the packs computer went kaput and, when they came back, they had nothing but bad news.  First Jack posted that he was sick.  He had sugar in his pee.  And his health didn’t improve and he finally succumbed to Cushing’s Disease.  A short time later, during surgery, their sister Jilly Girl succumbed to the same disease.  

Meanwhile Moe was having trouble getting around.  His Mom had bought a sling so she could support him when he walked.  And this time they managed to stay upright.  But on June 25, while his Mom was doing her warrior Mom business Moe started to lose control of his bodily functions.

Later that day Moe’s Mom posted this sad blog:  “I love all my dogs but Moe was really something very special to me. I lost my very best friend today.”

While no one can understand the pain she is going through, and we would not to feel it,  and did not have her relationship with Moe, we too felt we lost our best friend.

Good night sweet Moe, we will see you on the other side of the river, lay in the cool grass, look into the water, and watch our memories flow out to the sea.

Jack is our April 15, 2012 pup of the week

In all dog families there are the stars, the Hattie Maes, the Tommy Tunes, the Foley Monsters, and the quiet dogs who post now and then. We can call them the Pocket Writers. When there are multiple dogs in the family usually one dog does the barking while some are never heard from. But even if we never hear from them they are still part of our families.

This week we lost one of our quieter dogs. In the Lawson clan we hear from Lily, Moe, Scooter and Jilly Girl, but out of the 63 blogs they did on TB Jack didn’t sit up and bark until February 23. It wasn’t that Jack was not interesting. He just waited until he had something important to say. He had diabetes.

And what Jack had to say was very important because Jack was not doing well. Poor Jack reported to us that he was having diabetic seizures because his sugar was too high. He needed to get shots every day and he had to eat special food that was not particularly tasty. He signed that first blog Jack the Grouch, and with the shots and the bad food he had to eat who could blame him for being a grouch.

Lily was back at the computer for the next blog and the subject was Jack. The shots and the food were not doing the job. He was having more diabetic seizures which scared him and the whole family. He had to be kept at the vets, which we all hate, so they could monitor his blood sugar.

Things only grew worse. The doctors discovered that he had Cushing’s disease. Lily thought it meant he was a cushiony alien but it was a lot worse. As often happens with our friends, bad things began to occur all at once. Jack had eight seizures one day His heart began to malfunction, his blood pressure rose, and, even though we all prayed hard nothing was working. His Mom took him to work to keep an eye on him, which was hard, because those eyes were always leaking.

A short time later it seemed Jack was rallying. The specialist told his Mom it might be time to send him to the Bridge but his regular vet told her to try the phenobarbital to see if it would cure him and for the first few days it seemed to be working. But the other members of his pack were taking ill. Brother Moe had trouble walking and his Mom had to get a carrier for him which put all the weight on her. She took on even more weight when Jilly Girl needed to be tested for cushings. She shares a lot of traits with Jack so it would not be surprising if she had the same illness. With most of her pack suffering, we don’t know how their Mom was able to get through the day.

On April 11, Jack made the decision to go to the Bridge. He waited for his Mom to get home from her training, then she had her wrap him in a blanket, and brought him to the doctor and the dogtor gave him a shot to ease his way to the Bridge.

We did not know you, Jack, as well as we do our other friends, but we loved you none the less, we loved you because your Mom loved you , and we love her, and because we are a dog, and unlike humans, all dogs love one another, even if we fight sometimes.

We will miss you Jack. We pray that the rest of your pack recovers because your Mom barely made it through this experience and I don’t think she’d make it through another anytime soon. You run free and play hard Jack. We will be together again. And we promise to take care of your Mom and your pack.