I would peruse a pound in Kent Washington from time to time. I came across what the pound called a Black Lab/Pit Bull mix. The word "Pit Bull" on her papers was discouraging - what was more discouraging were big red letters saying, "NOT GOOD WITH CHILDREN". I thought, "What does she do - eat them?"
What appealed to me about her was her demeanor - she would stand up - and whimper at the cage.
Two weeks after I first saw her, I went back to the same pound. She was still there. I read the fine print by the "NOT GOOD WITH CHILDREN". It seemed that she was not mean to them - but got too excited by them - her tail was as thick as a Billy club - and was capable of causing black eyes and bloody noses to small children (unintentional injuries). I came to experience many bruises on my shins from her tail.
I adopted Shadow in 2003 from the pound in Kent Washington. She was a black lab/pit bull mix, 65 pounds, 4 years old, and had already had puppies.
A few weeks after I first got her, I took her to a remote park in Washington. While playing, she ran across a piece of metal sticking out of the ground. It cut her stomach open. I rushed her to an animal hospital.
I remember sitting in the waiting room with my head in my hands thinking, "Great idiot. Your carelessness just killed a dog." When the animal doctors came out to me they said they had good news and bad news - the good news was that even though Shadow was dead when I brought her in, they managed to resuscitate her - the bad news was that her bills were going to cost nearly $5000.
They asked me if I wanted her put down, or if I wanted to pay $5000.
I paid $5000 happily. I was glad she was not dead ($5000 is a HUGE amount to me).
Everybody loves their dog - this is true. Shadow was rare - in that it seemed - that everybody loved her. When I lived in north Reno, while walking her, a handful of my neighbors would come out to say "Hi" to her.
A small group of children would follow me around sometimes while I was walking Shadow (which honestly I found annoying - when I was a kid, I was told not to talk to strangers. Now, I am the stranger - and kids talk to me all the time - it feels - awkward). There was one small girl in particular - that I would always try to avoid - but she always managed to find me and follow me while I would walk shadow - and of course - ask me a million questions about Shadow...
The groomers I took her to all told me that they wished that all dogs could be like Shadow. I told them, "You're saying that to get my business". They ensured me that they had never encountered a more well behaved and loving dog in their lives.
She never growled at people. She never barked at people. She would whimper when seeing a stranger - and had to introduce herself to them. When attacked by other dogs - even dogs half her size - she would just plop down and start crying. One of my neighbors had two very small and mean dogs - they both latched onto her tail with their teeth - Shadow just casually started dragging them around - as though nothing were there.Every night, she would jump up onto the bed, and stare at me until she thought I was asleep. Once she thought I was asleep, she would jump off the bed, and go lay down by the front door. Of course, in the morning, I'd wake up, and she would be in or near the bed again.
One morning - I woke up and she was staring at me from beside the bed. When she wanted to be petted, she would raise her paw up and touch the person she wanted to pet her. I yawned - and while I did this, she raised her paw - it went right into my mouth and down my throat...Talk about a rude awakening - I gargled with Listerine for about 30 minutes... ugh.
On another morning, I woke up, and she had somehow managed to become my pillow!The last two years of her life, she developed degenerative myelopathy (not to be confused with degenerative disk disease - which is painful). Her spinal chord slowly died - leaving her rear legs useless (and eventually void of muscle tone). I still took her for walks by wrapping a towel around her belly - and lifting her legs for her. Although her rear legs no longer worked, she could still swim on her own - in the summer of 2010, I took her to Keva Beach in Lake Tahoe nearly every other day.
The smile on her face was always there - and her tail would always flap on the ground when I came home. She would always try to drag herself to the door when she heard me coming home.Because of her weight, and her very strong and still functioning front legs (she would nearly rip my arm out of its socket sometimes), I developed back problems and experienced much pain by using the towel to ensure that her last days were spent as a happy and functional dog (all the vets I took her to assured me that she was in no pain - her back legs simply did not work).
My house is like a ghost town now. Whenever I would cough in bed, Shadow would look up and stare at me to make sure I was OK. When I would shout at my computer while programming, or getting flustered at a video game - Shadow would drag herself into the computer room, to make sure everything was OK. Whenever there was a commotion of any kind - she would drag herself to that location - to make sure I was OK...I'd gladly experience all that back pain again a hundred times over if it meant I could spend time with her again.
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