Last night we had to say goodbye to a member of our family. Hercules would have been 13 this May and I can still clearly remember the 1st time I saw her. It was a few weeks before my 16th birthday in late June of 1996 and I was spending the weekend at my father's house when I received a call from my mother saying that she had gotten a call from a friend of hers who owned two Dalmatians. The breeder who he had purchased his dogs from had called and let him know that they had a new litter of pups and that one of them had been born completely deaf (a fairly common genetic problem in Dalmatians). They wanted to know if he or anyone he knew might be interested in the pup for free (this particular breeder normally charged between $300 & $500). If no one was interested then they would have to follow the A.K.C. recommendations and have the pup put down. My mother knew that I had always wanted to have a Dalmatian and called to see if I was interested in taking on this deaf pup. My response was 100%, without a doubt YES. I walked into the house on Sunday afternoon and there she was, a small, tubby, white fuzz ball stretched out and sleeping under my mom's rocking chair. It was love at 1st sight. She only had 3 or 4 spots at that point and I remember counting them as she grew until there were more than I could keep up with. She was a handful and a half for the 1st year (which is how she earned the nickname Hell Bitch from Levi), but after that she calmed down and turned into a wonderful friend and faithful companion (although Levi still lovingly referred to her as the H.B.). She adapted to every situation we ever asked her too, survived emergency surgery (for a bladder stone that was blocking her urethra), survived a broken hip (from being run over by a tractor) and never once seemed to mind. As the years have passed she has grown with us the same as any member of the family would. She was a great friend, a loved member of the family, a faithful guardian and she will be truly missed. Farewell Herc, we will always love you.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Farwell to a Member of our Family
Last night we had to say goodbye to a member of our family. Hercules would have been 13 this May and I can still clearly remember the 1st time I saw her. It was a few weeks before my 16th birthday in late June of 1996 and I was spending the weekend at my father's house when I received a call from my mother saying that she had gotten a call from a friend of hers who owned two Dalmatians. The breeder who he had purchased his dogs from had called and let him know that they had a new litter of pups and that one of them had been born completely deaf (a fairly common genetic problem in Dalmatians). They wanted to know if he or anyone he knew might be interested in the pup for free (this particular breeder normally charged between $300 & $500). If no one was interested then they would have to follow the A.K.C. recommendations and have the pup put down. My mother knew that I had always wanted to have a Dalmatian and called to see if I was interested in taking on this deaf pup. My response was 100%, without a doubt YES. I walked into the house on Sunday afternoon and there she was, a small, tubby, white fuzz ball stretched out and sleeping under my mom's rocking chair. It was love at 1st sight. She only had 3 or 4 spots at that point and I remember counting them as she grew until there were more than I could keep up with. She was a handful and a half for the 1st year (which is how she earned the nickname Hell Bitch from Levi), but after that she calmed down and turned into a wonderful friend and faithful companion (although Levi still lovingly referred to her as the H.B.). She adapted to every situation we ever asked her too, survived emergency surgery (for a bladder stone that was blocking her urethra), survived a broken hip (from being run over by a tractor) and never once seemed to mind. As the years have passed she has grown with us the same as any member of the family would. She was a great friend, a loved member of the family, a faithful guardian and she will be truly missed. Farewell Herc, we will always love you.
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She will be missed even though she was a mean ol' thing until the last few years:) I'll always remember your mom feeding her and Pebbles mint chocolate chip ice cream off of her spoon. She was rotten! Call me if you need to.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about Hercules..funny but I remember that very weekend too..You were such a good parent to Herc..May he rest in peace!!
ReplyDeleteDianne