[Dailydrool] ONLY REAL Doggie lovers understand!

[Monique N. Merola]

First, I must say that reading the Daily Drool has been so difficult the past few weeks.......so many houndies have gone to The Bridge..........my thoughts and prayers are with every single family!  So many precious babies have moved on.....my nephew left for The Bridge on Tuesday 2/17/09 as well.  My nephew certainly was not a Basset Hound, BUT I loved him very much (he was an Australian Shepherd/English Setter mix, total mutt from the big shelter in Phoenix, AZ).  He did love my Bassets, for the most part, especially my baby, Sophie Jo!  

VERY long story short, my sister ended a 12 year relationship in 2001/2002, it was a heartbreaker.....for sure, but I packed her up and sold her condo and moved her from Vegas to Phoenix and kept her busy volunteering at the west side animal care & control shelter in Phoenix and that is where she fell in love with "Bandit"......he was due to be euthanized several times and the shelter workers kept taking pity on my sister since she was there volunteering 4-5 days per week and kept buying him more time to get adopted......well, it didn't happen and he was there well over a month and well, finally my sister Denise gave up and took  him home.  She had just bought her new house.  I don't think she was even unpacked yet  or anything.   He wasn't even a year old at the time and he had severe separation anxiety, could hop over a 7 foot wall, was dog aggressive, to ANY size/shape/color/male/female, didn't matter.......any NEW dog freaked him out and he would just attack, we had to do very cautious introductions, etc......so my poor sister, just succumbed to reading Cesar Milan books, worked with like 12 different trainers and in a nutshell, just never took a vacation or went away for long periods of time because Bandit needed her!  He was her "Soul Dog".......I know or at least I think we all have had one of those.  Mine was a mutt from the shelter back in 1990 named Mugzie......I cried for 3 months after she passed on and then there was Barnie, my first Basset who passed away in 2003 and Baylie, my first foster failure who passed away 9/8/08.

Well, my sister is really going through a HARD time right now.  She took the first week off work, she's a 2nd grade school teacher.  She stayed home with her other dog (whom Bandit loved by the way).....a goofy Great Dane who she rescued as a puppy and Bandit just dominated him and he seemed to just love it.......he is so silly!  She went back to work on the 23rd and this past weekend at home has been super tough!  She has cried all weekend and just wanted to be home alone in her thoughts....

DeeDee (real name Denise) could REALLY use some nice e-mails or letters or cards or ANYTHING that will encourage her that she WILL survive this horrendous pain of losing her baby.  She doesn't have 2-legged kids, she is single and now just has quiet big ol' Viggo, her Great Dane and it is super quiet at her house.......I call her every day, and I was with her when we had to put him down, which was tragic......he was only about 7 years old......he had spontaneous (bilateral pneumothorax, caused by an unknown "abnormality in his lower lobe of his left lung......they would have had to do open chest surgery and 10-14 days of chest tubes to try and save him and only gave him about a 20% chance and it could re-occurr!!!!)  How is that for a nice diagnosis??  Oh, and how about $15,000 minimum if they could pull him through this!  Oh lordy!!!  : (  : (

You all, or most of you know how hard it is to make that decision when they are old, suffering, have chronic health problems, but a young boy with sudden onset of inability to breath with really no known reasons was a tough one to swallow.......and we could not put him through such horrific surgeries with such a low survivability rate......I couldn't tell her to do that as her sister, I had to hold her and tell her it was okay to let him fly to The Bridge.......it was so hard!!!!  We took tons of photos before and got lots of locks of hairs from his ears/toes and tail and got gorgeous paw prints, etc.......but, if any of you have any cards or e-mails left could you please write to my sister and give her some hound love!  She needs to know her pain is real and okay but that she will get through this!!!

It's:

Denise Landry
7859 W. San Juan Ave
Glendale, AZ  85303
dlandry65 at gmail.com

           
Luv,
Monique N. Merola
Wife to Timothy, Mommy to AJ, Skipper, Jennie, Joey, Sophie Jo & every foster with AZ Basset Hound Rescue!!  AND to Baylie, Maurice, Barnie, Vinnie, Mugzie & Brandie (ATB) Never forgotten!!!! 
STOP PUPPY MILLS!!!!!
www.azbassetrescue.com
DID YOU KNOW:   There are 45 cats and dogs for every person born in the US. Only 1 out of 10 dogs born ever get a home!!  Only 1 out of 12 cats born ever find a home. 800 dogs & cats are euthanized every single HOUR in the US because there are not enough homes for them all!!  Last year (2007) in Maricopa County alone, Animal Care & Control euthanized more than 30,000 animals!!! PLEASE adopt from a shelter or animal rescue organization. Don't buy from a pet store or back yard breeder, from the newspaper OR internet!!  PLEASE, please, please spay and neuter all of your animals and teach everyone you know to do the same!!!  Pet over population is the reason for all the needless deaths of these poor dogs and cats in the US!!