A couple of months ago, we had to put down my beloved Bitz the Wondermutt (profile duck | My beloved Wondermutt Bitz, with her all time… | Flickr) at age 10 and a bit due to liver failure.
Bitz was more than my pet. She was my partner. She was our duck fetching fool and great protector of our home. She was a one dog security system that knew when something needed to be investigated and when something was just another dog walking past the house. When something needed to be checked out, I got one, “Woof!” that translated to, “Threat detected. I am going to investigate. Please wake your lazy biped self up and come give me tactical support.”
She knew my every mood and movement and would always take the appropriate action. If I needed to play, she’d bring me a toy to throw. If I were depressed, she would slip her muzzle under my hand, toss her incredibly strong neck and flip my hand into the air so it landed on the back of her neck. I think she figured, “If you pet me, you’ll feel better.” She was always right.
When we brought home her little sister Sydney the bulldog three and a half years ago, there was no jealousy. Even though she’d never had pups of her own, she immediately took this confused little lump of wrinkled confusion under her paw and did more than my wife or I ever did to raise her up right.
I know no dog will ever replace Bitz in my heart, but there’s a lot of room in there to love a new dog, and I’ve started looking around. Thing is, I don’t want another pet. Between Syd and Zaney the cat I’ve got two great pets. What I want and need is a dog I can teach the details of home security and good companionship to.
I found a dog at an excellent little private shelter a few weeks ago, but unfortunately she’s just not going to be big enough when she reaches full size. She’ll max out at around 50 pounds and 20 inches at the withers, and I just don’t think I could trust a dog that size to seriously protect home and hearth. She had the right disposition and personality; so it made saying no all that much harder.
Luckily Phoenix has a large number of shelters and rescues; so I’m confident I’ll find one eventually. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten to the point in the grief process that I’m missing the companionship of a larger dog in general almost as much as I’m missing the companionship of Bitz in particular. It’s making being patient and finding the right girl difficult, as opposed to just running out to the mastiff rescue and taking whatever they’ve got.
Bitz was too good a dog to let any old pooch take her place just because it had the right physical features, though. I’ll wait, but it sucks.