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04.26.10: Gwen. In loving memory of Gwen (formerly "Baby"), who was taken to the Rainbow Bridge too soon. Gwen would have been three years old today, and her family misses her terribly.
Dear Marcy and SCGSR - Gwenivere -"Gweni"- formerly Baby adopted April 4th of 2008, is the most amazing dog that ever lived!!! From the moment I saw her I knew that she was supposed to be "my dog". We actually weren't allowed to have pets at that moment, but our landlord changed our lease so we could get her because I was so convincing and convinced that she was meant to be a part of our family.
Immediately after we got her we took her to a vet at home and unfortunately sometime between going to your vet and us picking her up a few weeks later, she had dislocated her back left knee. So Gweni took what was supposed to be 4 weeks of exercise and getting in shape for rest and relaxation. After a few fights with the cats she settled in quickly to her role as the least dominant animal in the house; we still aren't quite sure how our little 5 pound cat could so easily scare a 75 pound dog, but she did and she thought it was fun to continue to scare her and chase her just for the fun of it. With the exception of an occasional chase, they get along great and one of them actually snuggles with her!
Shortly after getting her home we noticed that Gweni never barked and did not really know how to play; so we started trying lots of different games with her to teach her to play. We quickly found out that her favorites were chasing games, especially round things so she could try to out smart you and suddenly change directions to try to catch you, and soccer. Once we got her playing she did start to bark a little when she was really excited but it did take a lot of training and convincing her that it was ok before she really found her voice.
She has two favorite places: the beach and by our side wherever we are. She gets pretty silly and actually would rather play soccer by herself when we are there than with us! She absolutely loves the beach but also prefers the living room where she can chill on the couch.
She is super smart and loves her daily training sessions. Over the last two years she has learned quite a long list of behaviors. She knows how to sit, lay down, stay for up to 45 minutes (before she gets bored or forgets!), do circles, leave the room on cue, bark, leave it, shake, give high fives, stand, dance, roll over, play dead, wiggle, hold things, and (my favorite) chomp like a shark!
I work at a zoo and she became an essential part of our animal care team there; she has helped raise both porcupines and kangaroos! The porcupines that she helped raise are actually the best porcupines we have ever had and no doubt it is because of Gwen's amazing mother instinct!
Shortly after we got her she showed some more medical problems and we ended up having her spine x-rayed. The specialist told us that her spine showed a lot of damage and scar tissue. From the amount of scar tissue and spurs he figured all the damage had been done by the time she was one, as a puppy while she was still growing. Because of the amount of damage he gave her a spine age of six! With some antibiotics for high white blood cell count and pain medication she seemed to improve.
In July of 2009 we were blessed with a little boy. Gweni quickly took to Asher and tried so hard to help with him when he cried. As he got bigger she would lay on the ground next to him so he could crawl all over her and poke at her eyes and nose - she couldn't have cared less. She just wanted to be there helping.
We could tell that her back was still in a little pain, but she wanted to continue to play soccer every day and go on car rides every chance she got, especially if we stopped at McDonald's and got her an ice cream cone! Until Feb of 2010 when she decided she no longer wanted to play.
We brought her to the vet that afternoon and after a lot of testing we discovered she had Lyme's disease (apparently Frontline does not always protect against ticks!)! The Dr figured that she may have likely had when we brought her in the year before or maybe even since we got her; but, it is so rare in our area and the signs at that time did not warrant the test to check.
We treated her with antibiotics and pain meds for her joints which seemed to be hit the hardest. We retested in a month and she was clear, but her joints were still giving her problems so we tried a new pain medication. The new medication helped so much - we had our happy playful girl back!
On Sat March 14th we took a family vacation up to Big Sur. We stopped on the way up to get Gweni an ice cream and she slept in the hotel with us. In the morning she and I played along the river jumping and running all over the place; she was so excited! About 20 minutes later my husband (Klaus) and I took her on a short walk and then he took her down to the river while I got ready. He said she just wasn't "feeling" it, so he walked back up to the hotel. He said that she seemed to be having an extremely hard time climbing the stairs and when they got to our porch she took one step up, fell on her butt, and then down to her side. Klaus ran to get me. I got there a few seconds later and sat by her side; she was struggling to hang on. I petted her, told her we loved her, and that she could let go. She took one more breath after I said that and died. She went to run with the wolves and play soccer at the gates of heaven until we go to play with here there one day.
That day came as quite a shock to us. I haven't really stopped crying since she left us. She was so amazing and we all learned so much from her - she is and always will be greatly missed!
I attached bunch of pictures to put up on the happy tails page on the website (and facebook page if you want), because even though she has left us, she really did have a happy tail while she was here! I also have some pretty amazing videos of her playing soccer on my facebook page if you want to check them out...they are too big to send in the email :(
Forever missing my dog -
Angela Boelk
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