Who doesn't believe this??? In our family our dogs are treated like members of the family and they are all spoiled rotten! So needless to day when we lose one of them its heartbreaking...
On Monday afternoon my parents had to make the very tough decision regarding our family cocker spaniel T. T has had a very tough life and suffered some horrible pain in his 11 years. If you know anything about cocker spaniels they are prone to ear infections and T suffered through his share of them. Within the past three or so months T's health had been a concern, he had an ear infection that just wouldn't ease up even with medication, he was losing weight (although he never lost his appetite) and he had developed a unproductive cough as well as shortness of breath. Over the weekend they decided they needed to call the doctor again and they advised bringing him in. My dad took him in on Monday morning and the initial prognosis wasn't good, they wanted T to stay for some blood work and X-rays. When Dad and Julie went back to get him they were told (in the short version) that he had heart failure, a tumor and was extremely dehydrated. And in the end T went to Heaven! We liked the vision that he was sitting in my Great Grandmothers lap somewhere.
Now lets talk about the happy times...We got T in September of 1999...the story is that he is named after UTs National Championship Winning Quarterback "Tee" Martin. Now I don't exactly remember this fact as I wasn't the sports fan at that age but I do remember saying that T also stood for the Taylor's and the Treadways (my stepbrother and sisters last name). T had his own personality, he was a very sweet and loving dog and liked people and other animals WHEN we wanted too.
Here are a few funny tidbits about T...
He howled like a Werewolf in the middle of the night
He would only sit on your left side
He wouldn't let you lean on him or touch him unless it was on his terms
He didn't have a water bowl for years, he would only drink out of the bathroom sink
He ate the dirt out of Julies flower pots
He begged for food like no other, he would even "tap" you with his paw so you wouldn't forget about him
He liked to RUN, as in RUN out the door
He ate paper
If you tried to take anything out of his mouth you risked losing a finger or hand...
You didn't pick T up and you didn't TOUCH his ears
He could be very grouchy...
But he was a very loving dog...
As you can see everything was done on HIS terms. We all had our own relationship with T, which was again on HIS terms...
Dad- their relationship was a Love/Hate one. Dad has many scars on his hands to remember him by...remember me saying don't take anything out of his mouth, well Dad never really learned this. On the other hand T loved laying next to Dad on the couch or in his lap in the chair.
Julie- T was a Mama's boy. He slept next to Julie at night and Julie was one of the 2 people T allowed to pick him up.
Me- T was my sleeping buddy when I stayed at Dads. He didn't sleep with me at night but he would come to my door and scratch on it so he could sleep in with me in the mornings.
JT- their relationship was great. T was JTs little buddy, he loved that dog so much that a past girlfriend gave JT his own cocker spaniel! JT was also the only other person T would let pick him up on a regular basis.
Chase- Chase and T's relationship was pretty good as well. T slept many a nights with Chase. On special occasion Chase was allowed to pick T up...
Liz- lets just say they also had a Love/Hate relationship, as in T use to attack Liz for no given reason. She would walk into the room and he would attack. We joke saying that T thought he ranked higher on the Totem Poll then Liz. As Liz got older the attacking stopped and the loving came around.
We are all going to miss our beloved T, that house just wont be the same...I'm going to leave you with some pictures of our Precious Doggie Angel...
