I know many of you saw this on Facebook yesterday, but wanted to share this here.
Pepper was added to our family in 2003. It was
summer time and the Morgan County Humane Society was having space and
money issues because they were overflowing with cats and dogs.
Kris and I drove up with some food to donate and with the idea of
being foster parents. I remember walking into the dog area to look
at the dogs and we passed the first row of inside kennels. Most dogs
ran to the front and barked or whined or somehow were eager for
attention. Except one. This dog was curled up in the back of her
kennel, which was probably only 4 feet by 4 feet, on a wood palet for a
bed. That dog looked up as we passed but remained curled in a ball. We
passed lots of dogs, some in kennels piled on top of other kennels.
Some puppies, some adults and some tied up to dog houses out back. The
shelter was quite full. Kris felt that if we took a puppy home to
foster, we’d never find it a home. I suggested we take the dog that was
curled up in the kennel.
We took her out to meet her and she had a lively personality. Her
leash manners were abysmal but she was eager to have attention once out
of her kennel. Her fur was sparse and coarse and she was a little
overweight but otherwise she seemed like a great dog. We filled out the
paperwork and took her home to meet our 3 dogs.
We lived on Cobblestone Ct then. A smallish house with a small
backyard. We gave her a bath and then planned her trip back to the
shelter for her spay.
When we took her back for her spay, they found that she’d already had
that surgery. So she just suffered some anesthesia but that was it. We
picked her back up and set up flyers, etc for her.
She had this habit of pulling on the leash, but it was always
straight out to the side. Not in front but straight to the side. An
aggravating issue but her most annoying one. She barely barked and it
was several months before we actually heard her bark. We did however
discover that she loved to tug. She would growl and bark with the toy in
her mouth and play keep away for a bit, before she’d let you grab it
and play tug with her. She loved her tug toys.
After a couple years, our dogs taught her how to bark at people at
the door or leaves blowing across the yard or even just the wind. It
was funny to us and amusing that our dogs had taught her to bark at
stuff.
Another bad habit of hers was her begging at the table. It wasn’t bad
but she would sit beside the table and stare at us. First one, then
another of us and drool. Oh goodness the drool. At her dinner time, she
would sit in her spot and dance her feet and drool. Then she would
shake her head and send the drool flying. It was quite gross but funny
too. She would snatch food out of your hand really quickly and
sometimes get your fingers. We had to teach her to take food gently and
she got really good at that. It took her until about 2009 before she
quit staring at us at our dinner time. :) We never encouraged the begging and certainly never rewarded it, but she was our constant dinner companion for many years.
It turned out that Tasha did not like Pepper. There was not all out
aggression but Tasha did attack Pepper one winter while we were out
playing in the snow. All of a sudden, Tasha grabbed her by the shoulders
and shook her. Tasha put two punctures in her shoulders which healed
fine. After that we took great pains to make sure that Tasha learned to
leave Pepper alone. Whenever Kris would play with Pepper, I would call
Tasha to me. Tasha wanted order and Pepper’s manner of playing with
barks and growls was too much for her. Tasha would run over to her and
snarl but basically put all stop to play for Pepper. So we would
alternately call Tasha over when Pepper wanted to play. In this manner
we managed things and all the dogs lived in modest peace.
It also turns out that Pepper was allergic to everything. And I mean
everything! Grass, cats, dust, grain, everything. Or at least according
to her allergy blood test. We spent a fair bit of money trying to get
her coat better, get her to quit licking her paws till there was no fur
left. To quit licking her butt as well. We tried allergy pills and
steroids as well as trying allergy shots. We finally got her on Atopica
which did the most for her itching. She regrew her fur on her feet and
around her butt. Her fur came in thick and long and kinda curly too. It
was great to see her doing so well.
It was at that time that Kris and I were trying to downsize our lives
because I hated my job, which was an hour away. We had not planned to
keep Pepper but had always felt no one would want her because the
Atopica was very expensive. But we tried again. We put an ad in the
paper and it was actually answered. We met the woman and her daughter
at our house and then we dropped Pepper off for a week trial. They loved
her and we thought she was good in her new home.
About a month later a friend asked us the woman’s name that adopted
her. We did a search on her name based on his prompting and found
articles on her in the newspaper. Turns out she had charges pending for
child abuse. This was a Friday. That evening we tried calling her. The
number had been disconnected. So we went over to her house and told her
that the Morgan County Humane Society was mad at us for not following
protocol. We got Pepper back and with the help of the Morgan County
shelter, we officially adopted her.
It took her a couple years before she would solicit pets from us.
For a long time she would find a comfy spot off on her own in the
house and nap. It was only when we were eating that she would come
around. The first few times she solicited us for pets, we were
ecstatic! We felt that she finally accepted us but it was definitely on
her terms.
She was not big on walks or hikes. Even off-leash. This one time at
Griffy, I took the 4 dogs for a hike and I “lost” Pepper on the first
part of the trail. It turns out that she just went back to the gate area
while I continued on with the other 3. I knew she would wait by the
gate, because she knew that’s where the car was. Her collar had her
name and my cell on it. When I returned to the gate with the other 3,
she was there waiting like I knew she would. Once we returned home, my
cell phone had a message from some concerned folks that they had “found”
my dog. I guess that is why there was a couple hovering around Pepper
at the park when I returned.
We did downsize our house in 2006 and then in 2010, Kris and I got
married in March. In May, he moved to Oregon to start a business. In
June we drove the RV with Shadow and Pepper to Oregon. I stayed in
Indiana until December with Kota and Tasha.
Two weeks after Thanksgiving 2010, Pepper was diagnosed with lung
cancer. She had been losing her appetite and losing weight. She also
had this unproductive cough which was becoming more common. Chest
x-rays showed tumors in both lungs. Nothing would cure the cancer for
her, the best we could do was to make her comfortable. She was on
prednisone and herbs as well as antibiotics and her other supplements.
Kris flew to IN on the 22nd to help me drive out over Christmas break
and our friends back in Oregon were taking her to the vets for her
weekly blood tests. On the 24th of December we got news from the vet
that her platelets were at 38,000. Normal is 150,000 and risk of bleed
out is in the high 20,000′s. We cut the prednisone and did another
blood test on the 26th which showed her platelets going back up. Kris
and I took off driving for Oregon the 27th. It took us 4 days to drive
the van with Kota and Tasha out. We arrived on the 30th.
When we arrived, Shadow greeted us at the door, but Pepper was in the bedroom on the bed. When I walked in there and 
looked at her, I knew her days were numbered. She was breathing heavy
and was so skinny. So very skinny. Her ribcage stuck out, her spine
was easily visible and her hips could be easily felt. Her breath was
also raspy, which Kris said was a new symptom.
We went to bed that night with her between us on the bed and for over
an hour, she lay panting between us, her breath heavy and raspy. We put
her on the floor where it was a little cooler and she seemed to breath
better. Kris called the e-vet and there was nothing they could do. She
hadn’t eaten the dinner that our friends had fixed for her.
The next morning, Kris and I talked about our options. We both felt
that, even though it was a hard decision, it was time to let her go.
Her breathing was labored and she was quite weak. She could walk on her
own, but was unstable. She was only interested in the most appetizing
foods, like my eggs for example. Eating, drinking and walking around
resulted in heavy panting. Each breath was shallow and hard on her.
Kris made the appointment and we spent most of the day with her.
Petting her, feeding her foods that she loved but would have never had
otherwise. When it was time, Kris carried her to the car and put her in
my lap. From there we went to McDonald’s and got her a cheeseburger.
She liked all but the ketchup and pickles. :)
She got to lay on an air bed at the vets while she went to sleep.
Kris and I on either side of her. Her breathing got so much better and I
knew we were doing the right thing, but oh it was so hard. So very
hard. I hugged her tight afterwards because I was afraid of making her
breathing worse had I done it before. Leaving her there was the hardest
part of all for me.
Pepper was a great dog. She was friendly to everyone and every dog
she met. She was more interested in laying on couches and eating food,
then in being petted or going for hikes.
I like to think that she is at the Rainbow Bridge with Niko and
Maggie and that as Kris said, there are no slick floors. No toenail
cutting and no walks or hikes. Just comfy couches and plenty of food
with the occasional tug game. And if she so desires, some agility.
Run free and breath easy girl. You will be greatly missed.
