My very first dog, Oreo, passed away today around 5:30pm. She was just 11 days shy of her 14th birthday.
Oreo at about 4:
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Oreo in October at 13:
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I picked Oreo out at 4 weeks as a birthday present; she came home at 8 weeks and we quickly realized that the other half of the "Lab mix" (her momma was a lab who wandered onto a horse farm 3 days before whelping 6 pups!) was likely Cattle Dog! Oreo and I didn't really see eye to eye those first few years, but we grew to understand one another over games of soccer in the backyard. She spent her days hanging out with our horses and she'd play with me, even eating the disgusting things I came up with - I still have my recipe for "Dessert Dogs" which included rawhide, cat food, horse feed, and clover buds lol!
Oreo moved with my family from Ohio to Indiana when she was three and she became a suburban dog, though she got to go on hikes and explore the woods with me periodically. The fall after our move she had her first gran mal seizure and was put on meds for epilepsy shortly thereafter.
Her epilepsy diagnosis spurred me into researching the disease and treatment and I eventually stumbled upon all the alternative treatments availble. The following Christmas I got my big herb book by the Tilman's that's been a valuable resource for years now. Oreo went on Milk Thistle, Vitamin E, and we switched her food. The food switch we think caused her "healing crisis" and suddenly she no longer needed her phenobarbital, just potassium bromide. She's been seizure free for at least 4 years now!
Oreo's Cattle Dog nature drew me to the breed and began my love affair with the "speckly dogs". I was drawn to my Maggie because she had spots like Oreo!
Oreo put up with the addition of Maggie to our family and the changes that occured because of her presence. I always felt guilty that Maggie got to be an inside dog, but Oreo never got the chance because of Maggie's dislike of her. Oreo didn't really suffer as an outside dog - she loved patrolling her yard and played soccer happily up until a bad series of seizures that sent her to the vets to stop her from going into status. After that episode the ball sat by the wayside, but she still enjoyed patrolling and curling up with our cat Snapdragon on the porch or in a sunbeam in the yard. When I was home, I always made sure to mix up a batch of oatmeal with apple and carrot chunks for her birthday - we bought dog biscuits to use as candles some years. She relished the special treatment, but the food was always gone in about 5 seconds. :)
I moved out after high school, but when I came home from college, or most recently from my job in SC, I always made it a point to check up on her and spend some time with her - she was never too thrilled about the affection but she sure loved the treats I brought her!
Oreo was her own unique being and I will never forget all that she has given me: a love of all things canine, a special liking for the "speckly dogs" (I now foster for ACD rescue), knowledge of the benefits of alternative medicine and good diets, and the understanding that each dog is different and learns just as differently.
Thank you Oreo - say hi to Major and Snap for me please - we love you!