An Unconditional Love

by Tina~in_ut

Scully

Nikki

Blue

I’ve never understood the need to have a dog. I never really understood the need to rescue them. I didn’t have a dog growing up. We had cats. Dad brought a puppy home once, but it was way too much trouble and he took it back. When Katrina happened and everyone was displaced and so many people needed a place to live, I was infuriated when I kept receiving unsolicited emails from a co-worker asking for volunteers to take in the dogs that had been displaced. DOGS!!! I thought it was a joke. There were so many PEOPLE who needed help. And don’t get me started on aborted babies. Get people to stop aborting babies and maybe I’ll donate money to Strut Your Mutt. It is unreal to me that we have people that need taking care of and there are those that are worried about animals.

Then Draco happened. I didn’t want a dog, but hubby was sneaky. He got me a cat first. We had all three of our kids by then, so it was four to one. I lost and we got Draco. He was two years old and the twins were four. They fell in love with him. Me……not so much. Everyone told me what a good dog he was and how lucky we were to have him. The kids grew up and Draco got older. My husband and daughter were the most attached to him and he to them. Last August, hubby took Draco to see the vet because something just wasn’t right with him. We were told he had congestive heart failure. We changed his diet and helped him up and down the stairs when needed. Around Thanksgiving he could barely use his back legs and couldn’t control his bowels. I thought he would be gone before the holiday, but he made it through. Hubby and the kids went back to school. One morning shortly after, I was woken up by a phone call. Hubby said that the neighbor called him at work to say that Draco was outside whimpering, laying on the cement in the snow and couldn’t get up. I ran outside and it was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. My neighbor had to come over to help me get Draco back into the garage. I put a blanket over him and laid with him to warm him up. His legs were all bloody and he was so skinny. I called hubby back and told him that tomorrow was the day. I wasn’t going to have Draco suffer anymore. It was cruel to keep him any longer.

Draco

My daughter stayed up all night with Draco, sleeping off and on in the family room. She had gathered all her pictures of him to make a collage. The next morning, hubby took the boys to school as they did not want to go to the vet. I stayed home from work to be with hubby and my daughter and support them. I had no idea how hard it was going to be. We had to wait so long in the waiting room. It took forever. When we were taken into a room, my daughter decided that she couldn’t stay, so she went to the car. I was torn between staying with my husband and going to take care of my daughter. I’m so glad I stayed. My husband does not cry. That day he cried. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, “I didn’t think it would be this hard.” It was then that I finally realized what Draco truly meant to him.

Life went on and for Christmas I bought two large frames that would hold at least 9-12 pictures…..one for hubby in brown and one for my daughter in white. I filled them with all the pictures I could find of Draco. On Christmas morning, I gave them their gifts and you could see how touched they were….especially hubby. I even had a spot picked out in the family room for his……which is a 180° change for me from before. I would have normally told him to put it in his office.

My daughter’s friend got a boxer puppy and, in the Spring, asked us to dog sit for a week. Watching Boomer was an eye opener. Not so much because of the silly dog himself, but because of how my husband and daughter reacted to him. I saw that we needed another dog in the family. There is a difference between need and want. This was need! I learned two lessons that week. We would be getting another dog and it would not be a puppy!

Tucker

I came home from work one night last week to find Tucker living with us. He is a two year old Boxer. Where Draco had a white face, Tucker has a black one. My daughter is completely in love with him. He has already become very attached to her. I hope we have many years with him. I have to reluctantly admit that he is just a tad cute……but please, don’t tell my family I said that!

So now I understand the need to treat pets as part of the family. I understand the need to rescue pets. I may not become a “dog person”, but I can appreciate the need for them and the unconditional love that they give and receive.