When we picked up two dogs on the side of the road, we had no idea just what we were in for. When I saw the little puppies, I thought that it would be best to keep the litter mates together. However, Stephanie brought me around to see reason and we took two cute little Rottie puppies home and named them Indy and Rascal.
Now, they said that keeping litter mates together would keep them from developing their own personality. Indy says WOOOOOOOOOOO to that and Rascal poops on the notion. Those two had some serious personality. Indy was always ready to play a little tug and pull with you and loved to try to talk back. Rascal some days looked like she was going to actually use words to tell you off. Talk about a dog that could carry a grudge. But, they weren’t going to have their own personality.
Oklahoma was highlighted by damage and daring. Those two dogs did more damage in the house in Shawnee than all the other places combined. After putting a hole in the bathtub, Rascal decided that the best way to let me know how she felt about being caged at night was to take a hole out of our couch. And don’t let them dig those nails into the woodwork. WOW!! It was in Shawnee where they most wanted to explore the world much to their detriment. It cost them a night in the pound. Lucky for them, that was the worst of their punishment.
Life after Oklahoma settled down a little. However, life was far from peaceful. The dogs loved to get into everything and eat anything. Indy usually had no trouble eating crazy stuff. However, Rascal had trouble getting the non-food items passed. Chasing her around trying to get nylons out of her buns was an experience I’ll never forget.
All too soon it seemed we reached the holidays of 2005. Caitlin was just turning 8 months old. Indy was diagnosed with cancer in the liver and spleen. Once we saw how damaged her system was, we knew it wasn’t going to be long. Her battle with cancer lasted about a month longer than we thought it would. She would be lost in January of 2006. She just couldn’t go on and we knew at that point she needed to go home to God.
Now at this point we had every concern that Rascal would lose her mind. Frequently, litter mates who live their whole lives together cannot bare to lose their siblings and go downhill quickly. Rascal was much stronger than we knew. She knew it was time for Indy to go. She was able to cope much better than we could have imagined. She said her goodbyes and moved on and lived her life.
Rascal had nearly five years after Indy went. She did very well over that time even though she was a little less spirited. She did manage to maintain her attitude. Rascal lived with arthritis in her knees and hips and had some days that were better than others, but she managed to do well over the past few years. We thought her time came this past Mother’s Day when she had her first seizures. She once again proved us wrong and showed her resilience. However, when she had another seizure Wednesday night, that would be the beginning of the end. Yesterday, the seizures came too frequently to be controlled or maintained by any medicine. She went home to join her sister with God this morning around 1 am.
Words cannot express what those two meant to us and I cannot begin to thank everyone for all the help we had in raising those mutts. They touched many lives and will be missed by more than just us here in this house. I do rest easier tonight knowing that their pain is past and they are together again with God.
God bless and keep Indy and Rascal. We love you very much.
Love,
Bryan, Stephanie and Caitlin
