First warm days of the Year.

The bad weather has finally ceased and warm air has excited us all.  Sticks have been placed in a pile on our five acre property and the doggy doo, once hidden by the snow, has been uncovered and properly disposed.   Play sessions and walks have grown in length and intensity.  The whole pack loves being out now that the weather is breaking.  With the warm weather, the slippery surfaces have begun to fade and Langston’s three legged adventures of skating across the constantly reoccurring ice, had faded.

The week of wonderful weather continued so we decided to plan a hike the upcoming weekend.   Saturday arrived and we awoke and started getting ready for the hike.  The one thing I had not even considered was Langston.  I was aware that we were only hiking with Halle and Noodles, but did not think about, in detail, how this would affect my buddy.  Langston had not been able to work with us for over a week because of our current project.  Now we were loading up our hiking packs (which he is very familiar) and Halle and Noodles.  He refused to lie down and sat by the door.  This was heartbreaking.  Joshua and I both really needed to go for a long hike in the woods for our own psyche.  Halle and Noodles also deserved this privilege. Langston, since the amputation, has not been able to walk more than 1 mile.  It was still very difficult to leave Langston behind, the friend that has always accompanied me in the woods. 

Our van loaded, off we headed to the woods.  Tears shed for the first half of the drive.  I couldn’t erase the picture of Langston, confused and sad as to why he was being left behind.  The other upsetting topic in my mind was that the night before, Langston coughed.  The coughing has continued since Friday night.  Cancer in his lung is beginning to bother his breathing.  This seemed to come out of nowhere.   This hike, though joyful, was beginning to feel like a life transition.  I was leaving behind my friend, my hiking companion and moving on.  Guilt ridden, but also realistic I acknowledge that this unfortiunately is life.

Entering the woods, after the first mile, I was able to clear my mind and enjoy the moment.  I was walking with my wonderful husband, Halle, and Noodles.  The weather was pleasant for a February afternoon.  We walked a little over 3 miles in about 1 hour and realized that we, as well as our close to 10 year old Halle, were all a little out of shape.  We haven’t hiked a distance in awhile.  We arrived home and played outside for another hour with Langston and Cadet.  Even though I was heartbroken for leaving my best friend at home for a hike, he seemed untouched.  Dogs are amazing in dealing with life.   They roll with the punches without much complaint. 

Needless to say, I am aware that Saturday was a transition.  My friend is getting tired.  He is losing his everyday drive.   He is coughing.  Cancer is progressing at a faster rate than I had ever expected.  We still play fetch.  We still walk, but change is apparent.  He is beginning to lag behind; he is beginning to lie down for awhile between throws.  I know I must prepare myself.  I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that I will always treasure what I had with Langston.   He will forever join me on my hikes.  Maybe not in a physical presence, but he will always be with me.

My fourth dog, my friend.

 I never thought that any dog would ever touch my heart the way that Langston has touched mine.  Noodles is quickly working her way into the deep, hidden walls of my heart.  She has been a wonderful friend, companion, and a distraction walking into my life the day after finding out that Langston's cancer had moved into his lungs.

 We adopted Noodles from a friend.  He had a few dogs and Noodles had not seemed to fit into the dynamic of his pack.  We baby-sat Noodles last winter and realized that she did fit in well with our dogs, but we did not even consider her becoming a member of our pack.  That summer we found out about Langston's bone cancer.  Grief stricken, we approached our neighbor and asked what he thought about us adopting Noodles.  We asked him to think it over, and we wold revisit the topic at a later date.  In early January, everything with Noodles just fell into place.  Our friend was in need of some relief and we were in need of a major distraction after learning Langston's cancer had spread.

Noodles moved in on January 4th, and we immediately had a few issues to work through: kitty food, kitty poop, and tasty recyclables were all irresistible.  Issues not much different then those of our other lady of the house.  Halle has never been able to turn away kitty food or kitty poop.  After a few days of "no's" and constant reminders to ourselves to wash out recyclables, these problems faded.  Noodles quickly learned that some things were ok, others were not.  We still have to make sure the room to the cat box is properly secured.  Not just for Noodles, but for all the Toostie Roll fans in our home.

The next new adventure for Noodles was food.  I try at least four nights out of the week to have a home-cooked dinner for the dogs and they usually get yogurt in their kibble for breakfast.  The first night of real food, Noodles looked at her bowl as if I was trying to poison her.  She, like most pups, was used to kibble.  After trying breakfast with yogurt and real food dinners, I quickly had created a picky monster.  She started refusing plain kibble after a week.  Thankfully, she has changed this habit.  We also have a routine for feeding at our house.  Our dogs eat half their meal in the morning and the remainder in the evening, they wait to be given the command to begin eating and then they have 10-15 minutes to eat before the food is removed.  Like all our other rituals, Noodles quickly adjusted and has fit in better than I could have imagined with the rest of the pack.  Very smart, girl.

After giving Noodles time to adjust to the initial move-in, new food, new pack members, and her new daily routines, we began basic obedience training. Noodles had not appeared to have had any formal training before we adopted her.  She was well socialized and very friendly with people and animals, especially cats.  I have been certified in training dogs and thoroughly enjoyed my training sessions with Halle.  I was very excited to start training again with Noodles.  Joshua and I both started with basic commands: sit, down, stay, come.  After a few days of training, I was stricken with the training bug.  I searched the internet for a book on training that I had lost.  "Training your Dog. The Step-by-Step manual" by Joachim Volhard and Gail Tamases Fisher, a helpful guide on how to break down training sessions.  I realized that I had grown disorganized in a basic obedience training lessons.  The book arrived and lessons began.  Noodles is very intelligent and adores training sessions.  We train her constantly throughout a day and try to have at least one formal training session a day.  She has mastered the basic commands and we are beginning whistle training, follow, crawl, stand and rise.

 So, why all the crazy training?  We use training for bonding, attention, fun and distraction.  Also, Noodles is a runner.  She plagued her old owner with running away.  We hope through constant training that we can break her of this habit.  We have Noodles sit calmly and wait until we release her before she can go outside, though she is always leashed.  She has progressed so much since her initial days as our dog and we are hoping to take her to a dog park this summer for off-leash training and enroll her in agility training.

 Noodles like many things in life, has proven me wrong.  When finding out about Langston, I told Joshua I would never be able to love another dog with the same compassion that I do for Langston.  I have been graced with Noodles for less than two months and she is quickly moving into the same category as my favorite buddy.  Thankfully, Langston loves her as much as I do, and even allows her to cuddle with us during our special time in the morning.  The other dogs go downstairs and Langston and I sit and meditate for a few minutes.  Noodles, from day one, joined these meditations.  She is a special lady and I look forward to growing memories and experiences with this wonderful dog.

The Two Strangers

Joshua and Cadet.  Buddies!!

  Life was routine for myself and the three dogs. We had morning walks, evening walks and playtime.  Weekends were full of long walks, relaxing outdoors at a local coffee shop, fetch at the park.  I took the dogs with me wherever I could.  I had never spent a night without them.

 Langston, who was still angry about Cadet's arrival in my home, still had time alone with me.  We would walk every Saturday morning, roughly 2 miles to the Farmer's Market.  He would patiently wait for me outside the market.  I would quickly walk through, grab my produce, fruit and bread.  I always made sure to grab a baguette and blueberries, when in season.  Before our walk home, I would sip on coffee and we would both enjoy blueberries and bread.  This was probably one of my most favorite moments of every week.  I enjoyed our companionship and he enjoyed some alone time with me.  With 4 miles under our belt, Langston and I still had to walk Cadet and Halle.  So leashes in hand we headed off to the park.

  My routine continued until late spring.  In late Spring of 2004, I met my future husband, Joshua.  Life changed a lot for my dogs during this transition.  We would still go for our walks, but spent evenings over at Joshua's.  He had a large back yard so the pups and I would play fetch and have fun there, instead of the park.   Halle and Cadet took up with Joshua as if they had never known life without him.  Langston on the other hand, not so much.  Langston was very jealous.  He had always been the alpha male in the pack, the shoulder to cry on, the twinkle in my eye.  Who was this strange fellow and why was he taking time away from him, with me.  He was used to be the center of attention.  This was a difficult period of adjustment.

  Needless to say, we had a long road ahead.  Langston enjoyed Joshua's company, but was an emotional wreck inside.  He started having stomach disorders with vomiting and diarrheal. We later found out, this was Langston's way of showing me that he was jealous and unhappy. Time passed and Langston realized I was not going to leave him behind and he very much was still the apple of my eye.  He and Joshua are great friends now, but Joshua still gets grumbled at if Langston wants to be alone with me.

George

  Throughout all of the adjustments my dogs had to take by Joshua and I beginning a relationship.  Joshua's cat George had a bigger challenge.  George, the second stranger,  was not so sure about this women with the three dogs entering into his life.  He would watch us from afar for the first couple of months. He was a terror to other cats and didn't much tolerate dogs.  He would hiss if the dogs tried to interact with them or slap them in the face.  My dogs grew up around cats and have never fully understood why all cats don't like them.   Eventually, and 1 million slaps later, he tolerates the dogs.  He and I on the other hand are good buddies.  He will cuddle on me in the mornings and begs for me to groom him.  George acts somewhat like one of the dogs.  He walks with us on our property on a leash and lays by the woodstove with a dog Kong at his feet.  Even though we all had to adjust, we have all been treated to a wonderful life together as a pack.

Langston and Joshua at the Lakes in 2010. Langston was recovering from his amputation of his leg because of bone cancer.

   Joshua and George have brought so much joy into my life.  Joshua has helped me become a better, calmer person.  He has a wonderful attachment and love for our dogs, as well as they do for him.  Even Langston.  Many stories could be told about our meeting, as I am sure they will throughout the blog.  When we all became a family, I never realized just how important Joshua's support would be become.  Now that my dogs are seniors, I am unsure what I would have done without Joshua in my life.  The stress of aging is difficult.  My three dogs, not very long ago where spry, crazy pups.  Running around without a care in the world.  They are all entering the senior stage of their lives and all have some sort of medical issue.  Joshua's strength has been wonderful during some of the hardest times. Halle has chronic bronchitis.  There have been asthmatic fits that we were unsure if she would continue breathing.  Cadet has epilepsy.  This is very scary and would be very difficult for me to experience alone.  The seizures are frightening, but so is the unresponsive 105lb dog during and afterwards.  Langston was diagnosed with cancer last year.  Having Joshua as my shoulder to cry on, my friend to confide in, has made this all tolerable.  Animals are a joy, but their lives are short.  This makes loving them wonderful, but it can be painful.  I adore Joshua for his love for me and our pack.


Even though, Joshua started out as a stranger to my dogs, he is as close if not closer to them as I am.