| DUTCHESS |
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| I was looking for Grunt and had put an ad in the newspaper. I woke up and got a call from someone near Gibsonton. They said that they had found a male chow mix and maybe it was mine. So I drove over. There was Dutchess. She obviously was not a chow or male. The people in the neighborhood said she had been a stray there for about 2 to 3 weeks. She had scratches on her face and looked scared. The people told me you have to take her look, she has great teeth. They had given her a bath and were very nice and said they'd been feeding her. They told me to take her home and maybe she would replace my dog. I felt sorry for her and sure that my husband would kill me I took her home. She sat very close to me as though she thought I was going to throw her out of the truck. I got home and told my husband that I was going to give her to our neighbor or take her to the pound. You see a man had already given us a second dog and we didn't want three. That dog was huge and scared and wouldn't eat we found out, so we gave him back and kept Dutchess. Coincidently I picked up Dutchess on the day that my Grandpa Orin died. She stole my husband's heart. She was doing something bad and he got after her in the same way that he got after our puppy Bearon. She got very upset and would not come over to him until he said that he was sorry. Dutchess quickly showed Bearon who was queen of the castle. He was only allowed to eat after she was done. She did play with him, which helped him to leave me alone. He was happy and so was she. They are still good friends. She doesn't play in the same ways that he does. Beautiful the cat has told them both when they have gone too far. So Dutchess only chases her when they are outside. Her favorite activities are waking me up 2-3 times a night to go outside. She really likes those rawhide bones from Walmart. I get the 2 pack of 9" for $4.44. One for Dutchess and one for Bearon. She loves to get petted. She likes to kill lizards much to our horror. Unlike Bearon she stays home. She doesn't jump the fence or climb out but she does help him in his little escapades and then tells on him. February 22, 2005 We had to put Dutchess to sleep for trying to bite a child. She had been getting more and more upset with our children. She would nip at them alot. She also seemed to like them since she could get food under their highchairs. Nathaniel's cousin Davey was visiting with his nice family. His little 1 year old daughter went to hug Dutchess and she tried to bite her face. I was right next to them so I stopped her. That was the night before. The next day I called all the different pounds and some training places to see if I could teach her not to do this. Most told me I couldn't since she was a fear biter. She wasn't mean she was just scared. She had never tried to hurt Nathaniel or myself as long as we didn't try to touch her feet. I went to talk to a vet to have her evaluated to see what he thought. The vet thought she should be put down. He said we could try training but she would still be around the children during it and it would be a risk to our kids. He said I could try to keep her away from the kids but what quality of life would she have. I know she hated to stay outside by herself. I held her and cried and they gave me some time with her. I had her put to sleep while I held her. I then took her home and buried her next to Bearon. I was such a hard thing to do. March 16, 2005 I had a dream that I had dropped Dutchess off at Friends of Strays and they were set to put her to sleep this morning. I woke up and told my mother we are going to get our dog. She was like for keeps and I said yes. I ran there and got Dutchess right in the nick of time and saved her life. I woke up missing her more than ever. |