The Love Of My Life.
The Story Of My Saint Bernard Companions, And Queen Tyler Rose.
By Saintly Bernard.
I've always loved Saint Bernard Dogs, even as a child I was drawn to them,
as if something in a previous existence had caused me to make a spiritual
connection with them.
Queen Tyler Rose, was not my first Saint Bernard, Velvet was my first, and I
loved her with all my heart, as she did me, but her life was cut short by
Distemper, living only four and a half years.
After Velvet's untimely death, and the terrible grief that followed, the
next year I found someone selling a one and a half year old Saint Bernard
only a couple of miles away from my home, reluctantly I went to see her, and
brought her home, her name was Bo, and once again, I gave my heart to a dog,
to tear, Bo was such a good girl, but unfortunately I have only one picture
of her, even though she lived with me as my dearest friend and companion for
seven years, passing away six weeks before her ninth birthday, once again I
was all alone.
My brother saw the loneliness and heartache I felt over the loss of Bo, and
two weeks later he tried to help by bringing home two large white dogs one
for himself and one for me, one was a Great Pyrenees, which he gave to me,
her name was Samantha, but even though she was a big beautiful dog, somehow
we never seem to correlate, the bond of love never tied between us, her main
interest was out in the yard watching my sheep, and when she died at the age
of seven, the pain of her loss didn't seem so great.
During the time I had Samantha, and about a year and a half after Bo passed
away, I happen to see an ad in the Newspaper, someone was selling a six
month old Saint Bernard puppy, I decided to check it out.
I called the number on the newspaper ad, the lady selling the puppy lived
about fifty miles away, so I drove out to see them, when I got to the lady's
house I saw she was selling a Saint Bernard puppy and a young Great Dane,
but my eyes immediately fell on the Saint Bernard puppy, she was a gorgeous
puppy, despite her fur being full of cockle burrs, she was happy and healthy,
the name on her A.K.C. papers was Queen Tyler Rose, but I would call her
Tyler from that day on, it seemed that calling her Queen or Rose just
sounded funny, but calling her Tyler, seemed to fit, I paid $200.00 for her,
that was in October 1993, that was twice the price I had paid for Velvet in
1980 and Bo in 1985.
Tyler only weighted sixty pounds when I brought her home, but in less then
two years she weighed one hundred twenty five pounds, and was thirty inches
tall at her back hips, twenty nine inches at her shoulders, which was as
tall as my kitchen table, though she could easily put her head on my table
and take anything from it, she was good enough not to take things off the
table.
Sometimes Saint Bernards can have some unappealing characteristics, such as
slobber or a very drooping face, I remember on one of my sister's visits,
her saying that, Velvet was so ugly, she was beautiful, though that doesn't
seem to make a lot of sense, no one ever said Tyler was ugly.
Tyler was a dry mouth Saint Bernard, slobber had been the only thing I
didn't like about Velvet and Bo, but since Tyler didn't slobber, she was a
perfect Saint Bernard dog, why can't all Saint Bernards be bread to have dry
mouths?
On the other hand, Tyler had the longest fur of any Saint I had ever seen,
and she shed her coat every spring, I would groom her quit often during that
time of the year, combing her fur for almost an hour before going to bed
each night.
Tyler had a very sweet temperament, and never barked unless something was
really out there, unlike some dogs that seem to bark at nothing, when she
was young she was playful, but never more then I could handle, one day she
got so excited to see me she ran into the phone junction box breaking the
box off the wall, and crying pitifully, I comforted her as much as I could,
but she never got that playful again.
Tyler never had any puppies, so she had no descendents, just like Velvet
and Bo before her, Tyler chased away male dogs that courted her.
People were impressed by her size for example her front paws were the same
size as my hands almost 4 inches wide and she had no fear of strangers,
her friendly nature soon showed everyone that met her what a wonderful dog
she really was, I never worried that she would ever hurt anyone, and she
never did.
Owning a pet as big as myself is an awesome feeling, when Tyler was two
years old she weighed one hundred twenty five pounds, at the same time I
weighed one hundred fifty five pounds, having a dog that weighed only thirty
pounds less then I weighed was like having a companion, my own size.
There is a myth about Saint Bernards, and that is they eat a lot, none of my
Saints ate any more food then my brother's collies, Saints are not an active
breed, and once they are mature their need for food along with their
playful activities decreases, if you can afford to feed a mature Border
Collie, you can afford to feed a mature Saint.
Tyler liked to be around me, but was never underfoot, she liked being
outside, loved being under the trees out back, but she would come in and see
me all the time, and I was always glad to see her.
Dogs are very special that way, one that's with you all the time when your
home, and is happy to see you, even if you've had a hard day, it seems like
my troubles melted away at the site of Tyler's beautiful eyes.
Tyler was indeed exceptional, and was treated as such, I look at how people
will get a dog and tie it up in the back yard and just toss food to it on the
ground, and yell at it to shut up when it happily barks a greeting to their
owner, I consider that cruelty, a dog like that has a wasted life, why do
people get a dog if they don't love and care for it, a dog that loves it's
owner will give it's life to protect it's family, and even though the
human might not think of the dog as a close family member, as I do, the dog
will always think of you, as his family.
Tyler was my family, my loving companion, I loved her with all my heart, and
I know she loved me, she was my close friend for ten and a half years, I gave
her anything she wanted, and I kept her safe and happy.
Tyler's Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh birthdays were special, because she was
my first Saint Bernard to live so long, just before her Tenth birthday I
bought a video camera, and taped her Tenth birthday, we celebrated with
hamburgers for everyone, myself my brother and his dogs, all the dogs, Tyler
included, ate their hamburgers and spit the tomatos out on the floor,
apparently dogs don't like tomatos in their hamburgers.
I didn't videotape Tyler's eleventh birthday, I wish I had, we had a
birthday cake for her that year, she seemed so happy with all the attention
I paid to her, I just didn't think, that it would be her last.
Twenty short days later, Tyler passed away, she was now gone, forever.
Life can be so very cruel, I know everyone in the world has their burdens to
bear, from children who have lost their parents, to parents who have lost
their children, and to the TV news that is full of stories of whole families
that have been completely destroyed, death is so prevalent in our world, and
no one can escape it, sometimes it seems like sorrow is everywhere,
especially for me, right now, still some might be tempted to say, Tyler was
only a dog, Tyler may not have been human, but I loved her just as much as a
good father would love his wife and children, maybe to the rest of the world
Tyler was not that significant, but no matter what, Tyler was special to me,
and I miss her very much.
I try to think of the fortunate times we had together, like when I was
petting and grooming her, and of her happily greeting me when I came home,
even of seeing her sleeping under her favorite trees in my back yard, a yard
that now seems so deserted, so still, but then, the void of losing her is
everywhere, after all, she was more then just my pet and companion, she was
my family, she was... The Love Of My Life.
P.S.
To those of you who have lost a precious companion.
that breaks our hearts, and brings us woe,
so I send my deepest sympathy,
and my dearest hugs for you,
for I as well, share your heartache too.
Sincerely, Saintly Bernard.
This is Tyler when she was one year old.
If you too have lost that special companion in your life, The people that
made the Pet Loss Grief Support Website will understand your loss,
just as I do.
click here for the Pet Loss Grief Support Website.
� 2005 Saintly Bernard