Winston - The Power of Love - Dogs
A few years ago, I read a special story about the life and death of a dog and opened a space on my Blog called Dogs and Dying where people could post stories about the loss of their dogs. Not a week goes by without an entry. All posts are about the love and the loss of a person's dear dog. Now and then, I am sent a strory that is so moving that it takes my breath away. This is such a story.
We adopted Winston and Phyllis in January of 2003. We had been looking for two dogs since the fall of 2002. The pet adoption agency told us that they had just gotten a black lab puppy and a German Shepherd in. It was requested that they be placed together because the black lab's mother had died and the German Shepherd, although a male, had become the puppy's surrogate mother.
The German Shepherd's name was Mufasa (We renamed him Winston), after the Lion King, and the lab's name was Mittens (We renamed her Phyllis). We went to visit the dogs at the shelter several times before deciding to adopt them. Winston was very protective of Phyllis and would bark ferociously at me every time I approached her. We would be Winston's third owner and the second owner had informed the shelter that the original owner had abused him. Despite this, we decided to take both of them on a trial basis.
Since my wife was out of town the first weekend, I went to pick up Mufasa by myself on a Friday evening in late January of 2003. Mufasa immediately started barking at me. I grabbed his collar, put him on the leash I had brought with me, and took him out to my car. Winston never barked at me again. He started the ride in the back seat and by the end of the short ride home, he was riding shotgun. He seemed like a completely different dog. When we arrived at home, we went into the den of our house and Winston immediately jumped up onto the couch and sat in the spot that would become his favorite place. My wife came home on Sunday and we decided that we were going to keep them. We immediately asked the adoption place if we could change their names.
Since we liked the names of two previous dogs we had looked at, we renamed Muffasa to Winston, and Mittens to Phyllis. The names took immediately and they were the new additions to the family.
Despite his tough exterior, Winston was a very loving dog who loved to sit next to you on the couch and have his belly rubbed and go for walks. Throughout Winston's time with us, he was truly my dog. He would get very excited when my wife came home from work, but he would go completely ballistic when I got home.
Although extremely loving with us, he had severe stranger anxiety as well as separation anxiety. It became clear to us that Winston was a very insecure dog. So, we had our mission: to help Winston develop a sense of security and learn to trust others, so they could see what a wonderful dog he was.
Slowly he came out of his shell. He became very comfortable around our immediate family, especially my wife's sister, who is a huge dog lover like us. We worked very hard to give Winston the love and dedication he deserved. Winston was a dog who just wanted to please us. He didn't have to have us petting him all the time, or constantly begging for his attention- just to be near him was enough. He would always sit on his "perch" on the stairs when we were away so that he could guard the house and still be able to see when our cars pull in the driveway. When the dogs next door would come out into their yard, he would run to the door to be let out so that he could run up and down the fence, as they did the same on the other side, to play their game of "who can bark the loudest".
Winston was one of the sweetest dogs we have ever met. How many German Shepherds do you know who think they are a lap dog? While he did have his challenges, the good far outweighed the bad and we were lucky to have Winston, even for the short time. We think that God hand picked Winston for us because he knew that we needed him as much as he needed us. We worked very hard to give him the full life that he deserved. In return he gave us all of his love.
On Monday February 12, 2007, Winston started having seizures. This was very unexpected as he seemed healthy the day before and was just at the vet that Saturday. During his third seizure, which was less than 45 minutes from his first, he stopped breathing. Winston died at 8:08 p.m. in his favorite spot on the couch, with me at his side petting him. It was peaceful. It was almost four years to the day when he first called that spot "his" on the couch.
Winston, we will love you and miss you forever. Rest in peace sweet boy. We will see you again someday. We know that you are waiting on your "perch" in heaven waiting for us to pull into the driveway.
PRESENTED BY CLASSIC PETS
TRUE POST :Robert Paterson's Weblog
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