My Priceless, Precious Princess

A favorite story of my little Dalmation Mix who thought she could tell a Deer what to do.

My Princess, I think was a one in a trillion dog.  I always referred to her as ‘my puppy,’ even though she was about ten years old.  And, although her name of record was Princess, I always called her Princie.  She was without a doubt the friendliest dog I have ever known.  And, one of the things that I was enamored of was her love of my grandchildren.  She didn’t mind anything that they did to her, she took it with humility and love.  She just didn’t have it in her heart to bite a child, or growl at one of them with hostility or threateningly.  She most likely, if she felt she was being harassed by one of them, would just get up and go get in her crate.  She didn’t think any of them could get in there with her, thus she would be safe inside.  But, my youngest grandchild that could crawl well by then,   would and on many occasions did, just crawl in the doorway of the crate and lay down beside Princie.  Well, that was alright by Princess, because she was not getting her hair or ears pulled anymore.  And, I think she didn’t want to do anything to one of them that I might not like.  And, if it was an unbearable situation she was in with one of them, she would just come over to me and squeeze herself behind my legs.  Then she would just look up at me with those big brown eyes, and waggle her tail as if to say, ‘please help me.’ But, the thing is about Princess is that she never growled, was menacing or bit any human being that ever came to the house or found themselves in her presence.  And the reason for this was simple, she knew she was more likely to get a treat if she was low key and friendly. 

Now many think that the Jack Russell Terrier is the most intelligent dog breed, but the American Kennel Club says that the 3 most intelligent dog breeds are (in order):  1^st:  Border Collie, 2^nd: the Standard Poodle, and 3^rd:  German Shepherd.  Vets list the following as the most intelligent:  1) Golden Retriever; 2) Australian Shepherd; 3) German Shepherd, and 4) Border Collie.  And, a third group listed the top 9 most intelligent dog breeds as:  1) Border Collie, 2) German Shepherd, 3) Labrador Retriever, 4)Golden Retriever, 5) Doberman Pincer, 6) Australian Cattle Dog, 7) Rottwieller, 8) Standard Poodle, and 9) Papillon.  Not a one of those three lists include the Jack Russell Terrier.

Also not listed by any of those three groups was the Dalmatian.  But that was what Princess was " well she was a Dalmatian mix.  But believe me when I tell you that Princess was quite intelligent.  She was well trained by her first owners, and while I didn’t know what all she was trained to do, she just showed us from time to time what she was able to do.  But the thing I appreciated the most is that from day one, she would let us know when she needed to go outside.  And, it wasn’t just that she let us know, it was how she let us know.  She never did her business inside the house, she knew she was supposed to go outside and take care of that outside.  I never, ever had a dog that did this.  Those dogs were dumb as dog …..

Now here is one of the ways that vets, trainers and the AKC tests dogs for intelligence.  Top intelligent dog breeds absorb commands in less than five repetitions, and obey them 95% of the time or better.  Well, I can’t tell you where Princess ranked inside of that measure protocol, but I knew just by how she listened to me, how she seemed to know what I was telling her to do, or where to go.

And what always made me know that she was intelligent was the way she could communicate.  And the most ingraciating thing that she did every time she thought I was scolding her, was that she would comply with what I told her to do, and then when she got where I wanted her to be she would hang her head down and look so sad.  She seemed to be saying ‘I am so very sorry that I let you down.’  And she would look that way until I would go over to her and pet her for several minutes, and then she would know that I wasn’t mad at her.  As soon as I would go to her and pet her, she would perk right back up and she would sit up, start wagging her tail, and her eyes would light up.  Many a time, she would come over to me, and get behind one of my legs, so that I would pet her.  And, once she got her petting she was alright again.  I think one of her biggest signs of intelligence was her ability to understand my words and the inflection in my voice.  Princess never ignored me for very long, maybe until I told her a second time.  Then she would comply even though it hurt her feelings that I was telling her to do something when she did not want to do it, but because I told her, she would comply. 

Never had a dog like her before, and I know because she was one in a trillion, that I will never be so fortunate again.  Princess:  My best friend.  I will always remember how sweet a little dog you were.  Putting her to sleep was the most despicable thing I have ever had to do.  And, although it was the humane thing to do For her, it was absolutely the most grievous thing I have ever had to do.  Because she was my best friend, I will hate myself for letting them put her to sleep.  And, I often wonder if I was the last person she ever thought of just before she closed her eyes for the last time.  And, what did she think of me as she took her last breath.  I will never get over signing those papers.  And, I will never get over having to walk away from her for the last time.   Of every bad, despicable, or evil thing I ever did in my life, signing those Euthanasia orders was the most painful thing I’ve ever done.   I am so sad these days.  I have lost the joy I had every day that she was a part of my life.  And, now I can’t stand to be in the family room and look at the place on the floor where she laid on her palette.

 

I miss my Priceless, Precious, Princess so much.  Until, I return my breath to its source, there is no way that I can see my way past this most awful day:  May 2, 2017.   And, there is no way known to science and medicine to heal this giant hole in my heart.  She had no problem earning a place in my heart, but on that inglorious of days, she was horribly ripped from it.

There were many funny stories I could tell you about Princie.  She was a 55 pound dog.  So, when she was out in the back yard, I guess she thought that she was ‘in charge,’ and everything out there was under her dominion.  Unfortunately, we had deer!   And, for a while escaped Princie that they were all bigger than she was.  Now, on one occasion. She went out the back door and bounded down he back steps out into the yard.  She didn’t notice the buck at the lower edge of the yard.  And, about the time it edged into the lowest part of the back yard, Princie scanned the yard and caught  sight of the buck and began her ear shattering report of the miscreants penetration into our, but more importantly her domain. Now, her next move was a 10 foot charge with a sudden abrupt ground claw to stop her forward progress at the animal.  Well, to say he least would be to say that the deer was not amused at Princies’ charge and howling report of it’s progress into the yard. 

Now, the goal of the deer was to get to the luscious leaves of a 20 foot Pear Tree just at the edge of the yard.  And, Princie’s report probably angered the deer thinking that this stupid little ‘dog thing’ was going to bite it, or run it out of the yard.  Well, since, Princie’s first charge didn’t have the desired effect, she tried it again.  This time getting to wihthin about 15 feet of the now agitated deer.  Princess was now 35 to 40 feet from the back steps and back porch.  And, what happened next was not only funny, to a degree, but scary as well.  For, in a matter of three seconds, the deer lowered it’s head to the ground and began this low bellering sound.  It had some fear in it, but mostly it was the overarching warning tone that was in it that scared Princie he most. 

Princie turned tail and immediately began her 50 foot dash to the back porch.  It was nose to tail for the last 20 feet, Princie just barely staying out of reach.  About the time, Princie’s first paw hit the lowest step, the deer managed to brush Princie’s tail.  Now, this caused Princie to let out her out heavily laden beller.  She was without a doubt in a great deal of fear.  In a matter of three steps, Princess had ascended the five steps and was on the back porch.  But that did not stop the deer from advancing.  The deer hit the back steps at full gallop and had it not had a fairly wide rack of antlers would have come up the steps as well, but being caught in the side railing of the hand rail, discontinued its assault on Princie and went back down the steps and back into the yard.  It stopped, looked up and glared at Princie and my wife, for several seconds before giving up, turning away and walking off.  It went out of the yard rapidly and was never seen again.

I am not sure Princie was feeling very confident by the conclusion of the event.  But, I will say that as soon as I got her back into the house and petted her for a time, comforted her and consoled her, she was okay, happy and ready to be fed, treated and petted.  I did that for her, and she was fine.  

Now, I am not sure that that had anything to do with her respiratory, breathing issues that developed very soon after hat, but she developed a heart murmur within 30 to 45 days and then she couldn’t respirate very well and the situation got out of control within a couple weeks.  The vet said she could give Princie some mediations at increasing rates but they would not save her life or even allow her life to be measurably extended.  Those meds could only make her life more comfortable, but she would still be in distress and miserable, weak and generally tired and listless, unable to draw in a deep breath.   There was nothing I could do to help my buddy, and so the most compassionate thing I could do was to let her go.  She had been too wonderful of a pet, to leave in that condition  when she did not have to suffer.  For days, afterward, I cried my heart out, shattered by her loss.  And now, six months later, I am in a hospital fighting for my life with a brain tumor and hemorrhage.  Now, I wonder, when I get to the point I can’t be helped will someone pull the plug on me and allow me to pass on with dignity and compassion.  I hope I don’t have to suffer.  We humans have long maintained that we should not suffer animals to live like that.  COMPASSION, yes.  But it is mostly illegal to commit the act of Euthanasia on a human. Can someone tell me why we humans as higher life forms deserve less dignity, less compassion.  But even as we humans impose our compassionate form of living and dying on animals, why can’t we say this.  Pain is nothing to be aggrandize and certainly nothing to ‘rise to the occasion over’.  If we can be compassionate over our animals, and end their suffering when the time comes, can’t we also be magnanimous and say of our human loved ones that well “WE SHOOT HORSES, DON’T WE.?