Stifle is not something the average dog lover is familiar with. I know I wasn't and this is the definition I came across when I Googled it,
"The stifle joint is a complex joint in the hind limbs of quadruped mammals such as the sheep, horse or dog. It is the equivalent joint to the human knee."
Ginger started out as a foster dog that we fell in love with and adopted, she was a Boxer / Border Terrier mix and she truly was a very sweet and loving dog. I had been giving her supplements and she also had her hips adjusted a few times. In the end, she could no longer stand up and we knew it was our time to let her go and we did.
Ginger was a big girl weighing 97 pounds but she was a couch potato long before that and in general was more of a lover than an athlete. She loved to nap on the front porch in the sun and would lay there for hours. We didn't want her final moments to be stressed by being carried into the Vet's office
so we parked behind the practice and she passed away very peacefully in the back of our station wagon. Our Vet is very good and though a very sad experience it was done very gently and for that we will always be grateful.
We knew her time was coming and we tried to be as emotionally prepared for her passing as we could. I cried the whole way home and for many days afterwards. Our two remaining dogs mourned her passing and I couldn't get either of them to eat for awhile.
The picture below is probably my favorite of Ginger.
While trying to organize all the pictures I had taken of her over the years, I came across a video that I didn't remember taking. I must have taken it with my compact camera at one point and not knowing what I was doing it turned out very dark.
As I watched it, I somehow managed to capture Ginger's personality and for the first time in days, I smiled.
The house seemed so much quieter with her gone and some how even larger.
We were still in the adjusting to life without Ginger phrase when Emma got hurt. Emma was also 10 and she was a Great Dane / Lab mix that I rescued from a very bad place. She looked like a miniature Great Dane and had the body of a true Olympian.
She was the athlete out of the three and over the years had caught and well, lets just say she could of survived on her own in the wild. For the record I like it to be known that I always knocked loudly on the back door before letting her out to give the wildlife a head start to get out of her yard.
Emma was sweet, gentle, loving and very smart. She learned everything I wanted to teach her very quickly, heeled perfectly off lead. I never needed a leash on her and due to a slight disability that I'll explain later, she never, ever, left my side. She was the family pet, but she was totally devoted to me.
Every morning she wake up bright and early, way too early for my liking, but she had all the enthusiasm of a young child, Christmas morning and every morning was Christmas morning to her.
She be bouncing all over the place trying her best to get me into her holiday mood. She made me laugh all the time and being homebound we spent a lot of time together. She was muscular and yet dainty, she was very sweet, gentle and kind. I could take one look at her and tell you if she wanted to go out, have a treat, play or just lay next to me. Her relationship with me was one on one, don't get me wrong, she listened to my husband but she was a mama's girl and I'll be the first to admit, I spoiled her.
I was overly protective of her, she was so thin when I rescued her and had been horribly neglected and abused by a very over weight, little boy. The boy was about 8-10 years old and looked like he was a good 60 pounds if not more over weight. I imagine he was probably the last kid in school to be picked for any team sport, he was loud, cruel and had a couple of friends that were just plain mean.
Oh alright, I'll admit it, I babied her and in my eyes she could do no wrong but the first 10 weeks of her life she didn't have enough to eat, limited water, slept in a broken washer in a tiny, self made pen with less than 5 feet to move around. I had to crawl over broken cars, bags of trash and a ton of broken glass to reach her. The owner's mother couldn't give me her oldest son's puppy fast enough.
My heart absolutely broke when I saw how she had lived during her short and impressionable 10 weeks. I was probably way beyond over protective of her and for almost 10 years she never, ever left my side.
Sadly she did pass away from her injury. Both my husband and I, really thought she would recover.
She also was taken for a few adjustments and even started to wag her tail again. She never fully recovered from her injury and one morning, she just wouldn't stand or walk anymore. Up to that point, she also had stopped eating and drinking.
So 8 weeks after Ginger being put down, we had to put Emma down too.
I absolutely fell apart, was completely devastated and cried non stop for days. I was inconsolable to the point my husband spent many hours at the local bookstore, drinking coffee and reading.
I was beyond normal grieving, I was heading down the sad path of a nervous breakdown. I didn't want to talk to anyone, no e-mails or communication with the outside world. I cried almost non stop for 12 days straight.
The night before Emma was put down, she looked fine and even wagged her tail. I got her to eat some scrambled eggs and was totally unprepared for her rapid decline over night. When I woke up on April 4th, I had awaken early, got dressed and was going to get her back and neck another adjustment.
Back to the Vet we went and Emma passed away in the back of our Station Wagon the way Ginger had just a short time before. The days afterwards, everything seemed like a huge blur and I was literally heart sick. Didn't want to eat, drink or sleep, I was numb all over and felt like I was in a bad dream and couldn't wake up.
I was traumatized and in total shock when I saw her condition when I woke up. The picture below of Emma is my favorite.
Our last dog Rosie, who is also 10 was very close to Emma and her whole personality changed with her gone. She stopped eating and took up permanent residence under the bed. We actually had taken Rosie with us when we put Emma down so she would know that Emma was not coming home.
That night she was sad and hardly ate and by the following morning she was a whole different and very sad dog. Neither of us were much comfort to the other and my husband had returned to work.
The house seemed even quieter and Rosie didn't even bark when a neighbor rang the door bell.
Not only didn't she bark, she stayed under the bed and had no interest in whomever was at the door.
Rosie is an incredible watch dog and very little gets by her and seeing her as sad as I was, did not help.
The picture above was taken of Rosie several days later after I blocked her way of crawling under the bed.
Not knowing what to do with myself I started looking around petfinder.com, I'm not sure if I was doing it more for myself or more for her and I felt worse because there were so many dogs that needed a good home.
I actually felt guilty about looking at other dogs and prayed about it that night after thanking God for making Emma pain free and well again.
The next morning I remembered that my sister-in-law had actually adopted a dog off of craig's list awhile back and decided to take a look at it. I looked at it a few days and then started bouncing back and forth between it, petfinder.com and all the local rescues.
I continued to pray and asked God to guide me if I should or shouldn't get another dog, at this point feeling absolutely awful and unfaithful to Emma. Then I just knew Emma wouldn't want me to be alone and knew how much I missed her, she would want me to save another dog, like I saved her and give it a good home.
So I really started looking at the dogs and puppies when I came across this picture on craig's list.
Two week old Great Dane puppies who had been born the day after we put Emma down. I have wanted a Great Dane my entire life and contacted the owner by e-mail. The owner was taking deposits for her litter and I was thrilled to see that she was actually located about a 15 minute drive from where my husband and I live.
On April 16th, my husband and I went to take a look at the puppies and their parents and I believe the pictures below will shed some light on how well that visit went.
For years I had an on going list of puppy names for the Great Dane puppy I someday hoped to have and loved the name "Emmett". I wanted a strong, male name and knew I would want a male puppy.
So the name "Thor's Thundering Emmett" has been stuck on a piece of paper, held by a magnet on our refrigerator for a long time.
The first time I held Emmett he grabbed my bottom lip and started sucking on it, I knew then, I had found my puppy and smiled for the first time since Emma's passing.
Emmett's name has nothing to do with Emma. Last year I had seen a TV show where a character's name was Emmett and I really liked it.
So at this point I like to thank God for guiding me to my Emmett even though I already thanked him in prayer. I also knew that I would be making a puppy album for him.
On the first day of every month, I will take his picture, weigh him and document everything he's experienced in a journal. It's a wonderful keepsake that will be filled with precious memories. I've been known to tape a couple of baby teeth within the pages. As the years pass, the journal will be priceless and greatly treasured.
I also have decided to create a blog for Emmett as he grows up.
As I finish my first post, tomorrow I will be moving the furniture around in the Den so I can find the perfect spot for Emmett's crate.
My husband is also looking forward to Emmett's arrival. So here ends my first post and I'm sorry that it's so long but it was important to me to explain, how and why we came across a beautiful Mantle puppy lovingly named Emmett.
Being the proud mother (we weren't blessed with children) I've already had prints made of Emmett to show my neighbors. I don't know who's luckier, me for having Emmett or Emmett for having me.
God is good and much thanks to my Ginger and Emma who were incredible and deeply loved.
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