My husband and I first met Grizz at the Bonita, California, South San Diego County Animal Shelter in the year 2000. It’s impossible to put into words how much I immediately loved him. From the first day, I tell others, Grizz and I were soul mates.
Grizz was the biggest, meanest looking, red Doberman pinscher, I had ever seen! He was so big he hardly fit in the kennel. Grizz couldn’t stretch out in his enclosure he was so big and right away my heart went out to him and his predicament. We quickly found the shelter staff employee and I remember saying, “I want THAT dog”. When the employee put Grizz on lead, he could hardly maintain control of the big dog, Grizz was straining so hard to move forward. We then introduced Grizz to Lucy, our other rescue dog at the time. When Grizz saw Lucy, he immediately went down into a play stance, indicating to me all would work out fine with the pack.
Very little was known about Grizz and the only thing the shelter employees could tell us was, his name was Grizz and he was relinquished by his owner. He was not a young dog at the time, maybe even 6 or 7 years old. Observing Grizz, it became obvious he had had a caring owner, since Grizz was the sweetest, gentlest dog I had ever known. My guess is that the owner relinquished the dog when Grizz began to exhibit medical problems and perhaps the owner couldn’t afford to help him out. Regardless, Grizz was abandoned by his family when Grizz needed them the most – I think about this all these years later and I feel nothing but gratitude for being able help this wonderful dog have a good, “rest of his life”. He was such a nice and wonderful being.
At the time Grizz came to live with us, both my husband and I were working in the high stress environment of federal law enforcement and frankly, I was distracted and removed from the everyday beauty and calm awareness of the wonders of our natural world. Grizz changed all this for me. Ed and I had been “rescuing” and caring for older dogs in need since we married in 1988 so we had had many experiences with wonderful dogs, but no other animal “spoke” to me like Grizz. As it became apparent his health was declining, each moment we could be together was golden and wrought with special meaning for me. I could sense myself beginning to understand what it meant to live in the moment and to understand how God lives in all things. I so enjoyed coming home to Grizz and spending time with him – it was a joy I had never experienced before. How we loved riding in the truck together! How I wished he could have told me about all his past adventures!
One particularly fun experience happened when Ed and I took Grizz and Lucy on “vacation” to the Grand Canyon. He enjoyed his adventure so much, Ed and I still laugh out loud with delight when we recall the fun we had. Apparently, Grizz had never been around “tall trees” and squirrels before this trip because, the first time out of the car, underneath the tall pines seeing squirrels, he was completely filled with joy and pure happiness. He seemed to immediately associate the two together: trees and the fun of chasing squirrels. As a result, whenever he saw a tall tree out the window of the vehicle, Grizz became as animated and happy as he did when he actually was able to see and chase squirrels outside. Every tall tree Grizz saw for the rest of his life filled him with absolute happiness – what a wonderful lesson about finding and feeling the “joy of the moment”.
Among other medical issues, Grizz had Dilated Cardiomyopathy. This occurs when the heart chambers become enlarged and the walls of the ventricles become thin, so much so, the heart muscle weakens and eventually fails. This disease affects giant sized dogs and males primarily, including the Doberman pinscher breed. We called in the best veterinarians to treat Grizz and the highly esteemed Helen Woodward Animal Care and Education Center, located in Rancho Santa Fe, California, took an especially careful and focused interest in him. For the last 6 months of his life, he received specialty veterinarian care and actually assisted researchers in learning more about how to curb the progression of heart disease for future dogs in need.
After all these years, I still miss my friend with the same intensity I felt when we had to say good-bye for the last time. The scene with Grizz on his bed, so ill, and Ed and I telling him he was “a good boy”, will never be erased from my memory. I’ll never forget how Ed stayed with him for hours before we could finally make the decision to let Grizz go.
While he was with us, I spent many hours talking to Grizz and asking him to come back to me someday. I think now, after all these years and time to contemplate the wonder of his existence, he never left me. I believe this because after all this time, the lessons learned remain with me about surrendering to the pure joy of living in the moment and about the gratefulness I still feel when in the presence of such wonderful creatures. I also believe Grizz never left me because over all this time I have been gripped with a persistent need to do something on behalf of animals and to help relieve their suffering. Now every effort I make on behalf of THE GRIZZ PROJECT of Magdalena Aiding Animals, Inc, is made in his honor. Honoring Grizz and his ilk is what THE GRIZZ PROJECT is all about.
Marguerite Sweeney
July 2010
Near Magdalena, NM
No comments:
Post a Comment