Whistling In the Dark
The Day that God Took My Whistle Away
I think it was sometime in the month of May 1996 that I discovered I had a whistle and that it would become quite useful.
That was the time that Jake, the goofy Golden Retriever that my son had bought, came to visit our house in North Carolina. Our son, Eric, had been transferred to Atlanta, Georgia from Florida and was living in an apartment in the 礎urbs when he decided to get a new pet. Having already had a rather large lizard and an African Grey parrot, he now decided to get a dog. Since he was living in an apartment, one would think that a small dog would fit the bill, but alas that was not the case. In fact he got a 10 week old Golden Retriever that was chocolate brown in color and all legs and no balance.
Jake came to visit one day just to be shown off and let run in the woods since the apartment was getting smaller each and every day. In fact our son said that he was having a tough time with Jake since he was working at least 14 hours a day and it was getting hard to find time to play with him. He asked if Jake could stay with us for a few days until he could get situated in the new job and apartment. My answer was 的f he is here a week, he stays here. I didn稚 think it was fair to the dog or us to get used to the new life style and then have to leave. Of course I didn稚 think it would turn into a 13 year friendship that would bring both happiness and sadness to both of us.
From the start, Jake was a wanderer. He would check out every tree (and we had many) on our property and soon discovered that other animals lived and played around our house. Squirrels, birds, rabbits, deer, turkeys and sometimes even a bear or two would meander through the grounds much to Jake痴 dismay since most didn稚 like his attempts at playing since it mostly consisted of his running after them and them trying to get out of his way. I could see that this was going to be a long hard trial sleepover.
Because Jake loved to run, it became evident that some type of communication between him and I was necessary since the normal method of shouting was not having any affect upon his decision making. That痴 when I found out that a good loud whistle would get his attention and make him stop running long enough to see me frantically waving my arms at him. Suddenly everything reached a State of Zen. Jake could do whatever he wanted but only up to the point that I whistled loud, long and with conviction. Then to my amazement, Jake would stop what he was doing, turn and look in my direction, size up the importance of my whistle and then run straight at me.
As I said before, he was all legs and no balance. So much to the extent that if he came running at you, you best had been prepared for his failure to stop and his inevitable crash. As a puppy, this was not a problem, but as time and pounds increased his crashes into one痴 legs could result in both Jake and his target hitting the ground and not necessarily in that order.
One time when he was chasing a squirrel, he forgot to look where he was headed and ran straight into a tree, knocking himself unconscious for several seconds. In fact, I actually thought that he had broken his neck but when he slowly got himself up on four legs again and began shaking off the whole experience, I knew that being hard headed was a proud feature of his hunting abilities.
Jake grew up being the Alpha male of the area since every other dog was a fixed female and we were too far out into the sticks for him to meet other dogs except the ones that passed through on a 祖oon hunt or when some good ole boy put his dogs on some deer and wanted to run them before bear season.
One of our neighbors liked to take daily walks and if they encountered a stray dog they would give them a dog treat just to remain on their good side. The only problem with this was that sometime they would follow the neighbor home to get more treats. Now since Jake also got treats from this neighbor when he made his daily 壮afety checks of everyone痴 house, it presented a problem or two when they both decided to get the same treat.
The strays were ok by themselves, but when two or three of them got together they could develop a pack mentality that was foreign to Jake痴 sense of fairplay.
One day four of them showed up while I was visiting the neighbor with Jake and the problems started quickly.
Two of the dogs were large well conditioned mixed breeds that one knew just by looking at them that they had been fending for themselves for quite some time and were obviously quite successful. The other two were smaller but no less formidable in their abilities to handle themselves in 租oggy world?
The one called Cinnamon was the aggressor even though he wasn稚 the largest or the fittest. He was however the first one to start a fight when in the pack. That is just what happened this day.
Jake had seen all of the dogs before but usually they were alone or with one other dog; never all together like today. Prior to today there was never any trouble and most times Jake and the dogs would tolerate or even play with each other, but not this day. Cinnamon immediately began growling and circling Jake. This only roused the others into the pack mode and the soon circled Jake and were now all growling and snapping at his rump.
This type of behavior was totally unknown to Jake since he was used to playing or running with any dog that came his way. Fighting was not his style since he was more used to defending the females or his teddies from overzealous grandkids than mean dogs. I did not like what was happening and tried to get Jake away from this group but was unable to before the fighting began.
Cinnamon was the first to attack and bite Jake on his backside. Jake spun around more out of shock than pain. The four then attacked at once trying to get Jake onto the ground. The two largest, Naughty and Dixie went for his head and neck while Cinnamon and Stumpy tried for his rear. I ran to get a hose and a piece of 2 x 4 to use against the pack.
Now up to this day I had never seen Jake exhibit any signs of meanness but that was about to change. I don稚 know to this day if Jake saw me running and thought that the dogs were after me and he went into protect mode or whether he just had had enough of being picked on and decided to show then who really was boss around our parts, but he seemed to suddenly grow a foot taller and get several pounds heavier. His eyes got a look that I had never seen before and hoped I would not ever see again. His first act was to grab Cinnamon by his neck and pick him off the ground and pin him to the neighbor痴 garage wall. I could see that Cinnamon was becoming limp from lack of oxygen even though the other dogs were biting at Jake痴 legs and backside.
I yelled for Jake to let the dog go but that had no effect so I had to spray him with the hose and stick the board between him and the other dogs. I kept yelling for Jake to leave Cinnamon go and tried to put the hose into his mouth to act as a release force. Jake suddenly dropped Cinnamon who just lay there for several seconds before gasping for breath and slowly rising and walking away. Jake then spun into Naughty and grabbed him by his ear nearly ripping it off. Naughty suddenly had had enough and yelped away while Dixie retreated without suffering any injury. Poor Stumpy had bad timing to now nip Jake on his rump and face his full fury. Luckily I still had the hose and 2 x 4 and kept Jake a bay until Stumpy could quickly leave the yard.
I was finally able to get Jake calmed and we left to return to our house. I treated Jake痴 minor wounds and we sat on the porch surveying our domain. The dogs never again came around in more than pairs and Jake never again was challenged. For both his and other痴 sake, I was glad it ended this way.
Jake had his ups and downs over the next 12 years and it was the norm for me to whistle long and loud from the porch whenever I wanted him to come home from wherever his was visiting. I retrospect; it is strangely eerie how far travels in the mountains sound. No matter where Jake was or what he was doing, when he heard the whistle, he wound come bounding home with his head held high and his tail flowing in the breeze. No matter how mad I got at him for being gone so long or not doing what I wanted, just the sight of his proud walk down the dirt road was enough to make one forgive and forget.
Jake had his health problems also. He developed canine epilepsy and had to take Phenobarbital and Milk Thistle to maintain his body chemistry and Glucosamine Sulfate for his joints. The strange thing was that my Physician prescribed Glucosamine for me also since I had knee problems and needed a replacement. He was subject to seizures and this really scared me when he was left alone at home since his first seizure made him run headfirst into our fireplace. It seems dogs don稚 know what is happening to them and they try to run away from the feeling.
Mostly when these seizures occurred, I would rub Jake on his head and try to comfort him until the event was over and he would relax and sometimes sleep. When his age got into the double digit area, I worried more and more about the seizures since any change in his eating habits could send him into chemical imbalance. This was hard to control especially when he was receiving daily treats form all our neighbors and the occasional scrap or discarded bone. Too much fat, grease, or calcium was a sure bet to cause a problem within a few hours of ingestion. Unfortunately neither he nor I was able to avoid the good life and my bouts with gout and his with seizures continued into the new century.
Jake痴 daily walks became so frequent and long in duration that I finally got him a large bell and attached it to his collar so that I could somewhat hear him walking around and also to warn any deer or bears that he was out and about. At his age, I didn稚 want him to get into a confrontation with an animal that would run him or fight him until his age and physical stamina gave out.
To limit his chances of an unfortunate encounter, we began to take daily walks around the area. This was both for my legs and his enjoyment. Once again my whistling ability was what I needed to keep him in check and within sight. Most times he listened, sometimes he wouldn稚. In fact a few times the neighbors even joined my attempts to contact Jake and would do their own whistling. The mountains resounded with a cacophony of sounds unlike anything ever heard but it still took the occasional loud yell of 笛ake to accomplish the task.
More and more his age started to show in his walk and willingness to explore the neighborhood. Greeting the neighbors and checking on their well being in return for a treat became his major activity. Sleeping next to my bed at night and staying next to me all day were his favorite pastimes and became our unrealized lifestyle.
Many years passed and both good times and bad times seemed to fly by for both of us until Sunday August 31, 2008.
On this day at about 2:30 PM Jake was lying on the floor and suddenly he sat up. He looked strange and I thought he was going to have a seizure.
I got close to him to calm him and help him thru this event. His hind legs gave out and he sank to the floor since his front legs couldn稚 support his full weight.
Usually his seizures lasted about one or two minutes but this time it didn稚 end the normal way. He couldn稚 get up on his legs when it appeared like the seizure was over and he had no use of his legs. He looked around like he didn稚 know what was happening or where he was.
At first I thought he had a stroke since he couldn稚 get up or move his hind legs. He breathing was real slow and labored.
Of course it was Sunday and the Labor Day weekend and the Vet was closed until Thursday, but we called anyway. The Dr. called back about 7 PM and said his first thought was Tick paralysis caused by a tick bite. He said we should check Jake carefully for any ticks and remove them if found. He said if we found and removed them Jake should show signs of improvement within hours.
We looked three times for any ticks but couldn稚 find any since we use Frontline and have never seen an attached tick on him. My next thought was that somehow Jake was poisoned from rat or mouse bait. I as well as other neighbors use it to keep rodents from getting into the house or basements and I hoped he hadn稚 eaten an animal that had died from the bait. His eating habits did include the occasional dead squirrel and found bone so I feared that he had ingested some poison or antifreeze. Believe it or not, but these two items are a prime cause of animal deaths here in the mountains.
We didn稚 think Jake would make it thru the night because he was getting worse physically so I called the Dr. again around midnight seeking some type of help or advice, but the Dr. didn稚 call back until around 8 AM. During the night I sat up with Jake all night and just tried to comfort him with a light rub and pat on the head. Jake couldn稚 move so he couldn稚 eat or drink or go outside to relieve himself so around 8:30 AM I picked him up and placed him into the back of the car and raced to the Dr.痴 office. Dr. Ackerman was professional enough to come in on a Holiday and attend Jake.
Dr. Ackerman examined Jake and said he was bleeding internally from some sort of mass and that was causing his paralysis.
We left Jake there to be stabilized and tested to determine the cause of his illness.
The Dr. called the next morning at around 9 AM and reported that the options were:
1. Stabilize Jake until he was able to be sent to Ashville for an Ultrasound to locate any mass.
2. Stabilize Jake until he was able to undergo a surgical biopsy of the mass.
3. Stabilize Jake until he was able to sustain major surgery, possibly within two weeks.
4. Let him go since he was in no pain and was 13 years old and would have to undergo major surgery to remove a cancerous mass and a long recuperation afterward if his present condition improved sufficiently enough to withstand the surgery.
Jake passed away Tuesday September 2, 2008 at about 11:30 AM in no pain and among friends. He was a great friend and a fine dog. He will be missed by all who got to know him.
Today I was outside raking leaves and looking for a dear friend to come down the dirt road when I suddenly remembered that I hadn稚 whistled. It seems that God took away my whistle. I really would like it back?
"Man's Best Friend"
