18 Dogs and Counting
It’s recently dawned on me that I’m the “Duggar” of dogs… I’m 35 and, including the dogs we had growing up, I’m on my 18th dog. Doing the math that sounds like we’re incapable of keeping a dog alive past the age of two so please let me explain.
Growing up, we had only “Outside Dogs” and there were two of them, Bess and Ajax. The type of dogs that were only allowed in if it got super cold and Christmas morning…unless I passed my mom a note while she was on the phone: “Can I let the dogs in? Circle yes or no.” I didn’t know what caused the ‘yes’ in those moments but now that I’m a parent, I agree to a lot of stupid shit while I’m on the phone…
It wasn’t until I was in grade 8 when we got our first “Inside Dog”, Sounder, and then as the years went on, that line was really blurred as old dogs passed away and our family got other dogs. When I moved out, my parents had 4 mostly inside dogs. Ha, sorry Dad…
Moving in with Jordy in 2008, he had one Outside Dog, a Rottweiler named Jersey, and well…that only lasted a couple months before we got Farva, our Siberian Husky.
We got Tilly in 2010, then added Rudy, a Bernese Mountain Dog in 2012, and that brought our count up to four.
Now this is the part of the story where the wheels start to fall off…
In 2013, Sounder, my beagle who stayed home when I moved out, passed away at age 14 while I was pregnant with our oldest daughter. A couple months after Sounder’s passing, we euthanized Farva at the age of 5 due to cancer.
Shortly after euthanizing Farva we ended up acquiring Molly a 1 year old Bernese from Rudy’s breeder. Not totally knowing the severity of “she stayed in a crate 10 hours a day as a puppy” until later.
Jersey’s hips were in rough shape as she aged so we made the tough call to euthanize her in 2014.
We were back to two “Outside Dogs” and one “Inside dog” and stayed that way until we got semi-settled into our new place. In 2015 Jordy showed interest in Irish Wolfhounds so OBVIOUSLY I’m going to search high and low for a puppy and managed to find one. We named him Gandalf.
Four months after bringing Gandalf home, Molly started having a hard time moving around and after vet checkups and xrays, she was diagnosed with hip dysplasia, torn cruciate, and needing spine surgery.
Because of the contract we signed with the breeder, I told them what was happening and we returned Molly to the them as they were confident they could fix her. I still don’t know what ever became of her as my emails started bouncing back.
Rudy, Gandalf, and Tilly were our crew for the rest of 2015 while I was pregnant with our youngest.
At the end of December, Gandalf was refusing to eat and x-rays were showing something in his gut. Due to some sort of fabric he ingested, it festered and ravaged his insides with infection – no guarantee of him recovering. I was 39 weeks pregnant and we made the call New Years Eve to euthanize him on the operating table.
Rudy, now the only “Outside Dog” was dang near in the “Inside Dog” category with Tilly so he had company. He loved every second of it.
April 2016 we brought home another Irish Wolfhound, Moira (our youngest daughter was 3 months old at the time and I’d 0/10 recommend that…) and had that group until end of November of 2017 then we got a Rottweiler, Petey.
This was a really great group of dogs; they were so easy.
But in late spring of 2018, six months after getting Petey, Rudy stopped eating. He was only 6 years old and fading fast. I’ve never hoped for a traffic light to stay red before but I just wanted more time with him. I’ve learned by now that when a “food hound” stops eating, it isn’t a good sign. The test results got delayed but he was ready to leave us so we ended his suffering at the vet and when the results came back, it confirmed some form of cancer.
For the next 6 months it was just Moira, Petey, and Tilly – the three amigos – and then we suffered another loss. Petey got hit by a vehicle on our road at the end of November 2018. He was just over a year old.
If I had to choose between a loss like that or watching a beloved dog fade away at the vet, I choose the latter every time. Saying goodbye is such a gift.
Petey was my 7th dog in 5 years to be no longer with us and I was having a hard time seeing the reason for all the losses.
But hey – things started looking up!
December 2018 a baby Garth appeared on Facebook, and being the same mix as one of my childhood dogs, I was sold.
About 6 months later, in 2019, Poppy showed up at our place and nobody claimed her so our count was back up to 4: Tilly, Moira, Garth, and Poppy and it stayed this way for a couple years.
September of 2021 was when I brought Enzo home and FYI: 5 dogs is the new 4. Tell everyone.
Tilly’s 11.5 and showing her age, Moira is almost 6 and also slowing down, but really, it all means nothing. The older dogs prepare us for the blow a little better but I’ve learned we can lose them at any time.
One “perk” to gaining and losing these many dogs? I know what you’re going through in sharing your life with your dog. The ups and the downs. Puppy stage, senior stage, opinions from family and friends, things getting chewed, and holes being dug. Feeling more connected to one and not another. Dogs getting bit, kids getting bit. Trips to the vet for nothing and trips to the vet for awful things. Realizing how no two dogs are the same, even if their breeds are. Our mistakes and their victories and the unconditional love they give us.
It’s been 3 years since I’ve mourned the loss of one of our dogs and I feel weirdly lucky. So, take it from me, as someone who has had a lot of dogs; every dog humbles us in some way, has a lesson to teach us, and I believe we always get the dog we need, rarely the dog we always want.