Rudy and George and the GREEN CAN!!

We have an empty nest of sorts. No two legged children live in our home. However, we have two very spoiled four legged children. We have Rudy, a mixed breed dog, who will be 16 this year. Then there is George, a blue Doberman who is about 9 years old. They are our babies.

I have had Rudy since she was 6 weeks old. She was born on the island of Okinawa. We were a military family living there. My neighbor brought her mother home. The mother was running loose and wild on a Marine base. The neighbor had just moved into housing that allowed dogs and brought this little black and white dog home. She asked me that day if I thought the dog was pregnant. I looked at the dog, who did not appear to me to be full grown, and replied I did not think she was old enough to be pregnant. The next day she had three puppies. Rudy was the runt and my daughter, who is 22 today, begged us for the puppy for her 7th birthday. I felt guilty because we had given away our cat before moving to Okinawa. Her dad and I gave in. They were inseparable until Rudy ate all the hands and feet off her Barbies! Rudy is half goat. She has eaten things that would have killed a normal dog but not Rudy the goat. Rudy is in the winter of her life. She has a large tumor in her chest. I stare at her sleeping to make sure she is still breathing. I often want her to lay down to sleep and just not wake up. That way, I will not have to make a difficult decision about when it may be time to have her euthanized. But, then when you are a pet owner, making the hard decisions comes with the joy of having a pet love you. Rudy does not seem to be in pain and she eats and eliminates and still is the Alpha dog. So, I hope that her final days are happy.

George is our big boy. He is a blue Doberman. I have learned since bringing him home that grey dogs often have a problem with hair loss. George has thin hair between his shoulders and hips. We brought George home from a local animal shelter about 5 years ago. He was running loose in a neighborhood. He was a little skinny but obviously had been someone's pet. He was house trained and loves people. Th vet estimates that George is about 9 years old. Blue Dobermans are often called "velcro dogs" because they stick to you. He feels the need to be touching someone all the time. My husband had raised Dobermans many years ago. George is the biggest dog, size wise, that I have ever had. He is also the biggest baby I have ever had.

We have a green treat can that sits on the counter. Rudy and George live to hear the sound of the lid being taken off the the green treat can. Rudy could stand to gain a few pounds and George needs to loose a few. But they would both eat treats until they popped. Sometimes. they just stand by the counter and bark for us to come give them a treat. George has been taught not to counter surf, however, if Rudy were a little taller, it would be an all you can eat buffet everyday.