A Tribute

We didn't meet Roxie until she was already about 2 years old. She was to become our third Saint Bernard. Our first Bernard was Missy. We took her into our home while she was about 3 months old. We raised her from a puppy and spoiled her rotten. Her official name is Mozart's Mysterious Mistress. We got her because friends had a male Saint and we intended to breed them, unfortunately the friends decided to divorce and our stud was going out the window. We ended up getting the dog, Beethoven's Baby Baker, or Baker. Since we wanted pups, it was going to be a while. Baker was about 14 months older than Missy, but we were told not to breed until the female was at least 2 years old. Now I had an old Rottie named Angel, who adored me beyond reason and who was my girl. She was old and developed some health issues. At 6 months, Missy was already larger than Angel. When Missy was a little over a year old and came into heat on November 1, Baker took matters into his own paws and went through a hole he shouldn't have fit through and bred Missy. This was litter of pups #1. Despite a vet tech attempting to give us the evil eye for allowing underage doggy sex to take place, everything went well, the pups were beautiful, and we placed them all. The money paid for our wedding and honeymoon.

We decided pups were lots of fun, but we didn't want to breed Missy too often, as that isn't good. So we thought we needed another female. As look would have it, we shortly received a phone call from the breeder Missy had come from. They were getting out of the Saint business, but knew of someone who had a grown female saint they wanted to get rid of. We went out and met our beautiful girl Roxie. Roxie was chained up and paid very little attention too. When she got loose she chased cattle and the owner was afraid she would be shot by a farmer. We made arrangements with the owner who had never registered her. We took possession and registered her complete with late charges.

Roxie was a half-sister to Missy. She was from an earlier litter and was 6 months older, but they shared the same father. Roxie was darker, larger, and had a more squared head. She was strong as an ox, but had no idea how to play. She couldn't fetch or play tug-of-war. All she could do was bounce on you. She was no were near as bright as Missy, but she didn't have the streak of mean in her either. Roxie was the sweetest dog in the world.

Well, her life changed. We were dog fanatics and our family went places. She went on walks, went to the creek and to the river. She went to parks, went camping, went swimming. She wore costumes for Halloween and got Christmas gifts. She went to visit family and go on picnics. She had two litters of pups and was an excellent mother.

On October 2, 2006 at 5 years of age, Mozart's Foxie Roxie departed from our family courtesy of a intentional overdose of anesthetic courtesy of a veterinarian. She had bone cancer and survived approximately 6 weeks after the first symptoms were noticed until my wife and I could no longer justify being selfish and keeping her with us. She was the sweetest dog in the world and god made her last few days on earth beautiful autumn days, for which I am grateful. Perhaps I am stupid, but the dog gave us unconditional love and affection and the last week with us, she could barely get around. She was a shadow of her wonderful self, in pain, and yet, never snapped, never complained, hardly whimpered. She bore her discomfort bravely and I hope she didn't suffer too much. We brought her in and spent a lot of time with her those last 3 days. She ate ham and hotdogs and other treats. She got to sun in private and the nieces and nephews came by to see her and say good bye. She got one last ride in a truck, which she enjoyed.

God provided again in that a man with a bobcat stopped by the vet while we were there and my mother-in-law spoke to him and he graciously agreed to help with the burial for what amounted to fuel money. The ride back was horrible and I remember only trying to drive and cry.

After words, neither of us felt like cooking so we went to get something to eat in town. We passed a billboard that quoted "Blessed are the meek, for they will surely inherit the earth." Then the stupid radio started in with that "Lips of an angel" song and I lost it. Up to that point, I had kept it pretty low key, but I couldn't any longer. The animals are our lives. They make up such a large part of it. I feel bad enough when one of the chickens die, but man, when it's one of the dogs or cats, it's like loosing a member of the family. Roxie isn't the first pet I lost, but it doesn't get any easier.