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Peter Fogel

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Dogs And Their Relationship With Man - A Special Story
5/31/2010 6:03:45 AM
Hello Friends,

When I received the below story in my inbox today it brought back memories of the first dog my wife and I "adopted" as a married couple.

His name was Sammy and he was a pure bred pointer. For those that are familiar with this breed you know they are very intelligent, extremely energetic, loyal and affectionate animals. The interesting thing with Sammy was that my wife claimed that his major reason for living was to drive her crazy. When I was at work according to her he would "steal" anything she was using at the time and force her to play hide and seek with his latest "acquisition". I'd come home and she would be a nervous wreck complaining bitterly about "my" dog.

I found it hard to understand what the problem was since when I was around he was the most obedient dog not only to me but to my wife as well. This frustrated her no end since he made her life miserable during the day and at night he was the best dog imaginable. In the end we decided to put a video camera up and film his antics during the day. Lo and behold every thing my wife said was true but believe it or not she loved him as much as I did.

The interesting thing was that he would pull the same antics with others when I wasn't around and he especially loved driving my mother-in-law up the wall when we left Sammy with her for short periods. One time we were visiting her and decided to go to a movie theater not far from her place. We left Sammy with her and when we got back we found her and her bachelor Uncle who came by to visit ready to kill us in the spot. The house was a mess and they both were candidates for the loony bin. Of course the minute I walked in Sammy was his usual "obedient" self which annoyed them even more.

Here's the reason I'm telling you about Sammy. Shortly after my wife and I married my father-in-law was diagnosed with severe brain cancer. He was operated on and a tumor the size of a tennis ball was removed but unfortunately they were unable to remove it all. For a short period he seemed to improve with Chemo and then with physiotherapy his situation improved during the first 6 months. He was paralyzed on his left side and his speech was impaired as well. He was able to walk with a special walker and as I said for the first 6 months steadily improved. From the 6 month mark he started regressing and his paralysis on the left side was almost total by the 9th month.

He was bed ridden from the 9th month till his death 12 months to the day of his operation and it was also on his birthday.

Sammy and my father-in-law had a very special relationship. They both loved each other very much. When ever we came to watch over my father-in-law Sammy would stay by his side and never ever pulled any of his special antics. We would talk in the kitchen or living room and Sammy would stay with him for hours at a time. He would sit beside him and position himself under his hand and would in this way make contact with him. He would lay beside him in bed and place his head on his chest and communicate with him in their special way.

We knew a few days in advance that my father-in-law was not going to last much longer cos Sammy would just lay beside him and "cry" all the time. When he finally breathed his last breath we all were there beside him as was Sammy who was laying under his hand that fell off the bed.

Dogs have a special instinct and love for us that is inexplicable and they connect with us on many different levels. I sort of rambled on here and my "story" is longer then the one below but I felt the urge to share this story today.

Shalom,

Peter

Lucky Dog.....



Anyone who has pets will really like this. You'll like it even if you don't and you may even decide you need one!

Mary and her husband Jim had a dog named 'Lucky.' Lucky was a real character. Whenever Mary and Jim had company come for a weekend visit they would warn their friends to not leave their luggage open because Lucky would help himself to whatever struck his fancy. Inevitably, someonewould forget and something would come up missing.

Mary or Jim would go to Lucky's toy box in the basement and there the treasure would be, amid all of Lucky's other favorite toys Lucky always stashed his finds in his toy box and he was very particular that his toys stay in the box.

It happened that Mary found out she had breast cancer. Something told her she was going to die of this disease.....in fact; she was just sure it was fatal.

She scheduled the double mastectomy, fear riding her shoulders. The night before she was to go to the hospital she cuddled with Lucky. A thought struck her...what would happen to Lucky? Although the three-year-old dog liked Jim, he was Mary'sdog through and through. If I die, Lucky will be abandoned, Mary thought. He won't understand that I didn't want to leave him! The thought made her sadder than thinking of her own death.

The double mastectomy was harder on Mary than her doctors had anticipated and Mary was hospitalized for over two weeks. Jim took Lucky for his evening walk faithfully, but the little dog just drooped, whining and miserable.

Finally the day came for Mary to leave the hospital. When she arrived home, Mary was so exhausted she couldn't even make it up the steps to her bedroom. Jim made his wife comfortable on the couch and left her to nap..

Lucky stood watching Mary but he didn't come to her when she called. It made Mary sad but sleep soon overcame her and she dozed.

When Mary woke for a second she couldn't understand what was wrong. She couldn't move her head and her body felt heavy and hot. But panic soon gave way to laughter when Mary realized the problem. She was covered, literally blanketed, with every treasure Lucky owned! While she had slept, the sorrowing dog had made trip after trip to the basement bringing his beloved mistress all his favorite things in life.
He had covered her with his love.



Mary forgot about dying. Instead she and Lucky began living again, walking further and further together every day. It's been 12 years now and Mary is still cancer-free. Lucky - He still steals treasures and stashes them in his toy box but Mary remains his greatest treasure.

All you are asked to do is keep this circulating, even if it is only to one more person, in memory of anyone you know that has been struck down by cancer or is still fighting their battle.

Peter Fogel
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RE: Dogs And Their Relationship With Man - A Special Story
5/31/2010 12:04:22 PM
Happy Monday Peter. What heart touching stories. Animals are amazing creatures and I know from experience they all have different, distinct personalities, just as we humans do.
We have had many pets over the years, both cats and dogs, and I had to have my little red dachshund, I had named Sugar, put to sleep in January. She also had cancer. The most memorable one was a little black and white terrier that belonged to my stepson who he had named Two Spot that lived to be about twelve years old. I have no idea where he came up with that name, but he was only seven at the time. If we left for the day and didn't take her with us, she would get mad and get on our bed and pee between the pillows, which wasn't usually discovered until bedtime. otherwise she never had an "accident" in the house. I guess she was "punishing" us for not taking her with us. After about three or four times of this we learned to keep the bedroom door shut. :) Other than that she was a very sweet dog. We also had a cat named Baby that lived to be about seventeen years old.
Your stories brought back many memories also of all the ones in my family that we have lost to the dreaded big C. The latest one was my mother three years ago. On her side she had two brothers who both had a malignant brain tumor and a niece who died with breast cancer. My dad lost two brothers, a sister and a nephew to this horrible disease.
Have a great week.
:)
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Peter Fogel

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RE: Dogs And Their Relationship With Man - A Special Story
5/31/2010 6:27:56 PM
Hi Evelyn,
Without a doubt dogs have a mind of their own and know how to "punish" their families when they feel slighted. BUT, most of the time they are there for us and are loyal and loving.
All the dogs I've had over the years had different personalities but the one thing in common they all had was the happiness when we came home and their thankfulness for the attention we gave them. For us they were part of the family and they added much to all of us.
Luckily we've only lost one member of our family to cancer and that was my father-in-law. My side of the family lost most family members to old age. My wife's side suffered from heart diseases. That said we lost many close friends to the big C. It's devastating no matter what they died from.
Shalom,
Peter
Peter Fogel
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Roger Macdivitt .

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RE: Dogs And Their Relationship With Man - A Special Story
5/31/2010 9:00:11 PM

Peter,

Thank you for this forum, despite a few tears that I had to fight back.

I have always been a cat person and still don't really understand dogs despite having had two very loved ones.

A few years ago my wife was very ill but the doctors really didn't know what or why. Because of this the doctors never really knew when my wife would have another bad turn BUT THE DOG KNEW.

George would sit and stare at my wife for hours on end and then the next few hours would see a decline in her health. Unnerving really.

We miss our dogs. We will have another when our ancient cat finally gives up living.

Roger

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Peter Fogel

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RE: Dogs And Their Relationship With Man - A Special Story
5/31/2010 10:11:23 PM
Hi Roger,
It's amazing the instincts dogs have. I'm not a cat person but we did have a cat twice and in both cases they lived in peace with our dog or dogs.
Dogs are able to feel your mood at any given time and act accordingly. It's quite uncanny but I've experienced that with all the dogs I've had over the years.
Thanks for sharing your story with us.
Shalom,
Peter
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