Morby |
Here is the second installment of
I had Max Headroom for 17 years and shortly before his death, I had actually started looking for a dog to add to the pack – specifically an older dog. My reasoning was that I wanted to be able to give an older dog a home, my senior dog a companion in his old-age, and I was not in position to train a puppy. Whether logical or not, I hoped that the addition of another dog, might help Max and me in our transition at the time of his passing. I had been all over Petfinder sending application after application. I was looking for a small, short-haired dog. Since I had experience with administering medication to my pup and wanted small dogs, I was not resistant to the idea of a pair that “needed to stay together” or a special needs dog. Given this experience and expectation, one would have thought that finding a dog or dogs would have been relatively easy. Well it was not – but that’s okay because I understand that the rescues are looking for the best homes for these animals. Then one day, Morby popped up in my search. She was the prettiest thing I had ever seen and was NOT what I was looking for. They had her in the “small” category but looking at the photo, she didn’t appear to be small, or to meet my expectations for a small dog, but I couldn’t resist. I HAD to try and adopt her…she was THEE ONE! I put in my application but really didn’t hold my breath for a favorable response since that had been my luck for the last year. Well, I received the call at work. One would have thought I had just received news of being pregnant. I was so happy, but I was still a bit nervous because I expected to meet this huge dog. I mean, compared to Max & Heidi, she was definitely at least twice the size I was accustomed to. But I made the appointment to meet her.
Morby was a Pomeranian/Sheltie mix that actually belonged to a wonderful family that felt that at 12 years old, it was not in Morby’s best interest, at that time, that they keep her. To this day I can’t really understand that beyond the fact that I was meant to have her. A local shelter was facilitating the adoption on behalf of the family. So when my husband and I went to meet Morby and the family, it was actually at her house and what a wonderful looking house this was. We approached the front door which was open so we could see clear through to the back of the house and through the storm door in the back…and awaiting our arrival on the outside of that door was Morby. Just before we rang the bell she started shimmying in anticipation. I took this as a sign that we had just been adopted but in seeing Morby there were some considerations.
Although she was not a large dog, she was 3 times as large as Max and definitely larger than we had been accustomed to. Additionally, upon seeing all of that hair on her – she had a beautiful, full, tan & white coat – my husband suddenly became concerned that he might have allergies to this dog. The matriarch came to the door and invited us in and then brought Morby in. I think she was ready to go with us. The family seemed to like us, and I LOVED Morby but I had to ask the family for about 1 week to make a decision because I wanted to make sure that my husband didn’t have any allergic reactions. I also got a good feeling from her that she would be perfect with Max who was very senior, pretty blind and I believe relatively deaf at this point.
My husband and I left, and neither one of us could stop talking about Morby expect that he kept bringing up this concern about allergies. Before we knew it, 2 hours had passed, and I convinced him that if he were going to have a reaction, he likely would have had it already. We went back for Morby the next day….One of the happiest days of my life.
We brought Morby home. She immediately took to “caring” for Max for about 6 months until his passing. She would guide him through the house when she felt it necessary and she loved us…but it was clear that Erik, my husband, was “her man”. She loved this guy as much as I did.
The most notable feature of Morby, which we could never stop talking about, was her white eyelashes. She had the most gorgeous brown eyes that were framed by the prettiest lashes. When she would lie down in a “Sphinx” position, she always crossed her paws in front of her. Morby was a lady in every way. Whenever we would “woof” at her, she would “woof” back. Whenever my husband and I would hug, this girl, that didn’t usually demand a lot of attention, had to be in on the action. She would start to bark, so we would pick her up for a group hug and she would be happy and go on her merry way. She also liked to watch TV.
She wasn’t that much into other dogs, per say, but not antisocial either. We could take her to the dog park and let her loose and soon came to realize that she preferred to stay with us. She did, however, exhibit 2 distinct behaviors when we went. The first that we noticed was, whenever 2 other dogs were “fighting” in the park, she would leave our side, and go running over to them, start barking up a storm, and then when the dogs separated, she would run back to us. I always imagined that she was telling them not to play so rough because someone might get hurt. She did this all the time. The other behavior I attribute to the herding instinct of her Sheltie half. Whenever there were a bunch of smaller dogs in the run, she would attempt to herd them around the park. It was really cute. But it was clear that she preferred to stay by our side. Probably because she felt she was more human than dog.
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3 comments:
This post is amazing and I feel everyone should consider a senior dog. What a blessing you are!
Both our dogs are rescue dogs. One was 2 when we got her and the other a puppy. We totally adore them both but having a puppy has been such hard work that in future we would definitely look to adopt an older dog. Morby is very beautiful, Ozzie and Roxy would love her.
Louise Edington
http://louiseedington.com
It's amazing the amount of love that an older pet can give. Despite constant rejection from those owners who prefer babies, I see so many older darlings, still hopefully wagging their tales in the shelters....knowing one day their time will come. Your post was a blessing to me....it reminds me of my 12 y.o. cat, Mouser. I wouldn't trade him for the world!
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