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On the day before Good Friday 2003, a stray dog showed up in our yard. Joe tried to shoo it away. The next morning when I was watering the flowers, I saw it was in the alley behind the house. It looked like a rottweiler and I am afraid of rottweilers so I squirted it with the water to try to get it to leave. It just turned and licked the water. Then I could see that it was not a rottweiler but looked more like a dobberman. I felt bad because it was obviously thirsty, so I got a coffee can and gave it some water. She was very humble and grateful for the water. She was so timid that we didn't sense that we had anything to fear, so we allowed her to come into our yard to lay in the shade of the trees while we did our yard work. Since she had been lost for at least a day we knew she must be hungry and we haven't owned a pet in over 20 years so we didn't have any dog food so Joe gave her a slice of ham and some leftover biscuits. We worked in the yard all day and she stayed right with us. We left the gate open so she could leave anytime she wanted. When we were through outside for the day, we closed the gate but opened it for her again the next morning. She wouldn't leave. We checked the papers and drove around the neighborhood looking for ads for a lost dog but there were none.
We called her by every name we could think of to see if we could get a response and didn't, so I decided to call her Sable because she has a beautiful coat. She learned to respond to Sable very quickly.
Sable has moved into our hearts and our home and has brought us so much joy in just a short time. I just cannot imagine her previous owners not trying to find her. If I were to lose her I would be going from door to door searching for her.
I wish I could show you her tricks. Sable will sit, shake, and roll over on command. She doesn't beg at the table. She doesn't lick or bite or jump up on us or our guests. I took her into the office with me the day of her vet appointment and no one would have known she was there except when I showed them and I am in a front office where everyone passes by when they come into the building! She just lay on the floor behind my desk.
She probably knows more but I just don't know what to say to her to get her to do it. Sometimes she sits at my feet and looks up into my eyes and I know she is trying to tell me something. I wish she could tell me what she has been through. The family she was with before must have cared for her to have trained her so well. She loves everyone especially women and children but is very timid with men. It breaks Joe's heart when she comes to him with her ears down and her tail between her legs like she is afraid of him.
When Sable speaks, she has something important to say. One night she kept waking me up (yes, she sleeps inside now) and was trying to tell me that a possum was in the garage. But she never barked about it. She would just jump up and down on the bed until I got up and followed her into the garage.
I took Sable to the vet this week (June 3, 2003)to get her check-up and booster immunizations. I have no way of knowing where she is with that. I burst into tears when the vet told me that she has heartworms and some other kind of intestinal worms. I thought that heartworms was a terminal condition, but she assured me that she is going to be ok. Treatment will cost around $400. Joe and I are in agreement that she is worth it. She isn't feeling very well right now. I am assuming and hoping it is because of the injections and medicine she got this week. Last night we were watching tv in the living room and Sable was sitting on Joe's lap and she was panting. We think she has fever. I said, "Sable, are you hot? Do you want Mama to turn the fan on?" and she looked up at the ceiling fan! :) We laughed and laughed and, of course, I turned on the fan.
Come back. I will try to keep a journal of Sable's progress here as my time permits.
Dear Lord,
Please make me into the person
my dog thinks I am.
June 24, 2003:
We took Sable back for a check-up and there were no worms in her blood. She has to go back on July 9 for an x-ray to see if there are any in her heart.
July 4, 2003:
Sable is afraid of thunder. Quite by accident, Joe discovered that if he puts a t-shirt on her and ties a knot on it to snug it up on her, she relaxes and doesn't seem anxious so I got her a T-shirt of her own. It says Puppy Love on it.
July 9, 2003:
The worms were worse that we feared. She has them in her lungs as well. She will have to be treated when Dr. Kivney returns from her vacation.
July 15, 2003:
We traveled from Houston to Odessa to visit my sister. Sable is a good traveler. She loved being in the country and chasing jackrabbits. We didn't really want to scare the jackrabbits away though because we all enjoy watching them so we told her no and she would just sit and watch them intently but not chase them.
July 21, 2003:
It was back to work for Joe and me and to the vet for Sable. The doctor was so busy she didn't get to give Sable her treatment so I picked her up and will take her back first thing in the morning.
July 22, 2003:
Sable did well with her first treatment so they are going to keep her overnight and give her another one in the morning.
July 23, 2003:
I missed Sable and was concerned about her so I went to the vet and sat in the parking lot and watched while they walked the animals so I could see her. She looked fine. I didn't want her to see me and get upset about not being able to come home.
July 24, 2003:
Sable did well with her second treatment but she was quite sore from the injections. She was given an injection for pain last night. I went to pick her up at 10:00 this morning and she was in a private room. I expected her to be in a cage of some sort but they had one of the examining rooms fixed up just for her. She was very groggy and hardly moved when she saw me. Dr Kivney said we did good when we got her. She is such a good dog. She has to stay quiet for 10 days and be watched closely. I took her to work with me this afternoon. Everyone at the office loves her.
July 25, 2003:
Sable spent the day with me at work again. I am blessed to have a job where I can take her.
July 28, 2003:
Sable was coughing last night and some this morning. The vet said to call if she coughed so I did and they said to bring her on in. She is ok. The cough is just a reaction to the worms dying. Yuk! After seeing the vet, she spent the rest of the day with me at my office.
 August 3, 2003:
Sable seems to be fine now. I have been leaving her at home but coming home at noon to check on her. We have resumed short walks. I imagine it would be like a human who was sick and recovering for 10 days so I don't want to rush her. She is still taking prednisone every other day. She goes back for a check-up next week.
August 13, 2003:
Sable has been pronounced clean of heartworms. She still has some recovering to do from the treatment so I can't allow her to work me too hard. ;) We are waling about a mile a day now. Dr. Kivney said she shouldn't run much yet.
August 17, 2003:
My sweet baby can become angry. I try not to provoke her. That look is enough for me, plus I have seen her eat a ham bone like it was a peppermint stick.
January 16, 2006: Sable is having surgery at the moment. She has a massive tumor on her left shoulder which is growing and causing difficulty walking. I hope the surgery is simple and she will be ok. It broke my heart to have to leave her there this morning. She trusts me to take care of her and I am sure she thinks I have abandoned her. You can see the tumor in these two pictures.
January 17, 2006: Sable is with me at work today. The "large cantalope sized" tumor was removed and it was not cancer or invasive. :) She has a very long incision and they shaved her. She has a mohawk. I will post pictures as soon as they are available. Thank you for caring about her.
 
October 31, 2006: Sable is continuing to delight us with her ever changing personality. She loves to chase the squirrels that come to our yard after pecans and to drink from the pond. Last week she got after one which turned out to be a skunk. I immediately grabbed all the tomato juice in the house and called her to the bathroom and got in the tub with her and poured the juice on her and like dogs do when they get wet, she shook and the bathtub looked like someone had been beaten in there. After the juice wash, I shampooed her to get the juice out. She still stank so later I called the vet and they told me to bring her in and I did. They shampooed her twice with some skunk odor removing shampoo and it helped...some. I guess it will wear off some day. It is not intolerable now.
My Garden of Friendship friend, Breeze, gave me this award because I adopted a stray. Click on it to go to her site.
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Dog Rules
1. Dogs are never permitted in the house. The dog stays outside in a specially built wooden compartment named, for a very good reason, the dog house.
2. Okay, the dog can enter the house but only for short visits or if his own house is under renovation.
3. Okay, the dog can stay in the house on a permanent basis provided his dog house can be sold in a yard sale to a rookie dog owner.
4. Indise the house, the dog is not allowed to run free and is confined to a comfortable but secure metal cage.
5. Okay, the cage becomes part of a two-for-one deal in the yard sale, and the dog can go wherever he pleases.
6. The dog is never allowed on the furniture.
7. Okay, the dog can get up on the old furniture but not on the new.
8. Okay, the dog can get up on the new furniture until it looks like the old furniture and then we'll sell the whole works and buy new furniture on which the dog will most definitely not be allowed on.
9. The dog never sleeps on the bed. Period.
10. Okay, the dog can sleep at the foot of the bed only.
11. Okay, the dog can sleep alongside you, but he's not allowed under the covers.
12. Okay, the dog can sleep under the covers but not with his head on your pillow.
13. Okay, the dog can sleep alongside you, under the covers with his head on your pillow, but if he snores, he's got to leave the room.
14. Okay, the dog can sleep and snore and have nightmares in your bed, but he's not to come in and sleep on the couch in the TV room, where you're now sleeping. That's just not fair.
15. The dog never gets listed on the census questionnaire as "primary resident," even if it's true.
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LAST UPDATED October 15, 2004
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