Sadly, on May 27th, 2015 we had to help my best friend and constant companion "Howie Gene Baskerville, Esq." cross over to the Rainbow Bridge. He was 15 years old.
I wasn't real fond of Howie at the start, if you opened the back door he would magically appear and bolt out running. Even if you checked before you opened it, it made no difference. We spent many hours chasing that dog down. He's stop and you'd get within a foot of him, just out of range to grab his collar. Even the smallest move to get any closer made him bolt again. I did a lot of running in those days!
However, after finding out he could get spoiled beyond belief at my house he decided stop running away and to adopt us. :-)
Howie was a great dog, God doesn't make them much better! Howie was a German Shepard / Black Lab mix & we kind of got him by chance. My wife's friend had a husband that couldn't understand that dogs bark, and because of that she was going to take him to the pound. In 2002, if an animal wasn't adopted within a month or so they were put to sleep, so Howie's outlook was chancy at best.
My wife, another dog lover brought him home one night much to my surprise. (I've always had small dogs and Howie was quite big) and had a real commanding yet friendly presence & first thing he did was run over & force himself on me! ) It was OK, I'm always a push-over for a good dog. But the size of him! THAT I was not used to for a long, long time. With my little boy and my wife pleading to me to let us keep him, I said sure, I guess. He didn't scare my A.J. a bit so no problem & eventually they became best friends right down to when A.J. was dying. A.J. would be lying there and Howie went into the kitchen and came back by A.J. and dropped a mouthful of food by her & he gently nudged her to attempt to get her to eat. He was amazing.
During the 7 years I was ill and didn't leave the house he was always by my side, he never left unless I fell asleep in my chair. Then he'd go upstairs and you could hear him jump on my bed to warm up on the quilt.
In 2015 Howie's hips totally failed from the degenerative hip problem German Shepard's have and he couldn't walk unless I walked behind him and held his hips. In the end I ended up carrying Howie outside, inside, where ever he wanted to be. That was OK by him until the day we woke up and he would just twist in circles and his back legs failed to move. Howie had suffered a major stroke. I took constant care of him for almost 2 months hoping that he would improve but he never did, it just got worse. Finally when we had to get stronger pain pills for him I knew he was miserable, I finally broke down and let him go. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
I miss him, always will but I remember all the good times we had. Whether we were playing or sitting on the step watching cars go past the house, he was right by me. I loved that dog & if I get another Howie will be a hard act to follow .
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I thank each of you who leave a flower & note for Howie. I appreciate it and I'll bet he'd appreciate it too. He was a true companion. However I've heard he's having a lot of fun since he has hips back again! Sure hope he gets all the running out of his system by the time we meet again.
I wasn't real fond of Howie at the start, if you opened the back door he would magically appear and bolt out running. Even if you checked before you opened it, it made no difference. We spent many hours chasing that dog down. He's stop and you'd get within a foot of him, just out of range to grab his collar. Even the smallest move to get any closer made him bolt again. I did a lot of running in those days!
However, after finding out he could get spoiled beyond belief at my house he decided stop running away and to adopt us. :-)
Howie was a great dog, God doesn't make them much better! Howie was a German Shepard / Black Lab mix & we kind of got him by chance. My wife's friend had a husband that couldn't understand that dogs bark, and because of that she was going to take him to the pound. In 2002, if an animal wasn't adopted within a month or so they were put to sleep, so Howie's outlook was chancy at best.
My wife, another dog lover brought him home one night much to my surprise. (I've always had small dogs and Howie was quite big) and had a real commanding yet friendly presence & first thing he did was run over & force himself on me! ) It was OK, I'm always a push-over for a good dog. But the size of him! THAT I was not used to for a long, long time. With my little boy and my wife pleading to me to let us keep him, I said sure, I guess. He didn't scare my A.J. a bit so no problem & eventually they became best friends right down to when A.J. was dying. A.J. would be lying there and Howie went into the kitchen and came back by A.J. and dropped a mouthful of food by her & he gently nudged her to attempt to get her to eat. He was amazing.
During the 7 years I was ill and didn't leave the house he was always by my side, he never left unless I fell asleep in my chair. Then he'd go upstairs and you could hear him jump on my bed to warm up on the quilt.
In 2015 Howie's hips totally failed from the degenerative hip problem German Shepard's have and he couldn't walk unless I walked behind him and held his hips. In the end I ended up carrying Howie outside, inside, where ever he wanted to be. That was OK by him until the day we woke up and he would just twist in circles and his back legs failed to move. Howie had suffered a major stroke. I took constant care of him for almost 2 months hoping that he would improve but he never did, it just got worse. Finally when we had to get stronger pain pills for him I knew he was miserable, I finally broke down and let him go. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
I miss him, always will but I remember all the good times we had. Whether we were playing or sitting on the step watching cars go past the house, he was right by me. I loved that dog & if I get another Howie will be a hard act to follow .
------------------------------------------------------------
I thank each of you who leave a flower & note for Howie. I appreciate it and I'll bet he'd appreciate it too. He was a true companion. However I've heard he's having a lot of fun since he has hips back again! Sure hope he gets all the running out of his system by the time we meet again.
Sadly, on May 27th, 2015 we had to help my best friend and constant companion "Howie Gene Baskerville, Esq." cross over to the Rainbow Bridge. He was 15 years old.
I wasn't real fond of Howie at the start, if you opened the back door he would magically appear and bolt out running. Even if you checked before you opened it, it made no difference. We spent many hours chasing that dog down. He's stop and you'd get within a foot of him, just out of range to grab his collar. Even the smallest move to get any closer made him bolt again. I did a lot of running in those days!
However, after finding out he could get spoiled beyond belief at my house he decided stop running away and to adopt us. :-)
Howie was a great dog, God doesn't make them much better! Howie was a German Shepard / Black Lab mix & we kind of got him by chance. My wife's friend had a husband that couldn't understand that dogs bark, and because of that she was going to take him to the pound. In 2002, if an animal wasn't adopted within a month or so they were put to sleep, so Howie's outlook was chancy at best.
My wife, another dog lover brought him home one night much to my surprise. (I've always had small dogs and Howie was quite big) and had a real commanding yet friendly presence & first thing he did was run over & force himself on me! ) It was OK, I'm always a push-over for a good dog. But the size of him! THAT I was not used to for a long, long time. With my little boy and my wife pleading to me to let us keep him, I said sure, I guess. He didn't scare my A.J. a bit so no problem & eventually they became best friends right down to when A.J. was dying. A.J. would be lying there and Howie went into the kitchen and came back by A.J. and dropped a mouthful of food by her & he gently nudged her to attempt to get her to eat. He was amazing.
During the 7 years I was ill and didn't leave the house he was always by my side, he never left unless I fell asleep in my chair. Then he'd go upstairs and you could hear him jump on my bed to warm up on the quilt.
In 2015 Howie's hips totally failed from the degenerative hip problem German Shepard's have and he couldn't walk unless I walked behind him and held his hips. In the end I ended up carrying Howie outside, inside, where ever he wanted to be. That was OK by him until the day we woke up and he would just twist in circles and his back legs failed to move. Howie had suffered a major stroke. I took constant care of him for almost 2 months hoping that he would improve but he never did, it just got worse. Finally when we had to get stronger pain pills for him I knew he was miserable, I finally broke down and let him go. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
I miss him, always will but I remember all the good times we had. Whether we were playing or sitting on the step watching cars go past the house, he was right by me. I loved that dog & if I get another Howie will be a hard act to follow .
------------------------------------------------------------
I thank each of you who leave a flower & note for Howie. I appreciate it and I'll bet he'd appreciate it too. He was a true companion. However I've heard he's having a lot of fun since he has hips back again! Sure hope he gets all the running out of his system by the time we meet again.
I wasn't real fond of Howie at the start, if you opened the back door he would magically appear and bolt out running. Even if you checked before you opened it, it made no difference. We spent many hours chasing that dog down. He's stop and you'd get within a foot of him, just out of range to grab his collar. Even the smallest move to get any closer made him bolt again. I did a lot of running in those days!
However, after finding out he could get spoiled beyond belief at my house he decided stop running away and to adopt us. :-)
Howie was a great dog, God doesn't make them much better! Howie was a German Shepard / Black Lab mix & we kind of got him by chance. My wife's friend had a husband that couldn't understand that dogs bark, and because of that she was going to take him to the pound. In 2002, if an animal wasn't adopted within a month or so they were put to sleep, so Howie's outlook was chancy at best.
My wife, another dog lover brought him home one night much to my surprise. (I've always had small dogs and Howie was quite big) and had a real commanding yet friendly presence & first thing he did was run over & force himself on me! ) It was OK, I'm always a push-over for a good dog. But the size of him! THAT I was not used to for a long, long time. With my little boy and my wife pleading to me to let us keep him, I said sure, I guess. He didn't scare my A.J. a bit so no problem & eventually they became best friends right down to when A.J. was dying. A.J. would be lying there and Howie went into the kitchen and came back by A.J. and dropped a mouthful of food by her & he gently nudged her to attempt to get her to eat. He was amazing.
During the 7 years I was ill and didn't leave the house he was always by my side, he never left unless I fell asleep in my chair. Then he'd go upstairs and you could hear him jump on my bed to warm up on the quilt.
In 2015 Howie's hips totally failed from the degenerative hip problem German Shepard's have and he couldn't walk unless I walked behind him and held his hips. In the end I ended up carrying Howie outside, inside, where ever he wanted to be. That was OK by him until the day we woke up and he would just twist in circles and his back legs failed to move. Howie had suffered a major stroke. I took constant care of him for almost 2 months hoping that he would improve but he never did, it just got worse. Finally when we had to get stronger pain pills for him I knew he was miserable, I finally broke down and let him go. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
I miss him, always will but I remember all the good times we had. Whether we were playing or sitting on the step watching cars go past the house, he was right by me. I loved that dog & if I get another Howie will be a hard act to follow .
------------------------------------------------------------
I thank each of you who leave a flower & note for Howie. I appreciate it and I'll bet he'd appreciate it too. He was a true companion. However I've heard he's having a lot of fun since he has hips back again! Sure hope he gets all the running out of his system by the time we meet again.
