Chris and I had to make a hard decision yesterday. It was one that was a long time in coming but the time to make it had come. And it concerns our beloved dog, Mattie.
Before I get into that, here's a brief history about our favorite redhead. After Chris's graduation from TAMUG, he was in College Station visiting me. We had gone to dinner with some friends and walked down to the pet store that was in the same shopping center. In front of the store was a wire corral and inside were puppies. We checked them out and they were so cute! And only $20!! They were some sort of dachshund mix so they shouldn't get over 20 lbs. Well, Chris noticed one that was kinda in the corner, not wanting any attention. So, of course, that is the one that he picks up and he is immediately in love. This poor little thing just looked at him with sad eyes and Chris could not put her down. So, that night, Mattie joined our family. Chris went back to Houston the next day. Mattie stayed with me since Chris was not in his new apartment yet. She would stay with Neil and I until he got moved in. That evening, I noticed some swelling above her left eye. Kinda strange since she hadn't acted hurt or anything. I took her to Neil's vet for a check up since we got a coupon for a free puppy exam and Dr. Rupley's office accepted the coupon. Dr. Rupley was not happy with the swelling. It was eventually discovered that she has swelling around her eye. We had two choices: operate and try to save the eye or put her down. It was not a decision I could make on my own (especially since I was crying uncontrollably). I called Chris and he drove up that night. We decided to use Chris's graduation money to pay for Mattie's surgery. We just could not imagine putting such a young dog down when there was a chance she could have a good life. The surgery went great but the swelling caused permanent damage to her left eye. She would be blind in that eye for the rest of her life. In the last three years, she would also go through two types of cancers and their operations and the recovery for them.
Partial blindness did not slow her down. She was full of energy as a puppy and quickly discovered her favorite pastime - making it snow. She loved to get stuffed animals and pull all of the white stuffing out and spread it all over the place.
She LOVED dressing up!! Here is her attire for going to Pawpi's pool. When we would take the clothes off, she would nose them and look at us like, But I wasn't done yet!"
She was a fantastic nap dog and did not snore, unlike Neiley. She would curl right up with you and sleep like a rock! Her favorite place to sleep though, was under the bed. Specifically, under the bed UNDER Chris's side of the bed. She would drag her favorite toys that she did not want Neil to have under the bed since he didn't go under there.
She was an expert at saying please by lifting her paw. She would lift her paw and cock her head and wait for the treat. She also had a fabulous habit of burping in your face. She would go eat her dinner and then want love from Chris. She would stand next to him on the bed and he would scratch her chest and she would turn, so lovingly, and burp right in his face.
She would not only bark at cars, motorcycles, and bicyclists (her fav), but she would also bark at the pictures of people on city buses that drove next to us.This last one leads me into the decision we had to make. Mattie has always been a dominant dog. When we fostered schnauzers, we had to only have males since she would rip into any female. Her aggression was also directed at children and men. She would especially go for the back of men's knee caps. We both had always felt safe with her and know that she would never turn her aggression on us. Keegan, however, was not on that list. Starting when he was about 6 months old , we would put him in his exersaucer. We noticed that Mattie would run over to it while he was in it and growl whenever he started jumping. We knew then that we were going to have a problem. We contacted our vet and began working with her behavior specialist trying to figure out how to handle the aggression without having any major attacks. We tried different sorts of meds to see if that calmed her down but it didn't. We tried different types of joint supplements in case her aggression was due to the pain from arthritis. but, again, no luck. We resorted to putting the dogs behind gates whenever we were in the living room.
That all changed Tuesday afternoon. I pick K up from Miss Becky's and brought him home. He truly loves our animals. He claps his hands and "talks" at them. When we were walking from the front door to the living room, he peeked over the gate to see the dogs and waved at them. Mattie charged towards him and got his fingers. She did not, thankfully, break the skin but did scare the both of us pretty bad. It was at that moment that I realized things had to change. I kept asking my self, "What's it going to take? How hurt is Keegan going to have to get?" And I didn't want to answer it. I called Chris and we knew it was time. He called our wonderful vet and talked things over with her. Our choices were few. We realized that the only responsible thing left for us to do was to put her down. Her aggression would never end. We would always have to be on guard. We would have to severely limit her way of living and that was just not fair. We also knew, from our years in rescuing, that aggressive dogs don't get placed usually. Plus, how responsible would it be for us to put this problem onto another family?
So, this evening, when Chris gets home, we are taking our red head for her last car ride. This is not an easy choice to make but we know it is best for her. Please keep us all in your prayers during these next few days. We aren't happy with what we have to do but, for her sake, we must.
So, here's to you Mattie Lou. May you spend the time between our next meeting sitting on green grass in the sun on a cool, breezy day. We will look for the trail of snow. We love you.
The boys really enjoyed being in the wagon. They would sit there and just talk to each other. Laner asked Evelyn what the boys were saying. She replied, "I don't know," with a tone that suggested she was above baby talk. We ate our lunch and then made our way over to the little farm area so that the kids could see the cow, chicken, pig, and goats. Everett loved all the animals, especially the goats. He would just walk up and start petting one.
We left the farm experience and went into the reptile building. I stayed outside with the stuff since that building gets crowded. K and Chris came out and we sat on a rock and marveled at our "little" boy as he ran around. Out next stop was in the new penguins exhibit. It is in its own building. They have a glass window from floor to ceiling that goes the entire length of the exhibit. The smart zoo people even built a little ledge that kids can stand on. Since Mark go stuff duty, the rest of us took the kids in. We waited a bit for a space to clear and then set the kids up on the ledge. The penguins were swimming around. Everett got scared whenever one swam towards him. He took a step back and almost fell off the ledge. I caught him but my quick movement scared K so he started crying. After that, the penguins were no fun. We quickly left and took the Lowries to the really cool bird dome. It is filled with parakeets, cockatoos, and cocktails. You pay $1 for a Popsicle stick covered with birdseed. You walk into the dome and wait for a bird to land on your stick. We usually go to the zoo in the mornings so the birds are hungry. They will zoom to your stick. You can even have two at one time on it! By the afternoon, though, they have had their fill and it was tough getting a bird to eat on the stick. We did manage to get some though. I held Everett while Laner stayed outside with the stuff. Everett was so funny! He seriously was like that Looney Tunes character - he wanted to touch them and hold them and squeeze them and called the George!! So cute!! After the cool bird experience, we headed up the mountain to check out the big cats. It was awesome!! Before we even got there, we could hear the lion. He must have been feeling pretty frisky because he was calling out to any available females very loudly!! I personally have never heard a lion at the zoo. This one is usually sleeping whenever we have been there previously (again, get there early, not much action). He would yawn and show his teeth and tongue - HUGE!! The kids were really impressed by his calls. I was happy that K didn't start crying!! Next to the lion is the tiger exhibit. They recently put the new tiger cubs in the exhibit with their momma. I could see the momma up on a ledge sleeping but no babies. It took a while to realize that they were curled up with her!! I got our super cool camera and got a few close up shots of the babies - so cute!! 
Next, we headed to the elephants - K's favorite. They were so active!! They were kicking balls around, kicking the barrel around, and swaying. And they were really close to the fence so the kids could see how big they really are.We really learned that the later in the day, the more we see and hear!!
We stopped by and saw the giraffes and then headed to our last stop - apes!! They were all pretty active except for the big gorilla in the center. He was sitting up at the top next to a window. We went up to check him out. He looked so sad in his eyes, like he was bored. K started crying when we tried to get him close to see the gorilla so that didn't last long. Needless to say, we had some tired kiddos and parents!! We went home and put the kids down for naps.