Reminiscing over Rex, our German Shepard

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german shepard, postaday2016, Rex

My husband posted all of these great pictures of Rex, our gentle German Shepard, and I couldn’t help but stroll down memory lane, reminiscing about his adolescent times, he literally ate the house and once our daughter had to go to school and tell her teacher that Rex had eaten her book with her homework attached. What really sticks out in my memory is what a wonderful babysitter he was, he lived for our two children. Rex could only relax when he knew where each of them were and that they were safe. He went nuts at pool time, he was our lifeguard on duty and he took his duties so seriously, he went into the pool and corralled the children to make sure no one drowned. Rex was amazing, he looked intimidating but there was no gentler giant than he, I miss him so very much.

Daily prompt: Wronged objects

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Jack, postaday2014, Rex

If your furniture, appliances, and other inanimate objects at home had feelings and emotions, to which item would you owe the biggest apology?

I have quite a few household objects that I could apologize to; the two ottomans, the lowest stair of our staircase, almost every chair leg that we have, they all have an issue with me. Why would they be angry with me or disappointed at the very least? I left them alone with Rex our German Shepard (who passed away) when he was a puppy. He had massive teething issues and separation issues. I used to joke that Rex had eaten our house during his toddler phase. It had gotten so bad that I used to bring him with me to the school where I used to work for a few hours a day and I used to worry that Rex was eating my car while I was inside teaching the little ones, but he stayed patiently waiting for me without incident. I still miss our Rex. Our household items seriously don’t miss Rex; they all love Jack, did not love Rex.

A grand dog

Tags

dogs, German SHepards, pets, postaday2012, Rex

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Rex was the best, most handsome dog ever. Today we are all devastated because we had to put Rex to sleep. His rear legs couldn’t hold him up any longer and try as I might, I couldn’t get him to move since Wednesday. He had a few good treats these past few days; cheesecake, provolone cheese, chicken pot pie and roast beef. All these treats made the medicine go down because the poor lamb was in pain at the end.

While we were with Rex we all started going down memory lane. The baby boy mentioned the time Rex ran past him, upended him and the concussion he got as a result of the run by, and the time he was walking Rex on a leash and was slammed into a tree because Rex got a whiff of something in the woods or the time Rex, while trying to save him in the water, almost drowned him. These stories were told, full of love and laughter, because Rex never really understood how seriously big he was, he often acted like a lap dog when he was younger. The baby girl has a scar or two from being dragged across the ice by an excited Rex. My hubby and I are the only ones who emerged from Rex’s circle unscathed, but we can’t say the same of the house.

If the house and furniture could speak, it would be complaining of two broken screen doors, two eaten ottomans, chewed up chairs, chewed up piano bench, chewed up staircase and the list goes on to include books and shoes. I had to bring Rex with me to school every morning, when I taught French there, to keep the rest of the house safe. However I never lingered in school for fear that he would be eating the car’s interior.

My best friend Debbie who worked for us for a long time and watched Rex and the other dogs when we weren’t home, had so many stories of Rex almost breaking her nose accidentally with his head or the stepping and crushing her toes with his huge paws and her knee being thrown out because of his huge head connecting with it. Bless Debbie with all those mishaps, she adored Rex just as much as he adored her. She raved over the fact that Rex adopted her beloved puppy Gizmo.

All of that behavior lasted only a few two or three years, other than that he was the best dog, gentle as can be. He lived to be with us, he absolutely adored the kids and he was the best babysitter in the world. He would never sleep on the job, he would herd them and never let them out of his sight. He was the same way with his canine friends, he was daddy to my best friend’s puppy, a mix of chihuahua and terrier, Rex loved his Gizmo and watched over him from the day he met the little puppy. Rex was equally protective of Jack and went after another German Shepard because he had the nerve to bark at his baby Jack.

Rex was amazing and we miss him so much it hurts. I think that I am still in shock because my ears are still straining for his footsteps. His footsteps were unmistakable, when he was younger and would run up or down the stairs the whole house would shake. The same when he was laying down, when he threw his head on the floor the room would shake. He had so much power and strength and didn’t even know it.

Our Rex, we loved him, he loved us and we all know that he is in a better place no longer in pain. He lives on in our hearts and in our memories.

 

Whirlwind day trip to Boston and come home to an extra dog

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Boston, dogs at play, French Consulate, Gracie, Jack, postaday2012, Rex

The baby girl, my hubby and I got up very early together to go to Boston, my hubby to work and the baby girl and I needed to get to the French Consulate in Boston to renew my baby girl’s French passport. Why the need for a renewed passport you ask? The baby girl and I are going to France to see our family! I am excited about seeing everyone, beyond words. I’ll be writing about it later on, but today was busy, busy. The baby girl and I went into Boston, which is a relatively easy city to navigate, once you have a few landmarks in your frame of reference, you can find yourself very easily, so locating the French Consulate wasn’t hard at all. Getting all the paperwork done was easy and quickly done and afterwards we walked to the Boston Commons. We sat on a park bench and spent some time being entertained by a few crazy adventurous squirrels who were also a little frisky. At some point the baby girl expressed not only hunger but exactly the restaurant that she wanted to assuage her hunger with, Legal Seafood. It was just a few blocks away and within 10 minutes, we were seated at a nice table, we had our drinks and we a had ordered our lunch. We shared an excellent lump meat crab cake with a mesclun salad, the crabcake was one of the simplest and purest expression of a crabcake that I have ever been presented, you really tasted the flavor and the texture of the lump crab meat. There was a hint of breadcrumb and maybe egg white with the perfect touch of salt and pepper. It was exquisite as a dish. For our main course, the baby girl and I each ordered steamers. You cannot go wrong with steamers, broth and drawn butter, your choice to dunk the steamers in one or both, either way you have the full experience of the sea. Our lunch together was great. We met up with my hubby and we walked around some more and then it was homeward bound.

We pulled into our driveway and lo and behold, we were greeted by our next door neighbor’s puppy, a six month Rhodesian Ridgeback. Her name is Gracie and she is the sweetest puppy, we weren’t sure that Rex and Jack liked her because whenever they had met up, Gracie would be off leash and Rex and Jack on leash, that makes for an imbalance of power between the dogs and doesn’t promote harmonious relations. Seeing Gracie sitting at her fence and seeing that she had broken a piece of it to escape, I asked the baby girl to put Gracie in our backyard to keep her safe until our neighbors returned. The baby girl decided that Jack needed socialization so she put Jack out back with Gracie and with both of them off leash, on equal footing, they got along like the best of friends. At this point we introduced Rex into the mix and after he established that he is the Alpha dog, he was content to watch over his two charges, Jack and Gracie, to make sure that they got along. He thought that his baby-sitting duties were over with yesterday’s play date with the baby, well now he has a puppy from next door to mind as well.

Rex and the erstwhile puppy Gracie, a Rhodesian Ridgeback

Rex and Jack out in the garden

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garden, Jack, pets, postaday2012, Rex

I decided to take pictures of the Rex man today, in part to show off how handsome of a German Shepard he is and I have to confess, as his mommy I am so proud to show him off. He is somewhat vain himself, when the occasion warrants he straightens up and seems to grow an extra two inches. I included a picture of him as a puppy because honestly, who knew that the awkward puppy so intent to please us would grow up to be the amazingly large and gentle giant still intent on pleasing us. I threw pictures of Jack in because he is just too cute and Jack never wants to be left out. What we do to Rex we have to do to Jack, if I clean Rex’s ears than Jack wants his cleaned as well. What makes it funny is that after the fact he is never as excited about having clean ears as when Rex was getting it done. Jack never learns though, because when it’s time to put the flea and tick medicine on Rex, little Jack is front and center saying “my turn, my turn”. I can see that since my two human children have grown up and to be frank, they would be put out if I discussed at length any of their antics, I have come to dote even more on my two other children. I was going to write that the only difference between the four of them is that two don’t speak but that is not true. Jack is very vocal during the day and even at night when, if I move I hear little groans emanating from under the covers. During the day, he either barks at other dogs outside or he makes weird noises trying to tell me things, all the while cocking his head from side to side, it’s a riot. Rex is the strong silent type, he makes noise only when absolutely required and I promise you the scarcity of his bark makes it that much more intimidating, not to us of course, but to whomever it is directed at. We get a kick out of it because the absolute depth from whence the bark comes from makes us think of a rumbling out of a deep cavern and then you see his big jaws open and teeth bared. It is a sight to see.

Cramps,argh!

Tags

dehydration, german shepard, Jack, jack russell, muscular cramps, pinch nerve, postaday2012, Rex, toe cramps

I have, perhaps twice in my life, had muscle cramps in my leg, painful and shocking experiences, one was in my hamstring and the other was in my calf. Those two cramps happened long enough ago that I can’t quite remember how bad it was, intellectually though, I know it was very bad. Lately, in the evening, I’ve been getting cramps in my toes on my right leg, not the big toe, the third and fourth toes and while it is not excruciating pain like a muscular cramp, it still stinks. My hubby is really talented at getting rid of my pesky toe cramps by cracking those annoying toes, but being home alone, I have to do it myself which, as you can imagine, feels nowhere near as good as when your loved one does it for you. I have thought about what could be causing my toe cramps. I know that it can’t be due to dehydration because I drink all the time. Might it be too much sugar? I don’t eat that much sugar, I had ice cream today, but I would think that the sugar aspect would be a cumulative issue, not something that happens every once in a while. I wonder if it’s because of Jack, our little baby Jack Russell, he sits on me all the time, could he be constricting a nerve? I doubt it, he is funny though because he gets so annoyed when I gently put him to the side to crack my right foot. He even gets annoyed when he is sleeping on my lap and when my stomach growls loudly, it disturbs his nap he gets this peeved look on his little face.


I finally figured out how to show off my two baby boys, hooray for me!