A Tribute to Gator (very picture heavy)

[Cryss]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I understand because he looks like our Lucy who was an extremely intelligent dog too.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I understand because he looks like our Lucy who was an extremely intelligent dog too.

Thank you very much. And aw I am so sorry for your loss too!

 

[JaeG]

I'm sorry about Gator too. He was so gorgeous (just love that tail).

 

[ShrekDawg]

I'm sorry about Gator too. He was so gorgeous (just love that tail).

Thank you so much, Jae. Hope you are doing well. And thank you so much! I think he was too but then again I’m biased lol the disease unfortunately made him kind of ugly the last couple years so I really don’t have any from recently and most of the pictures are from a few years ago, some aren’t but a lot are. You can kinda tell when his head started getting pointier. Wish I could have gotten more current pictures of him but I’d rather remember him as the gorgeous boy he once was anyway and not the sick one. Anyway, thank you and I love his tail too

 

[ShrekDawg]

We had coyotes up behind the house last night. Yipping and howling and calling to each other and everything. Heard them earlier in the night around 11 or midnight or whatever and then I heard them at about 3am and they went on for probably at least 10 minutes but then they finally shut up. Chickens woudn’t come out this morning. I am sure they heard them. They were in the woods directly behind the chicken coop. We have NEVER in 6 1/2 years had them that close or really remember seeing more than maybe one occasionally but without Gator they are coming back.

 

[MissChick@dee]

We had coyotes up behind the house last night. Yipping and howling and calling to each other and everything. Heard them earlier in the night around 11 or midnight or whatever and then I heard them at about 3am and they went on for probably at least 10 minutes but then they finally shut up. Chickens woudn’t come out this morning. I am sure they heard them. They were in the woods directly behind the chicken coop. We have NEVER in 6 1/2 years had them that close or really remember seeing more than maybe one occasionally but without Gator they are coming back.

... you’ll never have another Gator but perhaps it’s time to continue his legacy. Sounds to me like you need yourself a pup. Whatda’ Think?

 

[Cyprus]

Thank you so much, Jae. Hope you are doing well. And thank you so much! I think he was too but then again I’m biased lol the disease unfortunately made him kind of ugly the last couple years so I really don’t have any from recently and most of the pictures are from a few years ago, some aren’t but a lot are. You can kinda tell when his head started getting pointier. Wish I could have gotten more current pictures of him but I’d rather remember him as the gorgeous boy he once was anyway and not the sick one. Anyway, thank you and I love his tail too

I am so sorry
I didn't read through all the pages -too sad.
Can I ask what took him?

 

[ShrekDawg]

I am so sorry
I didn't read through all the pages -too sad.
Can I ask what took him?

Thank you! He got diagnosed with MMM (Masticatory Muscle Myositis) about a year and half before he had to be put down. He lost all the muscle in his head so his head looked very sunken with a more and more prominent crown and his cheeks and eyes became very sunken in too. And he started having a lot of immune system problems too. Skin infections, recurring eye infections, ear infections, etc. at one point he lost almost all of his fur, basically all his undercoat, and was bald for a while. He did eventually grow most of it back but he was still very patchy. He was also way less energy and very slow, coudln’t really go on long walks anymore at all, and we think his knees were hurting him too, though we think that may have been from an old injury rather than the disease, but he had basically just been slowly declining for a while and finally the last month or so of his life, he just really took a turn and we knew it was going to be time soon. Was barely eating, lost a lot of weight, had a bad eye infection, etc. The last day he just seemed... different. Tired. You could tell it was time. But he got one final walk through the woods, a car ride to all his favorite spots and got to sniff them from the car, and he got a final McDonald’s cheeseburger which he woofed down whole which was impressive considering he hadn’t been eating anything lately.

 

[EBirdsong]

Gator is flying high with the angels tonight. He was such a good boy; so sweet and loving yet protective of the family, property, and the chickens if need be. He was always quick to inform us if something was bothering the chickens or if something was outside that shouldn’t be and prevented many predator attacks on the chickens. In addition to being an excellent watch dog and loving companion, he was also incredibly smart. He learned so fast and I was able to teach him so much. He did have a bit of an independent streak but he was still so eager to learn and because of his intelligence, learned rapidly. Often times you only had to show him something once or twice and he would know it. Because of his intelligence, he also loved to “talk” with you. He was very sassy and often times when told “no” or “you can’t go”, he would playfully snap at the air and scoot backwards. Telling him he couldn’t go somewhere seemed to particularly upset him and he would get very offended as he loved car rides. He also loved to negotiate with you and think everything through before doing anything. Very intelligent dog. You could almost swear he was human at times. He was also ridiculously goofy, silly, and fun loving. I will miss his sweet, goofy self. Fly high, my sweet boy. I hope you are running free with Bailey now.

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What a fine dog! You can almost hear him talking to you in some of those pictures.

 

[ShrekDawg]

What a fine dog! You can almost hear him talking to you in some of those pictures.

Thank you so much! He definitely loved to “talk”!