For my entire adult life, when people ask me if I have children, I tell them, yes, I have 3 dogs and a horse. People look at me a little funny, but it's the truth. My animals are my children. You all know Chief, he is the star of this blog, but my other children are dogs. I have always been able to say that I had 2 labs and a mutt. The mutt, Chip, is the star of this story.
How did we come to have 3 large dogs? Well that's my husband's fault (imagine that). He had Jake first. Jake is the yellow lab and even at 6 months was a giant; he weighs over 100 lbs. and has very little fat on him. When we both sit on the floor, he sits taller than me.
Well then some of my husband's friends were deploying to Germany and they couldn't take their large chocolate lab with them, so they were seeking a good home for him. My husband being the sucker he is, decided it would be a great idea to have 2 labs about the same age so they could play with one another. I told him not to get this dog as when I moved in, I planned to get my own dog. Well, the hubs called my bluff and got our chocolate lab, Murphy.
When I moved in sure enough, those dogs were my husband's dogs. They did whatever he told them, and didn't pay too much attention to me, so of course, I wanted my own dog. I had always wanted a boxer. They are cute, short haired, and sweet as can be. They are also very expensive dogs when they are pure bred. So, I started looking into a rescue, boxer mix. Thanks to
wwww.petfinder.com, we found our "boxer," Chocolate Chip. He was listed with his brother, Oatmeal. The hubs liked Chocolate Chip, and I liked Oatmeal. Oatmeal looked more like a boxer, because he was oatmeal colored. So we called the kennel to inquire about both. The lady that ran the shelter informed us that these puppies had parvo, and they were unsure if they would make it. She instructed us to call back in a week and warned us that if we had other dogs, that they could be infected.
Well that was slightly scary so we called our vet and discovered that parvo is a puppy-hood disease and is typically not an issue for dogs over the age of 2 especially if they've had all of their vaccines. Lucky for us, Jake and Murphy were 2 at the time and were up to date, so now we just had to hope that Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip made it through.
A week later, we called and sure enough, both puppies were on the mend and doing great. So we scheduled ourselves to go check them out that weekend. That Saturday had to have been the rainiest day of the year. And by the way, the shelter was a 3 hour drive down some Missouri back roads. The hubs was pretty annoyed with me going to pick up MY dog in the pouring rain... But we made it.
Upon arrival we found out that Oatmeal had already been adopted. Quite honestly, it is a good thing, because otherwise we would have had 4 large dogs. So we took Chip out to play with him and he was too freaking cute. It was obvious he was still learning to run and play because he kept falling all over himself. So, we paid the $5 adoption fee and took him home. Even as a puppy, Chip didn't like being held. He was happiest in the floor board of the car, so I let him hang out there on our 3 hour trip back home.
Little Chip and Murphy. He was small enough to lay in the floor board.
My boys, look at tiny Chip
We got Chip home and he fit right in with the big dogs. He would play just as rough as them and it didn't matter. In fact, Chip ruled the roost. When there were toys to be had, Chip would hoard them under the coffee table so the big dogs couldn't reach them. But, Chip became my baby, and when I told him to do something, he would do it. He knew who his mother was.
Back then, all three boys playing, Jake, Murphy, and Chip
All three boys now, Jake, Murphy, and Chip
We taught him to swim with the big dogs after quite some resistance. But once he learned, he loved it. Chip was also quite the explorer, always following his nose. He loved to chase after smells.
Chip also made it on a couple of trail rides with Chief and me. Chip was super scared of Chief because he was so big, but I made them like each other.
Trail riding with Chief
My speckled pony with my speckled puppy
As he got older, people always asked us what kind of dog he was. We were taking bets. We all agreed he had beagle in him. I said lab because he was quite tall and had lab fur. Another guess was Bassett hound because he had such a droopy chest and was rather long. I always said Chip looked like someone cut 2 dogs and half and sewed them together to create him.
So one day, the hubs finally got tired of the speculation and bought a DNA test from the pet store. We did the cheek swab and sent it off. A couple of weeks later, we had the results.
Chip was truly a mutt. The 2 dominant traits were beagle (as we called it) and German shepherd. No one guessed German shepherd. But, Chip was tall, rather long, and had that long, low chest so it made sense. There was also Chesapeake Retriever in him (I had guessed lab) as well as some terrier, dachshund, and more. Guess what breed Chip did not have... that's right Boxer. Not one ounce, but it didn't matter, we loved him anyways.
The many breeds of Chip
Chip grew into quite the personality. One of the vet techs named him Mouth, because he would talk to you. Whenever we picked him up from the vet, he had quite the story. When it was feeding time, he would also like to tell you about how hungry he was. Chip was quite the ham. I also liked to dress him up. I got a Halloween costume for him one year and he was very upset with me. So much so, that we couldn't even get a decent picture of him. But, here was a recent one of him sporting one of my shirts.
Chip was also an excellent napper. Going back through photos, I found a lot of these...
Eight years, and 2 moves later, we made it back to Virginia. Chip did not like the rental house I found for us (do you know hard it is to find a place to rent to 3 large dogs??). It was a 3 story house and none of our dogs were used to stairs. They never had to use them in Missouri, and rarely used the stairs in Chattanooga. So, for these guys to try and learn how to do stairs efficiently at 8 and 10 years old was tough for them.
Eventually, Chip had enough of the stairs and refused to come up without a treat. So he got lots of treats. I took him to the vet and we found out he had arthritis which wasn't uncommon in a large dog. So we got him some supplements and that seemed to help.
Then a few months later, Chip wasn't excited about dinner. Chip was always excited about dinner, and he let you know when it was dinner time in case you had forgotten. That dog never missed a meal. So, we started wetting his food down. And he'd eat again. But then that didn't work all that well so we tried chicken broth. That didn't work all that well either so we mixed wet food with the dry food. That worked, he started eating well again. Then we discovered he wasn't eating the large pieces of food so we switched food to the senior food with small bites. It helped for awhile. But then Chip got to the point where he wouldn't eat the wet food either. He also wasn't getting in his chair.
Chip's chair, was chip's chair. It was our recliner, and it fit him perfectly and he truly thought that chair was his. When someone sat in it, he'd sit next to them and look at them like, "hey, you're in my chair, get out." So when Chip was laying on the tile and not eating, I decided it was time to take him to the vet. Surely it was just a bad tooth that needed to be pulled. For it to be something else, hadn't even crossed my mind.
Chip in his chair
The vet checked out his teeth, and while they needed to be cleaned (we knew that already), they didn't seem to be causing him pain. So she wanted to start with blood work and go from there. They also wanted him to pee in a cup if you will and take a fecal sample. So, when he wouldn't pee for them, she did an ultrasound of his bladder to see if it was truly empty. She found a large mass right away. So she came in to let me know they'd be keeping him to do a full ultrasound and would call me when they had the results.
This is when it hit me that this could be much more serious than we thought. I drove away trying not to be upset as there is no need to worry about things you don't know about. Just a little later, the vet called back and sure enough it was cancer, and it was in all of his organs and lymph nodes. There was nothing that could be done. We went and picked him up from the vet because I wanted to bring him home for one more night. But we got him home and I just sat on the floor with him and cried. That's when we decided it was just best to let him go. We called the vet and took him in.
I left that day without my little dog and even though its been several weeks now, it still seems like yesterday. I miss him dearly. That week was a tough week, we had just bought a house and were getting ready to move. Now we had to move without Chip and it just didn't seem right. Our new house is main level living, just for Chip, no stairs. I was so mad that he wouldn't be coming with us. All I wanted to do was stop. It was like if we stopped, maybe he could catch up with us, and we could all be together again. But alas, the world keeps spinning and life keeps moving forward like it or not.
With just the two dogs, there is an obvious hole to me. I have the urge to fill it, though logically I know it's best not to do that. Now I dread losing either of the big dogs too. I know those days are coming and it makes me sad, but grateful for the time we have with them.
In doing some research, I discovered that German shepherds are prone to cancer that often starts in the spleen and spreads to their other organs. That was Chip's case. So while he was the littlest and the youngest, his breeding got to him.
Chip was a great dog and I loved him very much. I am grateful that we were able to give him a happy home for his 8 short years on earth. I look forward to the day when I get to see him again in heaven.
Love you Chip!
