Reggie's Beginning

Almost ten years ago, I lived with a roommate in this crappy little half house/half RV... I had a dog, an Akita, Sweetie, that I had had for a couple of years. I thought she needed a friend, so we started looking at different rescue groups and shelters. We came across Reggie...he was so sad and scared and frightened. He was 3 or 4 years old, and had lived his entire life in different foster homes. He was found at 6 weeks old, taped up in a box in the woods!! Apparently, one or more of his foster parents had abused him.

He was afraid of EVERYTHING. All new people (especially men, and men in hats), anything with wheels (bicycles, Rollerblades), children, paper bags, raised voices... You get my drift. If a new person walked in, he would pee and poo uncontrollably, he didn't know he was doing it. That's how scared he was. Chris and I were dating at the time, and it took him MONTHS to get used to Chris.

Here he is, minus the grey face of recent years. :)

I moved several times after I got him, and one place didn't allow pets so he went to live with my mom until I could get in a place that allowed pets. There were only a few people that Reggie liked from the first time he met them...my mom, Chris' dad and brother (surprisingly) and my sister Linda. While he lived at my mom's, my Akita suddenly got sick. I took her to the vet, where she passed away that night. Reggie didn't eat for three weeks. He was so lonely and upset!!

Chris and I finally found a rental that allowed pets, so home he came!! He was the best dog ever! We never had problems with him going potty in the house...he LOVED all things small. Loved kittens and puppies...this is a cute picture of him with Q-tip when Q-tip was a baby.

After a while, we got Toby, our Jack Russell Terror, as a buddy for Reggie. And then Hailey, our Great Dane, who only lived for 10 months. Then we got Bravo, our little IG mix.

He was always good with our foster pets. As the years passed, Reggie mellowed out. He was more accepting of strangers and calmer. A few still got him anxious, but for the most part he had learned that we love him, and that we were here to protect him, and that he didn't have much to fear. When we got pregnant with Dalton, I really thought that we might have trouble with Reggie because he was so scared of kids. But we never did! He loved Dalton from the start. Sometimes we would accidentally leave D's bedroom door open, and Reggie could be found sleeping by the crib. He was so good with him.

And by then, we realized, wow, Reggie is getting up there in age! Look at all that grey!!

Reggie began taking different medicines. One for low thyroid. One for arthritis. One for allergies/anxiety. And I began to dread that one day that would come, when he would either pass away or we would have to make a decision to end his suffering. Only that day came too soon. That day was last Friday, and I had no idea how truly horrible it was going to be...