The thing about Elkhounds are they are TOUGH dogs. The spiked collars you see on some dogs these days were created for the Elkhound, they chained them together back in the Old days with spiked collars to keep Wolves out and off the land. The spiked collar of course protects the neck. These were dogs vikings took with them. These are Nasty creatures if raised to be.
BUT with love and attention you couldn't have a more loving dog. They will protect you to the last, they will love you without holding back. They will NEVER bite a child. As far as dogs go, they are incredibly smart.
Dad named her Amy the Bear because she reminded him of that bear from the children's stories - little bear. God he loved her so much. You can see it, both sides of it in this picture taken when she was just a puppy
Sunday morning my mother woke up to a mess. Amy hadn't been eating right the last couple weeks, just nibbling, but with her teaching 3rd grade, and me in bed most of the time, money being quite tight, the vet was out of the question until Feb Vacation - which is in 2 weeks. So we'd been cooking her chicken and such and cutting it up in her food - a bit of extra motivation to eat.
Its the hardest thing to tell when an Elkhound is sick or hurt. They remain almost as cheerful, and they have incredible pain tolerances. They don't whimper or howl. They don't lay down in a corner and not move.
Sometime late Saturday night the Bear began to bleed out. Mom woke up to find a blood trail into the TV room that lead to a 13" in diameter pool of dark red blood. Before 10AM Amy had repeated this twice more, and was beginning to have trouble walking. You could tell, or I could tell, that she was in pain, not because she was showing solid signs, but because she'd lay down for 2 minutes, get up - walk 2 feet and lay back down again in a different position, which incidentally is something I do.
Ended up taking her to the Tufts ER, because it was apparent that she REALLY wasn't doing well.
I didn't have a good feeling about it, but began to feel better about it as she sat in the backseat of my car, tail up, ears back, grinning and looking out the window the whole ride there, as if she were on her way to the park to play.
I got her there at 10:30AM, and they took her right in - cept she didn't want to leave my side, so I had to lead her into the back. My body could only handle the benches for so long, so by the time mom showed up I was barely able to walk and had to go get in the car and head home right off.
Mom was there until 6pm. It was eventually decided that she had Cancer, and the outlook was bad. They didn't think she'd last much longer without a transfusion, which we sure as hell can't afford. So they brought mom in to see her. Amy was pretty confused, but after a while realized who mom was, went over, tail wagging and sat down between her legs smiling away.
Its hell to put down a dog that you love. They become so much more than just a dog. I remember when I took Zack in to be put down, a dog I had had from the age of about 7 until I was 19 - he was Old but still powerful, he had simply lost his mind and control over his bowels. Even so it took 3 orderlies to hold him down to give him the shot. But he was 12.
Amy was just 8 years old, still spry as a puppy. And to add impact to injury, we KNEW she was sick, that she was going to die that day from blood loss, but she was look at mom as if she was fine, as if they could just go home and everything would be normal.
So here's to you Bear *raises a mug* You were a Wonderful, Loyal friend, and you will be Missed.
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