Osiris 5/10/05 — 11/26/05

 

 

Ah, my baby Osiris. Let me start off by saying that I had been looking for a show marked Mantle for over a year.

 

Osiris’s breeder called me the same day I had to put down my beloved 10 month old Brindle, Athos. I was very heartbroken at the time and didn’t want to trust my heart with another puppy.  The breeder told me there were 2 other people that wanted him, but she gave me first option to buy him. I passed on him but made his breeder promise to find him a wonderful home.  The next day I got an email from his breeder telling me that both potential buyers passed on him. At this time Anubis had not ate in 2 weeks so I figured since the breeder lived close we could take Anubis and let him play with the puppy. Needless, to say we ended up coming home with the puppy. He was a gorgeous boy that got along great with Anubis.

 

I named him after the Egyptian god Osiris. He bonded instantly with Anubis and my house returned to ‘normal’.  2 weeks after having him I noticed that his back was roaching (the shape of an upside down U), he ran with both hind legs together and his second testicul had not  yet descended. I didn’t think much of it since he was a big boy and was growing very fast. 7 weeks later I fell in love with a stunning show marked Harl female,  Isis. I named her Isis after the Egyptian goddess who, in

mythology, was married to Osiris. Isis and Osiris became inseparable, I swear they were glued at the hip. In the meantime Anubis had gotten very sick again and it helped that the puppies could play with each other instead of Anubis.

 

A few weeks later I noticed tissue ‘popping’ out  of Osiris’s right eye. I took him to an ophthalmologist and found that he had everted 3rd eye lid cartilage and chronic conjunctivitis. The ophthalmologist told me about the corrective surgery for his eye problems. I waited on the surgery for his eye conditions because I had noticed more important health issues arising in Osiris. I had started to notice Osiris’s back roaching even more, he was starting to run with his back legs together even more and he was becoming more aggressive by the day. A few days later I took him in for x-rays of his hips and spinal cord. As I had feared, he had moderate hip dysplacia in both hips with arthritis already set it, and all the vertebrae in this spine were irregularly spaced. He was in an immense amount of pain. In all he had hip dysplacia, spinal cord problems, TMJ in his jaw, a tilted pelvis, problems in both of his eyes and intestinal problems. Please keep in mind, Osiris got diagnosed with his hip dysplacia and spinal cord problems on his 6 month birthday. After the diagnoses I took him to a massage therapist, a mial facial specialist, a chiropractor, and an acupuncturist — not to mention all my vets. Now ask yourself, how does a 6 month old puppy weighing 120lbs. continue to grow for another 18 months and live a happy and pain free life with all these problems at once?

 

I had Osiris for 3 and half months by this time and I had just put down my Brindle puppy for the same problems. Just when I thought I couldn’t cry anymore and the pain had finally lightened….. Osiris continued to see specialist and we tried many different pain killers, but nothing seemed to help him. I told myself that I had lost Athos and I wasn’t going to lose Osiris. Everyday I would lightly massage his spine, hips and down his back legs. I went above and beyond what many people would have done for their dogs. I even quit taking my other 2 Danes to school because of the time and effort it took for me to work on Osiris.

 

As the days went by Osiris just got worse and worse. He started showing extreme fear, confusion, aggression and pain. He quit playing with my other 2 dogs, he became aggressive to anyone that approached him,  and he started to lose his depth perception and was running into many things and hurting himself. (I have a 125 gallon saltwater tank that he ran into and broke out the entire front of the stand. It took a car jack to hold the tank up so I could fix the stand) Please keep in mind he was still doing therapy and on pain killers. As more days went by he started attacking my other 2 dogs if they even got near him and he started attacking me. Every day he just got bigger and bigger and no matter what I gave him for pain it just didn’t work. The pain was just too much for him to handle.

 

I believe in the quality of life for all animals. I sat down and put myself in his position. I imagined myself with all of his problems, fears and pain. I couldn’t even handle the thought of trying to live a life with all of that pain, fear and confusion. Osiris was my Mantle boy that took me over a year to find. He opened my eyes to many of life’s ‘little’ adventures and yet he could still make me laugh even when he was in trouble.

 

Osiris died in my arms on November 26th at 6 months old. We miss him more than words can say. He was my buddy that would cuddle with me on the couch during Sunday football. He was my buddy that kept me company when I was on ‘poop patrol’. He was my buddy that loved to steal my socks and run around the living room with them. He was my buddy that opened my eyes to the truth. He taught me that no matter how hard you fight the truth, you are going to have to face it sooner or later.

 

 

I have kept the name of his breeder private for various reasons. Thank you for understanding.