This post has been written over and over because the story keeps changing, the emotions go from one extreme to the other, and I just never know what tomorrow will bring. That and it is just too hard to put into a reasonable amount of words all I want to share. Today I’m going to share the short version, because ultimately this isn’t about me, it’s about my dog and all the other dogs out there who deserve loving homes.
Four and a half years ago, not long after buying our house, we packed up and headed to the Humane Society of Indianapolis to find the perfect puppy for our family. I am a HUGE dog lover. I grew up with dogs and wanted that for my boys too, so spending their first few years in an apartment sucked! I agreed with my husband that having a dog in an apartment with two babies wouldn’t be the best move, so we waited until we could buy a house. But you can be sure the first free weekend once the boxes were unpacked, I was dragging us out the door.
The Humane Society is a hard place for me to visit. I honestly want to take every single dog home. I cry knowing I can’t, knowing that each dog I don’t take home has to spend another day in that cage. But I was happy that day, hoping we would find our new family member. And we did, immediately.
I knew I wanted some sort of retriever, a lab or golden, so we got lucky when there was not one but TWO black lab puppies to choose from. One was recovering from an illness, so he didn’t capture my boys’ attention. The other saw us and immediately sat up, perking up his ears and seeming to put on his winningest smile. He never barked, he just sat there and waited for us. And immediately Big Boy and I knew he was our dog. He was not my husband’s first choice. I believe Hubby’s exact words were, “that is a horse, not a dog.” But I brushed him off, saying, “well they said he’s a lab and will only get to be about 70 pounds, he’s fine.” Looking back at pictures, I was clearly blind, but luckily my husband is a pushover and we took the baby horse home and named him Steve Buscemi.
After the initial adjustment period, Steve became just another member of our family. Last spring and summer we made it a mission to visit as many state parks as we could, and Steve came right along for every trip. He knew Sundays were Park Days, and as soon as we were all up he would begin whining and trying to lead us to the car. At that time he weighed in at nearly a hundred pounds and, standing on his hind legs, was at least as tall as me. So yeah, we adopted a horse.
That horse has loved us and brought us joy every day of his life, though. Every day he is happy. If we leave, even just to run to the grocery store, he greets us with all the excitement of a new friend when we get home. He has put up with children riding on him, cats eating his food, and taking a two and a half hour car ride just to take a walk at a new park. He’s one of those dogs that you can allow in the front yard without a leash and he’ll stay right by his boys’ sides. All of this never would have happened if the Humane Society of Indianapolis had not taken his mom and all her unwanted puppies in.
Last year we took Steve to the Mutt Strut for the first time and he thought it was the best day ever. EVER. The Mutt Strut is the Humane Society of Indianapolis’ biggest fundraiser of the year. Once a year, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens up to allow families and their pets to walk the track. This is a really cool experience even if you don’t bring a dog. Until last year I’d never had the opportunity to be on the track before, but it brought back so many memories of watching the Indy Cars during practices and qualification days growing up. Of course, Steve could care less about my nostalgia, but he DID care about all those other dogs. According to the Mutt Strut site, more than 5,000 pets took part last year. So you can imagine why Steve was so excited. Never in his life had he had the chance to see (and smell) so many other dogs. Not to mention all the pools and water dishes around the track to check out, and all the sponsor booths handing out dog treats and other goodies. Steve was in heaven.
Fast forward to this February, just a few weeks ago. Now this is the part in the story that I keep getting choked up trying to share. Steve got really, really sick. Just out of nowhere, one day he was fine, the next he wouldn’t eat any food and his stomach was bloated. We were told by two different veterinary professionals that he had renal failure and was dying. Our sweet boy, barely five, who had been so healthy before, was going to die. This was on a Friday night and Saturday morning, it was expected by Monday morning we would be putting him down. It’s a situation that is hard for any dog owner to process. We spent a lot of time crying and cursing whatever would listen. We spent a lot of time loving on our dog and begging for a miracle. We spent a lot of time trying to explain all of this to our children. In between all of this, I spent time at my computer, trying to figure out what I could do to make the situation better. If I couldn’t fix my dog, I wanted to help others. We made an appointment with another vet for Monday morning to get another opinion. I made a note to ask that doctor about donating the dog to a university or other scientific institute that could use his body to help the world. I started looking up where I could donate his unopened bag of food in the garage. And I tried to think of a way we could help the state parks and the Mutt Strut, two things that brought so much joy to our Steve’s short life. The Mutt Strut comes at the end of April, so I knew I would soon be able to find a way to encourage donations in his name or something similar.
In a strange twist of events, so far, our story has a happy ending. Our third opinion gave us some optimism. His kidneys are not failing, he was suffering from some severe GI issues. Our dog that was supposed to be dead two weeks ago is still here. He’s still bringing love and happiness to our lives. He’s not a hundred pounds anymore. For the first time since we’ve had him you can see his ribs. But he’s in no pain and he tries eating a little more each day. Today he heard a motorcycle outside and barked at it. It’s the first time he has “protected” us since he got sick.
Right before I began writing this, I registered our family for the Mutt Strut. I bought a dog bandana. I let them know we would be bringing one dog with us. I didn’t think Steve would see another Mutt Strut, but now I’m starting to believe he will be okay, and that he will be healthy and strong enough to walk the track with all his new friends.
At the suggestion of my dear friend Melanie, I created a pack for the Mutt Strut. What this is, basically, is a fundraising team. I invite you, if you would like to participate in the Mutt Strut this year, to join our Pack, “Indy Homeschool.” If you are not interested in taking part in the pack, you can still benefit our pack through a tax-deductible donation. All proceeds of the Mutt Strut go to help support the efforts of the Humane Society of Indianapolis.
I’m not here to guilt anyone into anything or to sell you on the Mutt Strut. If you’re not interested, that’s cool. I just needed to take a moment and share what Indy Humane and the Mutt Strut mean to me and my family, and let you know if you’d like to be part of it, we’d love to have you. The Mutt Strut takes place on April 26, we’d love to see you there!
