sad sack

OK, so that's a bit of a gross title, but it made me laugh. Our new, used dog Harvey, AKA Norman, AKA Stanley, AKA Sam was neutered today. He was yet another one of the throw-aways. His owner was going to kill him (that's much more accurate than "put him to sleep") because he kept jumping the fence. Turns out, he's terrified of thunderstorms, which is a bit inconvenient when one lives in a yard.

He is an 8 year old Great Dane (the typical Dane lifespan is 8 - 9) who had lived his entire life in a back yard, with a utility shed to call home. He was not vaccinated, he was not neutered, but he did manage to contract heartworms. In the South, almost any animal would be heartworm positive after being outside for just a few months. He was filled with parasites, 30 pounds underweight, and has neurological problems in his hips. That's common in Danes--our previous Dane Eleanor had major hip and spinal problems.

Soooo, like any rational person, I said "that dog's for me!" and found someone willing to drive 8 hours (there and back) to south GA to pick him up and bring him to my house. He had been named Sam, which is also my son's name, so I figured we were karmically meant to be together. I don't actually believe in karma, though I wish it were real, but it somehow makes me sound a little less crazy...

Back to the sack issue. As I mentioned, he was not neutered. Suffice to say, in an 8 year old dog who is meant to weigh 150 pounds, this is not an attractive sight. I felt the need to put underpants on him, as having a dog that well-endowed (actually, at ALL endowed) goes against every cell in my animal-rescuer body. So, instead of throwing a wiggling 12 week old puppy in the car to go get neutered, I helped a geriatric old man in the car--an old man who is not used to car rides, never mind going to the vet.

OK, so why do it? He won't be around unspayed female dogs, and he's probably gotten used to them being back there, right? Well, for one thing, dogs his age are very susceptible to testicular cancer, which is impossible to contract if one has no testes. Neutering also reduces the instances of prostate cancer in male dogs, and it prevents that oh-so-pleasant "surprise" pee mark that I always seem to find with bare feet at 3:00 AM, on my way to the bathroom. It also helps curb aggression, though this boy doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body. He defers to the cats, even the ones who get beat up by the other cats.

He's on the floor next to me, as I type. He's usually up on the futon in my office watching me, but I suspect he was just too damn tired to get up there. He keeps looking at his hindquarters with a bit of a puzzled look, though I'm probably just anthropomorphizing him. He's so trusting, and his eyes say "thank you for saving me" every time I look at him. But the funny thing is, it's these creatures who really save me.