Where to start. Well I guess with my first meeting of Conrad, he was 4 mths old although I thought he may have been more like 6 mths due to his size. It was around my birthday in May of 2000 when I went with my hubby to the SPCA to see Conrad for the first time (Gary had visited once before with his sister). We looked around at all the dogs/puppies and this one beautiful boy was probably the only one who wasn't barking. We decided to take him outside for our visit, Gary went back inside to talk to the girls about Conrad. He wasn't sure about adopting him until he came back outside and saw Conrad & I hugging :). He went back inside and said "I guess we're taking this one, the wife is hooked".
The best thing we've ever done. He was an adorable looking pup and quite large for 4 mths as stated above. The only thing he chewed was a 'Dalmation' throw I had gotten as a gift, grrrr. We'd had an aztec type blanket right beside my Dalmation throw which I would've preferred him to chew instead. Also he only ever had 2 accidents in the house which wasn't so bad as it was on the kitchen floor (easier clean up) rather than on the carpet. We had bought him a large cage for him to go in when we had to leave the house and for the first few weeks at bedtime. Well the bedtime was rough as he would whine/cry and make us feel guilty. Needless to say the cage was no longer used for bedtime, as he turned out to be well behaved without it. I could probably write a book on this wonderful boy but I will try to condense his story.
He was absolutely loved by our vet and actually loved going so that was a relief. Oh but he would get so excited in the car when he knew we were going there. We'd be at a stop light and he would whine/cry so loudly other drivers would look our way as if to say " wow, what are they doing to that poor dog". It was a bit embarrassing but also funny. I have included a pic of our vet with him, she always said "Conrad, you are such a ham". Anytime we'd have an appt., we'd ask Conrad "You want to go see Dr.Gough?" and he would get soooooo excited. He loved her too. She also called him 'The Conrad' as to her, he was just IT.
Another nice story about him is he had finally won the trust of our elderly neighbour Vicki whom was terrified of dogs. She would come across the street for a visit and we would always keep Conrad inside but with the door open so that he could still see us. She was always leery even though he wasn't able to get out at her. Well over the years, after Conrad's long walks along the dike; on the way home he would pull towards Vicki's. Believed this was his way of telling us that he wasn't ready to go home yet. So they would have a visit with Conrad still being leashed of course. One day on the way home from a walk, there was Vicki on her front porch. Getting closer, Gary noticed Vicki was crying and asked what was wrong. Vicki went on to tell him that someone had gone into her house (while she was out working in her yard) and stolen her purse. Here's the shocker, Conrad had felt Vicki's sadness/despair and had gone up the steps, over to her and put his head on her lap. I cried when Gary told me this story and at the same time felt a kind of proudness of my special dog. Needless to say, Vicki overcame her fear of Conrad completely.
I believe I will have to cut the story short now as space is probably a factor. Conrad was always pretty healthy with the exception of needing a specialized food to prevent crystals in urinary track. As he got older arthritis became a factor but we'd give him a low dose aspirin to ease his pain. On September 02/12 we had to make the unbearable decision to put him down. His stomach had twisted (like in the movie 'Marley & Me' which is a major tear jerker btw) and surgery would've been ridiculously expensive with very little/ if any guarantee. It was heartwrenching to say the least for Gary & I at 4:30 am to deal with this awful, dreaded decision. We finally decided that we did not want him to suffer any longer and it was done. He was in shock and his eyes, I will never forget. It seemed like he wasn't even there with us and then.....at the last moment, Conrad raised his front paw to me as if he was saying "Rub my chest one more time" and that it was okay. I'm crying as I type this as he will always be our baby. Thank you SPCA for giving us 12 wonderful, life changing years with Conrad. Forever grateful.