Miesha's Memorial
May 17, 1995 - February 3, 2004
Miesha is Lier and Meisel's sister. We co-owned her since she went to her first home at 8 weeks of age. During the 2000 Great Dane Nationals and two months after Meisel's cardiomyopathy diagnosis, my husband got a phone call from her family wanting to know if we could take her back. She was 5 1/2 years old. My husband made the decision right then and there and said "Certainly!" He then called me at the Nats and told me about it. I was so excited! Miesha was coming home!
Our Christmas Vacation was at Galveston Island State Park in Texas, of course. The weather was rather miserable.
Here is Miesha and her family of daddy, mommy, Meisel and Comet. Miesha is in front, while Meisel wears her pink sweatshirt (cold probably from her poor heart).
On February 3, 2004, Miesha suddenly passed away from a massive heart attack. She was attending the 'milk run' she likes to go on with me when I go get fresh raw milk. She, Lacey and Liam were all in the van. We met the delivery man, I transferred my coolers with him and got back in the van. I was out of the van about 30 seconds. I found Liam in my driver's seat. I had to push him off and that is when I saw Miesha laying down between the front seats, panting heavily and very pale. I jumped into the back with her. Lacey and Liam were frantic, bouncing everywhere. I asked Miesha to hold on, but she could not. She whined twice and died. It only took 15 seconds from my seeing her panting till she died. So very fast.
She was only 8, but would have been 9 in May. She had been having what the vet thought were siezures, but I said were heart angina attacks for the past few months. She told me this, herself. I had 2 EKGs done & blood tests trying to find the cause. Nothing showed up. I attended an Animal Communication seminar on the 7 & 8th and we spoke to Miesha. One lady said that an artery in her neck was halfway closing during these episodes. So I called my vet on Monday and he agreed to order a heart event monitor for her that evening. We were too late. The only things that makes me feel better about this is that 1# she went quickly and without suffering, 2# she was with those who loved her, 3# she told me it was OK, that she wanted it this way not just for herself, but for me and that I could talk to her anytime. Her death did not make any difference in that regard.
I miss her beautiful, warm and loving presence. She made such an impact on everyone who met her. We found a strong Burr Oak tree and planted it in the front yard near her mother, Puppie.
We put some of her ashes in the hole and on top of the ground and we made the traditional Vodka toast to her wonderful spirit. Thank you Miesha, for truely helping teach me to talk to the animals.
Apollo's Memorial
Aptly named, this young boy was BIG in both body and spirit. He came into our rescue at the age of 6 months. His owners’ ex-girlfriend turned him in. The boyfriend got the puppy 4 months earlier in Colorado and brought him down when he came to move in with the girlfriend. He left to go get more of his things to prepare for a marriage and making a home here in Texas. She received a phone call from Colorado saying he was not returning and “Oh by the way, you can keep or get rid of the dog.” She lived in an apartment and could not have the dog there. So fortunately she called our rescue, Great Dane Angel Network.
Apollo already had a history of chewing the sheetrock to get out of a room and raiding trash. He turned out to be a counter surfer and a bed climber too. He would eat anything! The first foster home kept him 6 months. Then we took him in at 12 months of age. We had him 7 months. He was thin when we got him and had allergies. We got weight back on him and the allergies never came back. He was fed BARF for one meal and Wysong Maintenance for the other meal. Apollo learned the house rules, even after a few problems, such as vomiting corncobs 3 days after a trashcan raid and an emergency call to the vet when he ate a mosquito killer float that resulted in a whole bottle of hydrogen peroxide used before he finally upchucked the stuff an hour later.
He became a young ‘man’ as he aged with us. He was a very social and loving Dane. As he proved to us that he could be trusted, he had more and more freedom of the house. Finally he could be allowed full house freedom along with our 2 older girls. He was not able to be free with Liam, our CCI puppy, because the two would play too excessively and too roughly.
Apollo had a lot of fun sitting in the dog door watching the squirrels out back and slowing stalking them until he could wait no longer. Then the chase was on! He could get within 6 feet of a squirrel before the squirrel would run! He was SO SLOW in the stalking that the squirrels couldn’t tell he was moving! He would take over 30 minutes to get from the door to the ‘squirrel tree’.
He grew to 37 inches tall and 140 pounds at the age of 18 months, when he died. He looked the peak of health! July 17th of 2004, I was out picking grapes to make wine with. I saw Apollo take off after a squirrel, no stalking this time. He chased it to the back of the yard, as usual, and stopped at the fence. The squirrel won once again – making it through the chain link. I turned back to my grapes and after a while went inside. I noticed Apollo wasn’t outside anymore. When I got inside, I asked Henry where Apollo was, since I didn’t see him inside on his couch, either. He said he didn’t come in. I knew this wasn’t right and went back outside to look for him. I did not see his big white body anywhere! I looked at the area I last saw him and saw a white lump on the ground. He never laid down outside – I knew something was terribly wrong. When I reached him, I saw him lying on his side – eyes open, as though he had been standing up. He did not lay down or he would have taken a different position. He just looked like he fell directly over and was alert to watching for that squirrel. It had been maybe 10 minutes since I had seen him chase the squirrel and now. We rushed him to the vet but he could not be revived. I had an autopsy done because he was so healthy otherwise. They found that ¾ of the chordae tendineae were torn loose from the heart chamber, a big clot had formed there and he died instantly. This was why he looked as he had. He didn’t feel a thing – thank goodness. I am also glad that he died doing something he loved and knowing he was loved here. Even though he was available for adoption, we never placed him because no one passed the home screening. Apparently he wanted to live with us. Since he became one of our family, we chose to treat him as our own. We had him cremated and a Chinese Tallow tree was planted in his name here in October when it was cool enough to plant. You can see this beautiful tree in the photo. Now we have 2 of these pretty trees; one for Apollo and one for Amstel.
Good night, sweet Apollo.
