Switch our Puppa

This week was rough.

Let's start from the beginning.

Switch Hodges
April 29, 2005- November 22, 2015

April 29, 2005.  Our puppa Switch was born with two other dogs (Suzie and Seven).  His mom and dad, a rottweiler and a pit bull, were not supposed to mate so the litter was put up for adoption.  Charlie had agreed to getting a dog (we weren't married yet) but he wanted me to get a large breed dog.  His sisters had a doberman and a pitbull so the "scary" breeds weren't scary to me.  I don't remember exactly how I found Switch, but after some searching I came across him.  Right away I knew this was the dog for us.  So we applied and were accepted.  Switch was in Kennewick. WA, a place I frequented with Cheryl every summer because her dad lived there.  So I was familiar enough with the area to make the 4 hour drive to get Switch.  When he was eight weeks old we made the trek and brought him home. The whole way home we tried to come up with a new name for him and nothing stuck, so we just kept the name he was given at birth, Switch.  Charlie loves to give me a hard time, and the girls think it's the funniest story.  But we were stopped at a stoplight almost home, we had laid the seats down in my pathfinder for him to have a big space to lay down, walk around etc.  he had perched himself up so his little paws were resting on the arm rest between us and then the light turned green and I hit the gas.  And little baby Switch just rolled all the way back to the back.  You often will read/hear us referring to him as "puppa" it was a nickname he got almost right after coming home that I think came from puppy.  I don't even remember, it's been so long, but he's always been puppa to us.

I used to always love this picture of him as a puppy, you could just tell by those paws and legs he was going to be a big dog

Prior to bringing Switch home I did lots of reading of "aggressive" breeds and training.  But Switch was such a good puppy.  He never showed any signs of aggression.  I still did a few little things here and there like when it came to food and treats to be sure he never got possessive over it etc.  But seriously he was nothing like the pitbull stigma.  He potty trained quickly, he got over his chewing quickly.  He crate trained easily, and went in there willingly at night.  Before long we could just gate him into a bedroom instead of the crate and he was fine.  He for whatever reason became afraid of the gate so when it would be knocked down he wouldn't even step over it to leave the room.  We could gate him on the stairs when people would come over and as big as he was could easily just step over it, he would  never cross it.  He was our 85lb lap dog.  The rottweiler in him made him huge, but he really looked mostly pit bull and because of that people were scared of him... but he was never scary so it provided a nice protection and safe feeling at home.  One time he was attacked by a golden retriever (the most common family dog) and what did Switch do? He laid down and took it, the other dog drew blood and got him good. And Switch didn't even snap back.  He was such a good dog.

The kids came along and he was seriously THE BEST family dog.  As a fur mommy I wasn't so good to him anymore.  The kids came first, and I would lose my patience with him easily.  But he was always loyal, always good.  The girls would crawl all over him and he would just lay there.  They'd tug on his ears and tail and he never snapped.  He knew they were his pack and he protected them like he protected us.

Natalia laying on Switch and he just laid there.  Somewhere I have pictures of Lydia doing this too.  

Charlie was always good to him and made sure they went outside to throw the ball and play often. When Natalia was a baby I have videos of her squealing at Switch when she first started recognizing him.  Lydia and Switch always had a special bond, she was fond of him as a baby and they just clicked.  Quinton had a love/hate relationship with him and she was just starting to love him again. Both girls learned to say "puppa" and it was pretty much both of their third words after mama and dada.

Natalia (6 months) and Switch he would always just lay next to her when ever she was on the floor playing

I loved catching the quiet moments between these two.  She would do this all the time, just go up to him and pet him, hug him etc.  

A few years ago Switch developed this allergy once or twice a year where he would lick his paws raw and the hair around his eyes would go away.  It looked pretty gross at it's worst.  But, eventually it would stop and his hair would all grow back.  Last summer it got pretty bad and it wouldn't go away.  Then his hips started bothering him and he limped a lot.  He quit going up the stairs, quit getting up on the couch or the bed.   Charlie and I talked about going to get him checked but were afraid that would mean him not coming home.  As crazy as the dog drove me, I couldn't imagine him being gone and not a part of our family.  We eventually changed his food because Petsmart quit carrying the one we were using.  And all the sudden he got better.  We thought we had a few more years in him.

April of this year we celebrated his 10th birthday.  The girls and I went to Zamzows so they could pick out special treats for him.  I remember posting on his birthday and saying something about having a few more years with him.

Old man with tons of gray hair but still ran around the back yard like he was a puppy

This last Sunday the 22nd....
Charlie had gone out the second story guest bedroom window to put up Christmas lights for me.  The window is a bit lower to the floor than the other bedrooms.  I don't know why we didn't think to lock Switch out of the room.  We were talking about years past and we can't remember if we had done that or not, I'm pretty sure I had kept him out of there before.  This time though, I was distracted by the kids (we also had our niece Cypress over) and sorting my Christmas decor in the piano room, so I didn't gate the bedroom.  The girls were out playing tag in the back yard, Quinton was napping, Charlie was on the roof, and I was in the piano room sorting.  Then I heard it.  The worst dog noise ever.  I looked out the window and there was puppa on the driveway, crumpled and obviously in pain.  A couple had been walking their dog and Switch just flew out the window to go see the dog.  Charlie saw the whole thing happen and ran back in the house as I was running out to puppa.  I did my best to prop him up and help him but he was obviously very hurt.  Charlie got down to us and quickly unloaded the trunk of the Pilot and got Switch into it.  We called our brother-in-law John to come be with the kids so we could take Switch in.  We knew. At the vet they brought out a gurney for him because he wasn't going to walk in.   The vet gave him pain meds so he could at least be comfortable and then did an x-ray.  And the worst possible outcome was true.  He had a spinal fracture.  He had no feeling in his lower half.  She said we could call the surgeon and see if surgery was a possibility... but knowing his age, the chances of it being successful were slim.  His quality of life post surgery would have been pretty grim.  He wouldn't be able to run and play with Charlie in the backyard anymore.  We made the gut wrenching decision to put Switch to sleep.  That was rough.  I just assumed Switch would die at home of old age.  We chose to stay with him and hold him as he left us.  It was heart breaking.

Saying goodbye to our sweet boy

The vet clinic we were at was so kind to us and gave us as much time as we needed.  We had taken Quinton with us because he had just woken from his nap when we were about to leave and didn't think he would stay with Uncle John.  The nurse gave him this cute little stuffed dog and Quinton was all about showing puppa his toy. 

 They put Switch in a small casket box so we could bring him home and bury him.  The ground was too frozen on Sunday so we made a plan that Monday I would start pouring boiling water as often as possible on the spot we chose so that Charlie could dig it up.  I started around noon and just kept boiling pot after pot of water and taking it out there to thaw the ground.  Charlie got off work early and dug and dug.  All day  my heart ached and I cried A LOT.  So much guilt for not being better to Switch.  He drove me crazy but I still loved him so much and just missed him so much.  We were able to bury him in our back yard and the girls drew pictures to go with him and we put in his favorite toy too.  I bawled.

That orange ball thing was his favorite, HE LOVED IT

Natalia adding their pictures

I know the girls are processing what happened but I don't think the fully understand why Charlie and I are so sad over it.  Sunday night after it happened Natalia kept waking up and wouldn't stay in bed so I finally pulled her into bed with us.  That usually happens after something big happens to her, it's part of her processing.  We made a shadow box for him with his collar so that I can hang it up with the kids shadow boxes from the hospital.

I keep waiting to hear him come down the stairs and to hear the click of the gate after he walks though it.  I keep waiting to have to grab his collar to hold him when I answer the door.  I keep walking into the toy room expecting him to be laying on the couch.  I miss my puppa.  Last night after dinner I vacuumed up the mess Quinton made because puppa wasn't there to clean it and my heart ached.  Today I was making dinner and I tapped the sour cream spoon on the side of the container (licking the spoon was one of his favorites so he'd come running when he heard that) and I teared up.  Then after dinner we would usually give him some scraps of our meat and when I realized he wasn't here to scoop some of them into his bowl and that I'd have to just scrape it into the trash I teared up.

This was sooo our puppa.  He always had to be right in the middle of whatever we were doing, right in the way.  It drive me BONKERS.  But man I miss him just the same.  I've been focusing on getting our Christmas decor up thinking that will help make me happy and I usually refer to old picture to help me place items and that's when I came across this one.  And I just loved Charlie's smile in it despite Switch being right in the way. 

The girls have asked if we will get another dog and I say no.  Maybe someday I'll be ready for another dog, but I just can't imagine a better family dog than Switch.  He was just so good to us and the kids, no other dog can be that good to us.  I keep wondering if his death being so sudden and tragic/traumatic has anything to do with my emotional state.  I know I'd be sad if he'd died of old age, but I think I could have had some more notice then and mentally prepared for it?  I don't know.  I'm sad.  I'm also so MAD at that dang dog for being so stupid and jumping out the window.  SERIOUSLY.  And I hate having to tell that story over and over again.

Oh Switch.  I'm so glad we got 10 and a half years with you.  Thank you for being such a good dog to us.  We Love and Miss you constantly.  LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!