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Originally appeared in APeX Attack #5 (November 1999) A Bittersweet
Love Story
By Bradley T. Farmer
For quite a while, Joia was telling me how she really wanted
a dog, so finally I gave in and we got a border collie together
(a wonderful decision, I was glad she talked me into it). We
decided to name him Keaton, after Buster Keaton, greatest vaudeville
and silent film star ever. Keaton had a lot of personality (even
as a little tyke) and from and from the time we brought him home
at 7 weeks old he brought a lot of joy to our lives.
I can remember the day we went to pick him up… He was
so cute and so tiny. This was his first adventure away from the
farm where he was born, and I remember feeling a little bad saying
goodbye to his mother, knowing full well that they would never
see each other again. This little life we were in charge of now
had absolutely no idea. On the 2 and a half hour drive home,
the little fuzzy puppy didn’t want to be alone in the back
seat, and he ended up riding most of the way in Joia’s lap
(‘cause she’s a sucker for cute). We instantly fell
in love with this new life we were now stewards for, and as he
grew, so did our bonds.
As Keaton got bigger, he gained more personality, and was
a very silly dog. There were a lot of things he would do that
would just crack us up. Keaton was also excellent to play catch
with. When he got a little older, he could make some amazing
leaps to catch a ball or a Frisbee… One thing I loved about
coming home from an Apex venture every weekend was the greeting
Keaton would give me. And when Joia and I went away for two weeks
for our wedding, he went absolutely nuts to see us when we got
home from our honeymoon.
When Keaton was about three months old, he started showing
signs of aggression every time we put his food out. He was great
except for the food aggression, and we had no idea where it came
from. Well, for at least four months we tried a variety of training
techniques to correct this problem. We searched books and talked
with several people with a lot of experience in training dogs.
Despite our best and consistent efforts, nothing worked. Finally,
shortly after our wedding trip to WY (early August sometime),
he bit Joia pretty badly (we had to make a trip to the emergency
room), and it wasn’t the first time. We knew that we couldn’t
trust him if we ever had kids and that was the last straw. We
had to find him a new home. We had given him so many chances,
and kept putting off this decision until we knew things weren’t
going to improve. Neither of us wanted to lose Keaton, and Joia
and I were completely heartbroken.
We made the decision to give him to a Border Collie Rescue
in Maryland where we knew he would be in very capable hands.
On the whole two-hour drive there, Keaton was restless and wouldn’t
stay in the back seat. Just like the day we brought him home,
he insisted on spending most of the time on Joia’s lap in
the passenger seat. We were so sad that day, and a million times
on the drive out, I wanted to turn around and head home, with
all three of us.
We got the farm where the rescuer lived, and spent some time
waiting for her while chatting with her teenage daughter. Again
I just wanted to leave and give Keaton more chances with us,
(and I know Joia did, too) but we had to stick with our decision.
When we finally said goodbye, Keaton just looked at us, wondering
where we were going. Little did he know we were never to see
each other again. I had held my tears back too long, and I couldn’t
anymore. As soon as we were down the street, they started. I
cried the whole two-hour drive home. Afterwards, as we walked
into our very empty apartment, it was so quiet. I closed myself
in the bedroom and cried again. We’d fallen in love with
the little fella and our hearts were broken.
Life went on, as it always does, and we were very anxious
to hear about his progress (and I had secret dreams of getting
him back). About a month later we heard back from the rescuer.
Her and a professional trainer she knows had been working on
Keaton’s aggression problem. (She had never seen a border
collie so food aggressive — and she works with tons of them.)
They were seeing some progress in his behavior, and then, one
fateful day, out of the blue, Keaton went back to his old habits.
They wouldn’t be able to place him in a home like that and
they couldn’t keep him with the other rescued dogs. I was
so incredibly heart broken to read that they had to make the
decision to euthanize. I called Joia at work and she pleaded
with me to tell her what was wrong. When I finally did, she,
too, cried for the rest of her workday (quite embarrassing in
a legal office). It still makes me teary-eyed when I tell this
story. I miss my fuzzy little buddy!!
When rolling things around in my head, I began to wonder if
the pain I felt was in some small way what God must have felt
with His new creatures. The Children of Eden chose to disobey
and their heavenly Father, who gave them so many chances. Their
descendants seemed to respond with aggression and their acts
of sin became more and more apparent. This must have broken the
Father’s heart even more. He loved them so much, but being
a wise, loving Father, He had to correct them. Eventually He
sent a flood to cleanse the earth. Is that anything like how
I felt? On one hand, there was something that I loved so much,
but despite any attempt at correction, it responded with aggression.
The pain of having to take action on this aggression (and even
give up) was the hardest part. And think about this… God’s
love is the divine love of our divine Father. It is so infinitely
greater than what we experience here. How can we cause that sort
of heart ache to our heavenly Father? Be mindful of how you live!
The story of my dog does have a bit of a happy side... Joia
and I wanted to get another dog, and so after much research and
discernment, on Labor Day weekend we adopted a retired racing
greyhound. Our new buddy, Alex (racing name Racket Maker), is
3 years old, and he is so gentle and easy to care for. Greyhounds
have the kindest disposition, and it’s amazing to watch
them run (for fun and not for sport). The only really bad thing
Alex has ever done was take one of every pair of shoes in Joia’s
closet out into the living room to sleep on them, which Joia
now thinks is hilarious. I have enjoyed watching Alex become
more relaxed and more playful as he adjusts to life off the track.
(He’s becoming a fun, goofy dog, too. Maybe that’s
what happens when you spend too much time with Joia and me…)
We will always miss Keaton, but at least this greyhound met a
happy retirement. We do love our 45 mph couch potato!
If you wish to learn more about these amazing breeds, or if
you are interested in adopting a new dog, please visit www.bcrescue.org
or www.gis.net/~shepdog/NABCRN/index.html
(for border collies) and www.adopt-a-greyhound.org
(for greyhounds) or simply find these links on APeXMinistries.com. |