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After we lost Romeo,
Jackie went into a deep depression. It was clear she needed
another dog in the house to ease the loneliness. After all, she
was now an only dog and although she was an alpha, she still needed the
companionship of another dog. After visiting one adoption group
with 15 dogs available, Jackie decided no on each one she met.
Sadly, we returned home with Jackie to keep searching.
It wasn't but a couple days later, I received a phone call
from the track adoption kennel. Both Romeo and Jackie had raced at
the Woodlands and the adoption kennel manager knew Romeo had went to the
Bridge. She also knew how challenging Miss Jackie was and
suggested we bring her by for her very own "Greyhound fix".
We scheduled a visit for the next day. My daughter and I got
Jackie ready dressing her up in her dress collar, her purple sweater and
grabbed her hot pink muzzle. We loaded Miss Jackie into the car
and off we went.
We arrived at the kennel compound and the guard waved us on
through. Jackie began to shake and looked a little sad.
After a few words of loving encouragement, she stop shaking but still
looked a little sad. We told Jackie that we weren't giving
her back. After all, she captured my heart and I was not going to
let my baby girl go back. She was a part of our family and that
was that.
We entered into the adoption kennel where in front of us were
30 dogs available for adoption. One by one, they were let out of
their crates for a turnout and to meet Jackie through a secured fenced
door. 29 dogs passed by that door and I was beginning to feel we
weren't going to find that special dog Jackie was looking for.
Then, it happened. The last dog to be turned out was a
huge black guy with a white face. When the kennel manager opened
the crate door, this guy bounded out, leaped up placing his paws on my
daughter's shoulders, gave her kisses all over her face and then
promptly went over to meet Jackie. Jackie let out her little
snappy bark. The big black guy smiled and wagged his tail.
My mouth fell open when I saw Jackie's tail wag for the first time in
over 2 weeks! Bingo! We had a match!
Jackie and the big black guy were placed in a turn out pen
all by themselves. They got along greyt! I asked about the
boy and the kennel manager said his name was Heisman and he was almost 6
yrs old. He raced grade A and was retired due to age. We let
them play and get to know each other for a while. Finally, it was
time I had to go home and tell my husband all about the guy Jackie met.
A few days later, we got another call from the kennel manager
asking if we could foster a dog. She needed room for more incoming
dogs and since Jackie liked Heisman so well, she wanted to know if we
could foster him. My husband and I scheduled a time to meet
Heisman again the next day.
We arrived at the track compound with Jackie in tow.
When we left, we didn't leave with just Jackie. We left with
Heisman and Jackie. Heisman wasn't a foster dog either. He
was ours. We decided to go ahead and adopt Heisman because not
only did he charm Jackie, my daughter and I - he charmed my husband,
too! Heisman was a very happy camper!
Heisman proved to be a very special boy. He cockroached,
smiled, playbowed and was just a joy to have as our own. Jackie
knew what she needed and what our family needed, too. We needed
Heisman.
Heisman went on to become a somewhat famous boy, too.
He helped other Greyhounds in need due to serious medical problems
through his store "Heisman's Greyhound Art". He was an ambassador
for Greyhound Planet and held countless raffles and auctions to help
various groups.
Heisman was diagnosed with Wobber's Disease in February of
2004 just about a month short of his 9th birthday. He had his good
days and his bad days. He still had all the charisma he had when
we first met him and his most favorite thing in the world were human
babies. He smiled and melted right there when a baby was placed
near him. You can just see the love he had for babies right there.
Heisman brought alot of joy to our family and we were very
proud to have him as a part of our family, too. We were hoping to
have him around for a few more years. He was getting a little
shaky in the rear end sometimes but he still loved his short walks.
That was our boy Heisman and we wouldn't have changed him for anything
in the world...... but he changed us totally. Thanks Heisman....... Love
ya Big Guy!
It is with profound
sadness that at 1:15pm, Monday, October 1, 2007, Heisman crossed the
bridge being held in my arms and surrounded by his loving family.
Heisman was 12 1/2.
His Wobbler's finally
took it's toll on him. He started collapsing very badly Sunday and
got progressively worse. He had a very hard time controlling his
back legs (especially his left leg - it's swinging all over the place
when he walked) and had to be supported now while standing. He was
knuckling under very badly. He couldn't stand for longer than 30
seconds or so before he collapsed so it was time to sadly but lovingly
let him go be with Jackie and all of the other pups we've lost.
After 3 1/2 years with this slow progressive disease of Wobbler's slowly
robbing my boy of his mobility, it was time he rested in peace.
This was not an easy decision for me to make but I know in my heart it was
the right decision and the best for him. I set aside my
selfishness, stood up and fulfilled my promise I made to Heisman when we
first adopted him over 6 1/2 years ago to love him, honor him, care for
him, cherish him and to let him go when the time came. It wasn't
fair to him to keep him going just for me. As much as I dearly
loved him, I had to let him go and be with Jackie.
He will be greytly
missed. Heisman was what most would call a legend in the Greyhound
world. Many people knew Heisman's name before they could recall
mine. He was my 4th adopted Greyhound and Jackie's dog love.
I credit her for choosing Heisman to become a member of our family and
I'm so glad she picked Heisman. Heisman was a Greyhound full of
pride, goofiness and genuine love. He helped many, many pups
through donations from his store with thousands of dollars of donations.
He was one of my inspirations for starting Greyhound Planet. He
was my ambassagrey here locally to represent all of the Greyhounds
throughout the world and my very first service dog for me. His
sweet and gentle disposition with children especially can not be
replaced. His nurturing the baby bunnies outside will always be
remembered. His smile, his roo and his goofy ways will always
remain in my heart.
His personal vet came to
our home around 1pm central time and helped us assist Heisman to the
bridge. We felt this was the best for Heisman - to be surrounded
by family in the comfort of his own home. We were lucky to have
found a very compassionate vet 7 years ago when we first adopted Hannah.
Dr. Cupp is one of the greytest vets I could know and to see him shed
tears for the loss of Heisman that day, touched my heart.
Heisman's Greyhound Art
store will continue on serving other Greyhounds in need in other groups
and his younger sister, Ashley will help me fulfill that promise.
His youngest sister, LuLu, will continue on filling our days with smiles
and laughter just the same as Heisman the BIG guy did when he was her
age. Patrick, his younger brother, will fulfill loving the kids
just the same as Heisman did.
Run free and ROO loud my boy.... I will miss you, never
forget you and I will always deeply love you.
Heisman's Pedigree on Greyhound Data |
