Django's Rainbow Bridge Pet Loss Memorial

Welcome to Django's Rainbow Bridge Memorial Residency

Memories of Django

Memories of Our Life with Django
Django is a beautiful Siberian Husky who was unexpectedly given to my son and I from Petsmart Adoption Day. My son wanted a Husky, but I wasn't ready to get another dog after having to put the last one down. My sister saw him on the adoption day and called to tell me about him. She said they would not charge for adoption because he had been abandoned. To buy a full-blooded Husky is very expensive and I didn't have the money to buy one. I went straight to the location to pick him up. This was in June 2013. The Vet that we took him to estimated him to be around 2 years old and we celebrated his birthday on November 1, for the 11 years we had him.
My son wasn't even home, but I took him. He seemed to be somewhat depressed. That night, he was so quiet I didn't even realize he was in the house. I tried to put him in a cage, but he broke out of that, so we never did that again. The next day, I opened the garage door, and he ran out. At this point, I didn't have a name tag on him. We live in a neighborhood with lots of woods. I searched and searched for two hours trying to find him. I thought "Oh My, my son hasn't even met him, and I've already lost him". I finally walked over to the pool area where you could hear kids playing. A gentleman had spotted him there, so he tied him to the pole outside the pool and gave him water.
This was the first of many times through the years, we had to track him down when he would run off as soon as a door was opened. This is why my son named him Django after the movie called Django, Unchained. Every time he ran, we would follow him in the car and try to get him back into the car and take him home. He loved our home but loved to run and play with us about getting him back. After a while he would get tired and jump in the car to go home but only when he was ready. My whole neighborhood seemed to know who Django was and I was known as Django's mom. We live in a large village with multiple neighborhoods and across from a very busy highway. Most of the time he went from one neighborhood to another in the village. Yet we were always so concerned he would get run over by a car. One time he got out when I was gone, and I didn't know he was out until he went to someone's house across the busy highway, and they called us. We built a wrought iron fence in the backyard just for him. Someone opened the gate. By the time I got to the house, he was gone from the neighbors yard. We had 7 people looking for him this time. I finally saw him in a neighborhood on our side of the street and thought I could get him in the car. But no, instead of getting in the car, he ran down the busy street crossing over. I was so afraid he would get hit. I put on the flasher for people driving in their cars. They slowed down. He then ran into the swamp on the side of the road that was so dirty. I didn't know how deep this was and of course we couldn't go in to get him. He finally got close enough to the edge that my friends were able to get him by putting a belt around his neck. What a smelly mess, but I was so glad he was safe, and we had him back. I think this was the scariest time we experienced.
One other notable aspect of Django was different than other young Siberian Huskies. He never chewed up anything that was ours. We could have shoes on the floor, and he won't touch them. If his toy was next to our shoes, he would play with his toy and tear it up. He occasionally would get on furniture which I didn't mind but not often. We were not sure if this was because whoever had him before punished him severely. We did think he may have been abused. Even after years of being with us, if we came up to pet him and he wasn't expecting it, he would jump. No matter what his prior life, I am so glad we were able to give him a good and loving home for the rest of his life.
I walked Django every day. To me that was my first responsibility of the day even when I was working. My son would walk him also. I averaged walking him 3 to 4 miles a day. I let him decide where he wanted to walk and how long. We walked up to the Publix Shopping Center often and sometimes; my son would meet us at the Laredo's to eat. We would sit outside, and I would order something I could share with him. He did eat some dog food but for the most part he liked people's food. He was very picky about what he ate. Other times we would walk in totally different neighborhoods.
Our church is across the busy street, but he and I would walk over there through the woods and ballfields. So much of the time I would pray and praise God during the walk. One time when my mom was at my house, she opened the front door and he ran across the busy highway to the church. When someone opened the church door, he ran into the building. I found him though. We always laughed about how he wanted to go to church.
On our walks we met many people and dogs walking. Everyone who met Django or helped us run Django down seemed to mention how they felt he was a gentle soul. While walking, dogs would be barking and yapping at him, and he just ignored them. If the dogs were friendly though, they would speak to each other and sometimes play. We would plan play dates other dogs just to run and play in the backyard.
Now that he is gone, everywhere I go around our area, it brings back so many memories of our walks and adventures.
As I said he did not like to be penned up. We had a groomer who called us to come get him because he was so anxious to be in a cage. From that point on, along with his skin sensitivity, my son and I started doing all his grooming. We bathed him and brushed him. Since we walked so much on the sidewalk, his nails would wear down, so for years I didn't need to have those addressed. After trying many shampoos from the vet and him still experiencing hot spots, we started to spray him with Tea Tree oil and brush him. He was always a clean dog, and this kept him clean and smelled good. If he did get into something major, we would spray him off with a hose and dry him down with a towel. We never boarded him. We always had a lady that was like part of the family, and cleaned my house, to stay with him. He loved her.
I know we spoiled him and loved him so much. He was such a major part of our lives. As he started to get older about two years ago, he quit running off. He started to slow down. He had a growth in his ear that had to be removed, and the vet thought we should remove this fatty tissue that had been there for a while on the left side of his body by the leg. We did this and nothing was cancer, but I had told the vet to not put him in a cage unless he was sedated. They did and he hurt his back leg in the cage. We had to hold a towel under his back legs to go out to the bathroom for a long time. We couldn't walk him as before. He gained weight quicky after we got him, and I never could get his weight down no matter how far we walked. If he was hungry, he would fuss at us until we feed him. We tried many types of diets to have him lose weight. When he started to show signs of arthritis, all this vet said was to get him to lose weight.
I changed vets.
As the arthritis kicked in, we walked less. We walked every day, twice a day instead of long walks once a day. He would walk about a mile some days and others just a little way. I let him decide what he felt like doing. The new vet put him on the meds to help with the pain. We ended up with two different shots that helped but he still had trouble at times getting up and down. In addition, he started coughing. This vet did x-rays that showed he had chronic bronchitis. We gave him an inhaler three times a day, one shot a week we gave him, and one the vet gave once a month. He was doing good though, but we had to take him out to our front to go to the bathroom. He couldn't go down the steps in the back anymore and couldn't get back up then either. One of us was here most of the time to take care of him for the last year or so. He was always picky on eating but started to get more so. It was a chore for some days to get him to eat. He lost 17 pounds over the last few months.
The vet and I thought Django was doing good. Even though I knew he would eventually die, I thought we would have him a while longer. He had a hard growth on his foot that was getting bigger and would bleed. Django would lick it a lot, so I knew it bothered him. We decided to have the vet remove it, but he would have to be put to sleep. In addition, the vet discovered he had a mouth infection that could only be treated through teeth cleaning. On Wednesday, the vet did a blood test to ensure his organs were in good health. Then when he went into to be put to sleep for surgery, they first did an Xray of his heart and lungs to ensure there would be no problem in surgery. It went well and when we picked him up that afternoon, he came bounding out and was doing well. We knew there would be some extra care until the anesthesia wore off.
We took him out to pee in the front yard and he drank water but wouldn't eat. He often would get anxious at night, and I would give him medicine to help him relax and rest. That night he started to get anxious and would walk around in circles and go out on the back deck to lay, then come back in. I gave him the medication to relax him. He laid down for a few minutes but got back up again. Then he got under the table and flopped down, then he got back up and went to the kitchen for what we thought was to get a drink of water. Brandon was watching him, and he collapsed on the floor and never got up again. He started yelping and his leg would go out straight and shake. Then he would calm down for a few minutes and do this again. We got a towel under him and was able to move him into the into the living room on to a blanket and rug. We were hoping to make him more comfortable. He continued to cry out until 4:00 in the morning. We called to see about getting into an emergency care, but we couldn't pick him up without another man helping Brandon to move him. I prayed and prayed, and we stayed next to him all night. Brandon slept on the floor next to him. He finally seemed to relax and rest. Next morning I called the vet and talked to one of his assistants. She said she would talk to the vet when he came out of another room. She called back within minutes and said the vet thought it was the anesthesia still affecting him, but I don't think she described the level of yelping that I told her about. Since he was resting and only whimpering occasionally or seemed to get upset and would be breathing hard, we watched him all day. I would rub his stomach, and he would seem to calm down. He would drink the water we gave him but still wouldn't eat. We both slept in the living room from Friday through Saturday night with him hoping and praying he would get better. We read about the effects of anesthesia on older dogs as well as talked to people, who had experience with this. Everybody thought he was having a bad reaction to the anesthesia. On Sunday, his heart seemed to have a heavy heartbeat, and he was breathing hard. We decided to take him to the emergency clinic as soon as it opened. We called a neighbor to help Brandon get him in the Tahoe. We were still thinking maybe he just needed an IV and then would regain his strength and get up. After the vet examined him, she immediately came into the room and said he was in crisis. His heart was beating fast, and his breath was slow. We immediately agreed to further test. She came back and let us know that based on finding blood in the rectum, it was a symptom of a tumor in his spleen that burst and that this is common where there are no symptoms of tumor in the blood test because of where it is in the spleen. It is normally cancer. When it ruptured it caused internal bleeding. From that point there was no real way to make him comfortable or to keep him alive. We had to agree to let them euthanize him. This was so unexpected, and we both were crying and praying. We were able to spend time with him to say goodbye. Even then he wasn't very responsive to us. Then they put him down.
This has been such a hard time for us. We have spent the week together and just cried when we needed to comfort each other. Django was a great fur baby for 11 years. Our whole life was surrounded by this great and wonderful dog. It will take us time to grieve and redirect our lives with other activities. For now, we just want to honor him and tell others his story. He gave so much joy and adventures to us and others along the way.