by Vera Caldwell
My husband and I have been married for 8 years on March 21, 2000. Shortly after our marriage we were blessed with a bueatiful 6 week old Dalmatian puppy. The litters owner had been advised to have him put down because he is deaf and the vet said that he would never lead a normal life, instead he chose to give the pup to me. I named him Cameron Von Keller (Cammy)after Helen Keller who was blind as well as deaf but overcame unbelievable odds to succeed. Cameron has worked hard ever sense at not letting her down. He follows hand commands extremely well and has learned what is and is not acceptable behavior and chooses to behave acceptably. We were told that he may be agressive because he would be easily startled but nothing could be further from the truth. He loves everyone he has ever met and he lets the neighborhood children ride him like a horse. He sleeps with me at night, kisses me goodbye when I go off to work in the morning and greets me at the door every evening when I get home(he's always right on time). He licks my tears away when I am upset and has really become a great friend to talk to when I need it. Sounds wonderful dosent it? Well it's not. I spend every waking moment scared that something will happen to him. I check three or four times before I leave the house that everything is cut off because I am worried that the house will burn down and he will be trapped inside. It dosent stop there I won't let him do anything that I think he may have a chance at getting injured at. My husband and I have no children and I have showered this dog (he now weighs 64lbs and is 8 years old)with all of the love that I would have given a child. I was recently involved in a life altering disaster where I was unable to save my father-in-laws life and this dog has been a great comfort to me during this time of adjustment. My husband thinks that I am depending entirely too much on this dog. He says that when the dog finally does die that I wont be able to cope with his death and it will bring the recent disaster back to haunt me. I really hate to admit that he may be right, but I don't know what to do to remedy the situation. I really love this Dally Dog he is my life. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to e-mail me. I have never heard of anyone with this problem before. Rainbow Bridge is the only place I feel that people love their furbabies as much as I love Cammy and would understand what I am going through.