In 2002, I choose to move in with my parents due to their health problems becoming worse. After a few months I decided I wanted to find a companion, so I went to the Monterey SPCA. Every dog was jumping and barking at their kennel as if to say adopt me, adopt me. However, there was one who was cowering and peaking through the dog door to the outside.
He was truly beautiful. He was a German Shepherd and a Belgian Tervuren mix. He was approximately 4 years old and was brought in as a stray and later determined to have been abused and neglected. I got into his kennel and talked with him and tried to bribe him with some treats. Within a few minutes he carefully came to me, sniffed me and then layed down so I could rub his belly.
When I took him out to the front, everyone was surprised. They told me that in the four months that he had been there, he would not allow a man near him, and yet he was walking along side of me. So, on May20th, 2002, he came home with me. I choose the name Altan.
The first week was rough. He took over my closet, but that was for a protection and a safe feeling. In the ten years he was with me, he went just about every where with me. And when one of my parents fell, or had a stroke or some other medical problem, he would alert me.
In June 2012, I took him for his yearly checkup. Everything was fine, but in about ten days, a large growth in his jaw formed. When I took him to the vet, they told me he had a very aggressive cancer, and they could remove it, but he would lose 1/3 of his jaw. So I said no. They give me medication to make things easier for him.
In the short time left, we did his bucket list. Everything he enjoyed we did. Then on July 4th, 2012, he gave me that look that he was ready. So the next morning, I fed him eggs with cheese, bacon, sausage, steak and hamburger. At the vets, we had some special time privately together, and then eye to eye, with me holding him, he went to sleep for the last time, crossing the Rainbow Bridge.
He was everything to me, and what Iwill miss most about Altan, is everything!
MONTEREY, CA
