I had taught Tiny to "wait", and to "leave it", but he was so food oriented, that if there was something so tempting to him he would go after it. If I saw something before he did and got a command out to him before he could pounce, a lot of times I could stop him. That last walk with him, he must have smelled it from far off, because he and his 90 pounds that he weighed at that time dragged me over cement and grass to get to it. I never knew what it was that he ate that day.

He went really fast whatever it was. That last walk was on a saturday night. He was sick by morning. (coughing and acting weird) I didnt realize he was sick at the time. I went out that sunday with my boyfriend. I was on the way home when my dad called and told me that Tiny was really sick. He'd laid down on the grass in the front yard and wouldnt move.

My dad called my aunt because he thought the dog had just died. My aunt came out and used her "nurse voice" (annoying loud voice she'd use to talk to patients to wake them up if they started crashing or something) She told Tiny she had a treat for him. He was so food oriented that she apparently woke him up from death's door and he dragged my dad to her house to get the treat.

I got home and spent the night sitting on the floor with him, telling him not to die. I got him to the vet that morning (a monday). Vet told me he was in critical condition and that they'd try to save him. His kidneys had shut down and he was in congestive heart failure. I still thought he would live. I didnt understand what congestive heart failure and non-functioning kidneys meant.

Tiny died about 3 or 4am the next morning. Vet said he had been in the room with him for a few minutes. Tiny looked up at him and wagged his tail for a minute. Vet left the room and came back about 10 minutes later and Tiny was gone. The vet lost 3 dogs that night. Large dogs like Tiny. He and the techs said that Tiny's death was the hardest one for them but they loved the other two dogs to death too. They'd known all three since puppyhood.

I had my first MS exacerbation about two weeks later. (right leg and thigh went numb on a warm day at the zoo) I think the stress of Tiny dying so suddenly is what made the MS go whacko. I really loved that dog. So much that the two times I've tried to get another dog the pain of missing Tiny gets really bad and I start hating the other dogs to the point that I just cant keep them. (probably a good thing that I dont have those dogs. They'd just get murdered by the wonko neighbors)

Only dog that I havent gotten that way with is my aunt's dog Stella. Probably because I dont have to take care of her, and she's cute. Stella is such a good dog, and my aunt really missed her first pug, Pudge so much. When she got Stel, it was like they were made for each other. Aunt went to pick her up, and Stel looked at her like she was saying "where have you been, I've been waiting months for you!". She got in the car with my aunt and went to sleep on the floor. Never looked back at the breeder.

Stella loves to come over and sit with us outside. She cant do that now because it's cold, but the night that she started to get sick a few weeks ago, she dragged my aunt over here at 9 at night, and was scratching at our door. So we sat and talked to my aunt while Stella walked around to each of us and calmed down. I noticed that she seemed to be in pain, my aunt took her home that night and poor Stella was so sick, for two weeks. Same symptoms Pudge had off and on for like the last year or more of her life.

I want to figure out what made Pudge so sick that my aunt had her put to sleep and what made Stella sick. (Pudge died two years to the day that Tiny did) Hopefully find out what got Tiny. If it was a heavy metal or something that had cumulative effects, I have Tiny's brush. He'd been sick off and on with stomach problems for about 6 months before he died. I brushed him out about a week before he died. I have the hair from that brush. (still in the brush) I'm tempted to take it to someone who can test it.

Stella is a pug, and with that short hair, I dont know if it stays on her long enough for a cumulative poison to accumulate. Maybe they could test her toenails if I can find someone who would do the test.

I'm so mad about what happened to these dogs that it's at least giving me something else to think about other than the stupid MS picking on me.

sorry this post ended up so long.

The steroids really felt like they were helping yesterday. Today, not as much. All tingly right now and it's irritating. Yesterday my hands were not numb for the first time in over a year. Legs were still drunk tho. Today I'm tingly and still stumbling. I'm at least sleeping some. (yay!) Dont sleep till after 6am, but at least I'm sleeping.

Think I'll go sleep some more. I wish I could figure out what the neighbors are poisoning Stella with. (the guy is a paramedic. Probably has access to lots of drugs) I want to know if I'm right about who is doing it.