Talisman Maia Mudita Kumbaya - female called Dita
There are no words to express our sadness and shock over the untimely loss of Dita. She was my buddy, our queen and an excellent representative of this breed. We are grateful for every day she graced our lives with her presence. Thanks to Joyce Chin of Talisman for letting Dita be a part of our lives.
Dita and Kent in the garden
Dita at the beach
photo by Joyce Chin
A short story about Chiron
Chiron was our pick puppy from our All Star litter of 3 pups (Gryffyn’s Shadow of the Day x Dita). Each puppy in this litter is named after a star and Chiron was chosen as his name. It is pronounced Ki-Ron. In Greek mythology Chiron was a centaur and master of the healing arts. He could not heal himself so he gave up his immortality. In Jungian
psychology Chiron is the wounded healer, an archetype where the healer identifies with the patient because the healer has been wounded in a similar way. Chiron is represented in the night sky as the constellation Sagittarius.
This dog Chiron was very uniformly marked, very small and had a superb temperament. After he was weaned he began to regurgitate water after some rough playing with his littermates. Over time he regurgitated more frequently so we took him to our vet for another checkup. Tests revealed that he had megaesophagus, a heart murmur and possible brain damage. Euthanasia was suggested as an option but since Jay worked with adults with Down’s Syndrome and Autism we decided to keep Chiron as our special needs dog.
We’ve never kept a dog that required special medical care so it was a challenge and learning experience taking care of this dog. I joined the megaesophagus internet group to learn as much as I could, acquired a Bailey chair from Greyhound Rescue so we could feed this dog in a sitting, upright position and both of us spent a tremendous amount of time socializing and working with this dog. Indeed he was a canine version of a human child with Down’s Syndrome or Autism because he lacked essential canine communication and social skills, he was constantly in trouble and he had good days and bad days. Expensive surgeries were an option but no guarantee of quality of life or longevity so we did what we could to ensure this little guy was as comfortable and pain free as possible.
He slept in our bed at night and under my desk in the home office during the day. Each of his meals was pureed through a blender a couple times each day for over a year. We could not let him drink water or eat things he found in the yard. We spent a small fortune in vet bills but he grew progressively worse. One night after a series of bad days he was in such pain that we knew we had to let him go. We euthanized him and buried him in a special place just outside the dog yard. He loved to run and had tremendous lure interest. We thought mother nature was playing a cruel joke but came to realize that his presence was a learning experience for us on how we treat each of our animals with care, dignity and quality of life. Thank you Chiron for the gift of learning you gave us during your short time in our lives.
psychology Chiron is the wounded healer, an archetype where the healer identifies with the patient because the healer has been wounded in a similar way. Chiron is represented in the night sky as the constellation Sagittarius.
This dog Chiron was very uniformly marked, very small and had a superb temperament. After he was weaned he began to regurgitate water after some rough playing with his littermates. Over time he regurgitated more frequently so we took him to our vet for another checkup. Tests revealed that he had megaesophagus, a heart murmur and possible brain damage. Euthanasia was suggested as an option but since Jay worked with adults with Down’s Syndrome and Autism we decided to keep Chiron as our special needs dog.
We’ve never kept a dog that required special medical care so it was a challenge and learning experience taking care of this dog. I joined the megaesophagus internet group to learn as much as I could, acquired a Bailey chair from Greyhound Rescue so we could feed this dog in a sitting, upright position and both of us spent a tremendous amount of time socializing and working with this dog. Indeed he was a canine version of a human child with Down’s Syndrome or Autism because he lacked essential canine communication and social skills, he was constantly in trouble and he had good days and bad days. Expensive surgeries were an option but no guarantee of quality of life or longevity so we did what we could to ensure this little guy was as comfortable and pain free as possible.
He slept in our bed at night and under my desk in the home office during the day. Each of his meals was pureed through a blender a couple times each day for over a year. We could not let him drink water or eat things he found in the yard. We spent a small fortune in vet bills but he grew progressively worse. One night after a series of bad days he was in such pain that we knew we had to let him go. We euthanized him and buried him in a special place just outside the dog yard. He loved to run and had tremendous lure interest. We thought mother nature was playing a cruel joke but came to realize that his presence was a learning experience for us on how we treat each of our animals with care, dignity and quality of life. Thank you Chiron for the gift of learning you gave us during your short time in our lives.