Sorry, this will be quite long, but I need to get it out I think..
Well, what can I say about these 3 amaznig dogs? Sometimes they drove me crazy, but most of the time they were just fantastic to be around. Although Mum & I had only been caring for Maxz for a short time while my sister is overseas for a holiday, he really became a part of the household. Everyone in the family is grieving over the deaths and it's hard to get used to a house that doesn't seem crowded with dogs.
Mitzi was the eldest. She was born 26/01/1996. I acquired her from the Animal Welfare League. I remember the first time I saw her, I was just 13 and I think she would have been about 10 weeks old. She was a little ball of fluff, with floppy ears and a sweet disposition. Mum always said we were made for each other. Me, being extremely shy and oversensitive, and her, well she was sweet, but she would wet herself as a puppy whenever anyone came to the door, or if people raised their voice while she was around. Thankfully I never did that LOL, but I did used to burst into tears a lot.. so Mum thought it was funny I got a dog that was just as sensitive as I was. She loved to care for things when she was younger, she even had the cat take a liking to her and they would sometimes curl up together. When she was 5 years old, I asked if we could have another dog to keep her company while I was at work. I had become obsessed with a friends smaller dog and said, in front of Mitzi, that I wanted a lap dog. Well, Mitzi then jumped onto my lap and tried to lie on it, with her head and legs going in all directions. Mitzi was such a sook, she used to leave them room if she did a fart, she would walk like she was embarrassed about it. Sometimes my brothers would pretend to sniff the air and she would leave as though she thought she had done something "smelly" but hadn't realised it. Kind of gross I know, but it's one of the memories i have of her. She couldn't listen to a siren without howling, I remember one day she was howling and Oz tried to copy her, but he just couldn't get it.
When my nephew was a baby and beginning to walk, she used to slowly walk beside him up and down the hallway, always next to him so he had something to hold on to incase he fell over. With my son Logan, she was gentle and patient, but I think she was a bit "over" the whole baby animals stage. She only took an interest in him at feeding time when she would sit by his high chair and try to catch anything he dropped over the side. But she did put up with a lot of cuddles and times when he would see her lying down, grab a pillow, put it on her chest and lie down with his head resting on it.
Oz was born 12/08/2001. I remember when I picked him up, my sister, Michelle, commented on the size of his paws and about how big he would get. I said that I wasn't worried, until the owner mentioned that whilst the puppies were GSD x Kelpie, the mother was actually GSD x Rotti, so she wasn't sure if that would make a difference. Oz really took to Mitzi, he followed her everywhere. He never actually learned to cock his leg & pee, because he only ever watched Mitzi so he always did it like a girl LOL. He was the soppiest dog I have ever met. He used to quickly roll himself over on to his back for a belly rub if anyone walked near him at home. And he would always lean against someone or rest his head on their lap if they were sitting down. It drove Michelle & Mum crazy though. I must admit when he used to lean against me when I was standing up that was a bit annoying because he was so solid that he would usually push me over if I wasn't payiing attention. He was one of the most interesting dogs I have seen. He wasn't as tall as Mitzi, but he was very solid, with a biig thick head LOL. He had the black saddle marking on his back, but in most other parts he was brindle with black, dark brown & sometimes a tan colour. Mum said the markings on his face were almost like a wood grain effect. My neighbours always said "He isn't the smartest dog in the world". He never understood the concept of "fetch", we would throw a ball for the dogs, and if he chased it he would take iit to the back of the garden, drop it and then come racing back, as if to say "Look, I did it!". One day earlier this year he actually managed to get to the ball before the other dogs and he did bring it to me. He looked so proud, jumping around and wiggling. But most of the time while Maxz was here, he actually ended up watching Maxz fetch the toys until Maxz started barking too much, then Oz would take the toy and wouldn't let Maxz have it back.
Beside being a soppy dog, Oz was also quite destructive. He ate though doors, chewed up Mum's underwear, jumped through plate glass windows, and used to steal Logan's bowls from the sink and chew them up. I remember coming home from work one day with the house covered in bloody foot prints and a note from Michelle saying she had taken Oz to the Vet. He had jumped through a window and sliced the pad on one of his paws quite badly. Mum said she retrieved something covered in blood and handed it to the Vet saying "we think he lost a claw but we can't figure out from where".. The Vet rinsed it off and it turned out to be the finger from a doll that he had also chewed that day. One day whilst my brother, Mike, was home, Oz managed to get his head stuck under the gate in the backyard. Our neighbours said he was screaming and yelping so loudly they could hear it a few doors down. Mike had no idea since he had his headphones on. The neighbours all helped to get him out from under the gate. They realised that if they were to just open it, he may have the skin from his face ripped off, so they used a crowbar to lever the gate up while another one pulled him out. They said he was so placid, they expected him to be frightened and lash out, but he just lay there waiting for them to help him after they turned up. After they got him out, he leaned against the man who pulled him out and licked his face. They never forgot that day, and I think it made them like him more because they realised just how placid he was.
After Logan was born & I came back to live with Mum who was looking after Mitzi & Oz, Oz really seemed to become protective of Logan. He used to stand between Logan & the cats when Logan was a baby. As Logan got older they spent a lot of tiime together. Logan would siit and show Oz all his cars, and Oz would just lie there staring at Logan and wagging his tail. Oz used to even put up with Logan playing "doctor" with him. After a trip to the dentist, Logan came home and got out his little dentists mirror, he found Oz lying down on Mum's bed, told Oz to "Say Ah", then opened Oz's mouth and tried to look at his front teeth. Oz just lay there and let Logan do it, I was amazed.
Maxz came to stay with us a few months ago. He was about 10 years old I think. He was a Kelpie X. I remember the first time I saw Maxz when Mchelle brought him home as a puppy. He had the biggest ears, I think because they were sticking up it made them look huge, but he looked like someone had stuck ears of a full grown dog on to his head. It was so funny looking. He never did really grow into his ears, they always looked too big for his head. Michelle said she wanted a dog that liked the water and liked to play fetch. She definitely got that in Maxz. A game was never over until the ball was comepletely demolished. He had such strong jaws and a tendency to chew on the balls as he brought them back, that a ball would be broken within minutes. Even if the "ball" was only half a ball and a piece of fabric, he would still insist on it being thrown and would bark if it wasn't thrown soon enough for his liking. He was a bit of a "Mumma's boy", except for when he stayed here and Michelle would practically cease to exist as he followed Mum around everywhere and cried to be let in to her room. He was afraid of some strange things, like hair brushes (until he realised how nice it was to actually get brushed and then he couldn't get enough). He was a good dog though, except for when he would try to creep in to the lounge room on his belly, when he wasn't allowed in there. He was actually quite good at it. He would do it so gradually that he could turn up next to someone without anyone realising it. He was also a bit of a garbage disposal, he would eat anything, even when we didn't want him to. But it was good that between the 3 of them, any left overs would get polished off. It was not so good when he would steal someone's dinner before they had a chance to get to it though LOL
It is still upsetting to think I will never see them again, I will never forget them or forget how lucky I was to have them around.
