My beloved dog passed away last weekend. He was the most amazing dog. He was an unplanned pet that I took in just to get healthy but he won my heart over. He quite possibly is the best dog ever.
Sebastian and I found each other while I was living in TX. I recently started working for a company (the same company I work with now) and went over to a co-workers apartment for a birthday get together. There was Sebastian out on their back porch, it was January and about 30 degrees. He was fur and bone. You could feel and see every bone in his body. Inside the nice warm apartment was a half lab, half rottweiler puppy that they had picked up in front of Wal-Mart for $10 that day. When I asked what was wrong with Sebastian, she said she didn't know, they hadn't taken him to the vet. They were afraid to because animal cruelty charges could be brought against them. It was like another language was spoken, I couldn’t understand that thought process at all. Animal in need - YOUR animal in need - help it!
I left the party that night distraught over this dog and the new puppy they had just received obviously to replace the dog dying on the back porch. The next week at work I talked with her and let her know that I would take the dog to the vet and just say I found him. After about a week or so of talking I was finally able to convince her to let me have the dog. I went and picked him up and took him to the vet. We're still not sure what was wrong with him but with some steroids and food he got better very quickly. When I got him he weighed 36 pounds, when he was his healthy weight he weighed about 80 pounds. I also was able to get the puppy from them, apparently because it peed in the house they kept it on the back porch and neighbors complained about the whining. The vet's office that I took Sebastian to adopted the puppy to another family. She did not work for the company much longer.
I think that Sebastian was always grateful for his rescue. I never really trained him; he just did what I asked. He could be off a leash and would never go very far and if he did he would always come when called. I will never forget when I was living in the city and some friends lived a couple doors down. We decided to take Sebastian down to their house to play with their dog. I was in the yard and Erik was trying to get Sebastian down to the house but Sebastian would have none of it. He was not going anywhere without me and no one other than me was going to take him.
Sebastian felt that everyone's purpose in life was to love on him. He never met a stranger and never so much as growled at a person. He was amazing with the boys. I always hoped he would live long enough for my kids to be able to know him. He was so great with them, they could do anything to him and if it got to be too much he just stood up and walked away.
He also had a knack of always laying in the middle of everything and being in the way. I was constantly saying "Ya gotta move Sebastian". A few weeks ago, I told him that and thought, one of these days I'm going to miss saying that. I didn't think that day would be so soon.
He was getting older, I got him in 2003 and we are not sure how old he was when I got him. He was starting to get gray and his back hips have been bothering him for the past couple of years. We put him on supplements and know it has a lot to do with the breed. I knew I had to prepare myself for his loss but always hoped it would be a long time coming.
Last week he started coughing and then started looking bloated. When we took him to the vet she said his heart was enlarged and there was a massive growth in his chest. The cough was just a secondary infection. We put him on meds and didn't know how much time was left but that it probably wasn’t long. On Saturday we were gone most of the day. When we came home, our other dog Buckeye, was going crazy. We let the dogs out and Sebastian never came back in. He laid down by the back step and his heart gave out. I was with him when he passed and I will always be so grateful for that. He waited until we got home to say goodbye. I'm grateful he didn't suffer, that he had a good life, and that he was mine. I'm heartbroken though because I have lost a very dear friend and family member. My life will be forever changed by the presence he had in it.
RIP Sebastian, you will always be in my heart and I will love you forever.
