Maple

Maple came to us as “Bart” – as named by his foster family.  Bart was brought to Oak Animal Hospital for his care thru the Northern California Golden Retriever Rescue Group.

Since I worked for Oak Animal Hospital “Barts'” foster mother asked me if I would be able to dog sit “Bart” for a week while they went on vacation.  She had noticed early on that “Bart” received extra kisses and hugs from me.  I even sat in his run with him the day he was neutered as he awoke from anesthesia.  I told her would check with my husband to see if that would be okay, because I would love to!  I had already mentioned “Bart” to Tim – just to tell him what a wonderful boy he was.  We were proud parents of Shadow and Steffie at the time.  Tim agreed that we would doggie sit.

“Bart” came over with foster mom in tow along with his bowl and food.  I met them out front with Steffie… we let them into the backyard and the two were fast friends, playing.  When Tim arrived home from work that evening, he met “Bart” for the first time.  “Bart” was a dark red, tall and lean Golden with the brownest of eyes.  He suffered from occasional seizures in which he would lay down and his entire body would become rigid – his eyes staring into space.  He took medication for it and the seizures lasted only 10 seconds or so.  When this would happen we would sit with him until it was over.

On the 3rd day of “Bart’s” stay, Tim asked “well, how do we go about adopting this boy?”  I was not surprised and hadn’t had to sell him on this handsome sweet boy – even though Tim was sure that was the plan.  To know “Bart” was to love him. “Bart” had already proven his friendship to Steffie and Shadow and working his way into our hearts was easy.  We paid his adoption fee when the foster owner came home and “Bart” was ours. 

First order of business.. give him a handsome name.  We were adopting him in the fall and the some of the  most beautiful trees are the maples… So his name became “Maple” – he was such a deep shade of red – he resembled a Maple color. “Maple” would look at us during the evening and have a conversation … in his own language.

As the days and weeks turned into months we had a few bumpy events having “Maple” with us. He did not hesitate to steal off the cupboards and eat whatever he could get his paws on, literally.  We were not aware of “Maple” being afflicted with a very real problem of dogs that will eat ANYTHING.  We had a few soft stuffed toys and other toys he loved to play with. One day he ate a piece of towel and it became obstructed in his intestines.  It was a 3 day battle of 2 surgeries with many ups and downs. “Maple” passed away from septic blood stemming from his first surgery.  Tim and I were with him to the end – an end that came much too soon.  We had only a short 6 months with this sweet soul. We miss him.

10/94 to 05/01/98