OUR UGA.

The day our Uga, came into our lives was one that I consider probably the luckiest day of our lives. At least that's how I look at it. One day at a family BBQ, that was at my brother-in-law's house, we all were outside at the time, some were chasing kids around others tossing the football back & forth, and some were just sitting around and talking to one another.

When my husband just happend to be over by the swing set, pushing our kids on the swings when all of a sudden he watched a car slow down, but not even come to a complete stop. When all of a sudden the people in the had thrown something out and then just took off, never even breaking! My husband Geoff thought 'What The Hell'? What did these people just toss out of their car and why did they just toss something out of their car and take off? Then when the dust cleared he saw what it was that got tossed out! It was a dog.

but not just any kind of dog. It was the kind of dog that most people feared, at first he appeared to look like a pit bull, but then when he got closer he saw that he wasn't a pit bull but he was a bulldog, and he looked very intimidating at that. Everyone who saw this dog instantly went on high alert and started to panic. I mean let's be honest here when most people see dogs that look mean or scary people don't think clearly and fear usually get's the best of them. When this mean-looking dog got closer and saw everyone outside he immediately started coming towards them all a lot faster than just walking. He wasn't scared at all and he didn't seem to mind that he was just tossed out of a car. I can't say the same thing about the rest of them though. One of the biggest reasons everyone was nervous, was because all of our kids were outside and they were small kids too. So everyone was worried about the dog trying to bite them or attack one of them. As I said, people let fear get the best of them at times. But not my husband! No, he wasn't afraid or intimidated by this dog in the least bit. Everyone else stood back a good way, just in case the dog did decide to go after anyone. Everyone was yelling at Geoff, that's my husband. Anyway, they were all yelling at him to get back and telling him he was crazy to even try to get close to this dog! But he didn't pay them any mind, which I thought yes it is crazy to go up to a dog you don't even know! But he didn't let them stop him. He went right up to this dog like he had known him his whole life, without a bit of fear in him, and kneeled in front of this dog. Now I wasn't there to watch this encounter but I was told by everyone else that was there just how touching and heartfelt this chance meeting was. My husband reached his hand out towards the dog and in an instant, it was like all of a sudden the dog looked like he was smiling at him. He began to wag his little nub of a tail and move and prance all around him like he was so happy to see him. You would have thought he was our dog, to begin with just by the way he was acting when my husband reached out to pet him. That night Geoff, called me to tell me about this dog and I was so not happy about it at all! I wasn't trying to have any kind of pet's and I most certainly didn't want a stray dog that was not only dumped out of a car by his original owners but also a breed that is considered to be dangerous. I was worried about my kids, cause they were small, and small kids can be mean to animals, which then will lead to a dog attacking the child. Everyone has a breaking point, and animals aren't any different! I was thinking the absolute worst of this dog. I was on edge and I was pissed off that my husband would bring home a dog that we had no idea about, or why his previous owners just threw him out of a moving car! I just couldn't believe this was happening, I was very beside myself I this. When I got home that night, Geoff had the dog locked in the bathroom for my sake, because again! I was worried about my kids. I walked into the house all kinds of pissed off, and on a mission. I shouted out 'Where Is He'! and it was not a very nice tone, might I add. Geoff pointed towards the bathroom door and told me that he was in there. I scowled at him and rolled my eyes and said some not-so-nice words too! I was mad, I didn't like this at all. I was upset that Geoff would even think about bringing a stray dog home first off, I thought he had lost his mind. So I had to see for myself just what kind of dog we were dealing with. So I went to the back bathroom, opened the door, and saw this dog who was sitting there, shaking and looking so sad, and pitiful that I instantly felt my heartache for him. He was covered in fleas, and there were bloodstains on the floor from all the flea bites and I knew I had to do something to help him. I couldn't let this dog sit here and suffer like that. At that point, it didn't matter if he was mean or not! I was gonna help him.

Now before you think that I don't like animals, I need to clarify that I have always been an animal lover. I had a lot of animals growing up. I had dogs my whole life and cats too, I had raised rats, gunnie pigs, and ferrets. I also worked for a vet for two years and had experience with different breeds of dogs. I wasn't inexperienced when it came to animals. The reason I was so apprehensive is because of what I had gone through with my chow, Sky. Before my kids were born, I had a chow. Her name was Sky and she was a sweet nonaggressive kind of dog, most chows are known to be very mean and very aggressive. My sky was not that, she was shy around people and very timid at times but she had never been mean to anyone. If she was inside and people were around she would get behind me on the couch cause she was afraid or nervous. But she never tried to bite anyone or growl at people. One day we had some people over and they had older kids, I'd say around ten or so. We were all outside with the kids watching them play and run around when just out of the blue, my chow went after one of the kids. It wasn't my kids she went after but, still, it was a kid non the least. Luckily Geoff saw her and got to her first before she got a hold of one of those kids. I don't know what it was that triggered her, and made her go after the kids, but she did. I didn't see anyone being mean to her or trying to pet her or chase her. She was under the car hiding from everyone and then she just lost it! She got worse after that day, becoming more and more aggressive. She was never like that towards me but she was starting to be that way towards everyone else and even my husband. I had to do something about her and that broke my heart.

But I just couldn't trust her to be around people anymore, especially kids!

So you can see why I was so hesitant to take this dog in, which was known as an aggressive breed! I have never been one to judge a dog by its breed. I have always felt that a dog act's how you treat it. You have to train them and put time & effort into them, to make them good. I had done all that with Sky, but she still ended up, in the end, going crazy and trying to attack people. So yeah I was worried that there could be a mean streak in him that one day just might snap, causing him to go after us or worse! Our kids or anyone else. I just couldn't go through all that again.

So I stood there looking him over when I noticed that he had a scar on top of his head and that made me think he was in a fight. My heart sank and I almost cried at the condition of this poor dog. He looked at me with those sad brown eyes of his and I melted. I let a heavy sigh out and then I looked at the tub, then down at him. I said well you have to have a bath. So I'm gonna pick you up and put you in this tub. If you bite me though I can tell you we will have a problem! I swear it was like he understood me, and knew that I was trying to help him. Those eyes said a lot in the way he was looking at me.

So I got the water just right and I leaned down and picked him up, then set him in the tub. He was light, not heavy at all for me to be picking up. He was very underweight, he should have been around sixty-five to seventy pounds, but he felt like he was barely thirty! Whoever owned him had at least had his tail docked and his ears were done, he wasn't neutered but that was fine. When I put him in the tub he just sat there letting me pour water over him. I was shocked that he didn't even try to move or get out of the tub. He looked like he was enjoying his bath.

Which was a good thing because I had to wash him three times that night just to get all the fleas off of him. The water was so red with all the blood from the flea bites, it had me pissed off that someone would let their pet get into that kind of condition. Maybe it's just me, and maybe I spoil my animals, but I have always made sure my animals were taken care of.

After his bath, I made Geoff go and get some Capstar from Walmart because I wanted to make sure I killed every single flea that he might still have on him. I wasn't taking any chances with that. I took the pill and wrapped it up in some ham and he took it happily. After his bath, I made him a bed in our bathroom for the night. We would discuss what to do in the morning, let's just see how he does tonight, is what I told Geoff.

The next morning I got up and took him out and he did his business outside, and then the kids woke up. When they got up, they ran into my room looking for the dog. I was very hesitant about letting him be around the kids, after all, I knew nothing about this dog. Now I knew I couldn't keep the kids away from him for long, so I needed to come up with something that would be good for all of them, The kids and the dog. I grabbed a leash and wrapped it around his mouth like a soft muzzle and I let the kids come in the bathroom to see him. This dog rolled over on his back when the kids came in there and let them pet him all over. I took the leash off of him and he would not stop licking them. It made me feel a little better about him. But again, I was still very unsure about him and I wasn't positive if I was gonna let him stay or turn him over to the shelter. I told Geoff that this was on a trial basis, and not to get attached to this dog. I was very, very clear on that. For the time being, we made him a bed in our bathroom for him to sleep in there at night. I wasn't sure if he was housebroken or not, and I didn't want him roaming the house at night with my small children sleeping. After a few days went by, he seemed to be doing pretty good with us all. He was good being around the kids and he didn't have any accidents in the house. He wasn't trying to chew on anything or showing any signs of aggression. So I talked with Geoff and we decided to keep him for the time being. We made an appointment with the vet, we wanted to make sure he was up to date on his shots, and we also wanted to see if he was chipped. Not that we would give him back to his owners, because well they dumped out of a car. We however did want to alert the vet and the authorities to the people that did this to him and make sure that they didn't get away with this. Turned out he had no microchip so we couldn't do anything to the people who dumped him out. He did however have a clear check-up, no issues with his health other than underweight, he was clear of heartworms which were one of my concerns, due to his condition. He let the vet look him over and had no problems with getting his vaccinations, his temperament was really good. The vet told us that he was around two years old and that his breed was Old English Bulldog, not the small English Bulldog breed but the bigger one. I had no idea about that breed of Bulldog until I did some research on it. But there it was, Old English Bulldogs! They do exist. After an expensive vet visit, our Uga was all set with everything he needed. He got flea & tick medication and Heartgard, he had his new tags and a clean bill of health.

We took him home and told the kids we were keeping him, and they were so excited about it. We named him Uga, yes he is named after the Bulldog from Georgia. My father-in-law and nephew were huge Georgia fans, so we named him after the football team. He didn't seem to mind it, he took to his new name very quickly.

It didn't take long for Uga, to gain back the weight he had lost. He had a pretty good appetite. It was amazing how well took to the kids, he loved sleeping in the bed with them both. Which we started letting him do at night, and he stays out of the bathroom during the day when we were at work. He did great being in the house by himself. When it was time for bed, he knew it. He had a way of letting us know it was time for bed. He would go and get in our son Tanner's bed first, then in the middle of the night, if Kendall our daughter hadn't woken up to either crawl in bed with her brother or come into our bed, he would go in her room and sleep the rest of the night with her. He split his time with them both, and I know he loved it when they were both in the same bed. It made it easier for him, he was protective over them and that was good. At times it seemed like he would worry over them both. Not one time did he ever growl, bark or even try to nip at the kids. He would let them do whatever they wanted to him. He didn't care, and no we didn't let our kids be mean to him or do anything like hit him or throw toys at him. We taught our kids to be nice to animals. They just loved on him and laid on him whenever he laid down, he ate it up!

Uga was part of our family. If anyone came over he would go to the door and check them out before they came in, but he never barked or growled at anyone. He would just look at us for confirmation that it was ok to let them in. It was because of his non-barking that we thought that maybe his bark box was taken out, and that was why he never barked. We had no idea what his previous owners had done to him. Geoff & I had always wondered what made his previous owners just dump him as they did? We never could figure it out. We came up with some of our conclusions, the first one was because he wasn't aggressive enough and the second one we had an idea that he was being used as a fighting dog, because of the scar on his head. But because he wasn't aggressive he wouldn't fight and that could have been another reason why they got rid of him. It was about two years that we finally heard him bark for the first time. It sounded like that dog, from the movie grown-ups, you know the one that's barking and they are yelling 'Someone Shut that turkey up"?.. No exaggeration, that's what it sounded like. The reason he barked for the first time in two years was that he doesn't like the cold! Now we live in Florida, and winters aren't like the winters up north. It stays green all year round, and most winters were all still in shorts. But this winter day it was really cold, and Uga needed to go out. So when I opened the door to let him out I didn't stand there waiting for him, not that I did not that a lot. He was such a good dog that we never had to put him on a leash to take him out.

We had about half an acre, and there was a big empty field next to our house, that for some reason, Uga liked going to, to use the bathroom. Which was great for us, cause we didn't have any dog poo in our yard. He would go out, do his business then come back to the door, give it a scratch, and then we would let him in. He never barked to be let in and he never ran off. He was just a different kind of dog honestly. So that morning he wanted out, I opened the door and he ran out into the empty field and I shut the door cause it was freezing that morning. When he was done he came back and out of the blue I heard this noise coming from the door. Now I knew Uga, was outside, what I didn't know is what the noise was cause he did not sound like a dog barking. When I went to the door, I saw him sitting there and he let out a bark, I realized that strange noise was coming from him! I also couldn't believe that he was barking! But there he was, doing his best to bark. He had found his voice, after two years of nothing. When I had told Geoff, that Uga can bark, he didn't believe me, so I made him come see for himself. Now even though he could bark, I can say that he didn't do it unless he had a reason to. He was not a normal dog in the least bit. He had a personality all of his own, and he was the sweetest, gentlest dog I have ever had. He was so loved by not just us, but by our entire family as a whole. Sometimes it seemed like when people would come to visit us, it was more like they were there to see Uga. That's how loved this dog was, because of his disposition and his gentleness and of course his personality, he had everyone in the family taken with him. Even my mom loved Uga, and she has never been a big animal lover, so that should say something about how amazing Uga was. About three years had gone by when we had gotten another dog. Our Cali May, she was not planned either, but when I saw her at that flea market and I looked into her sweet eyes, I had to have her. I knew that Uga would be fine with her because he loved other animals. Now Cali was a cocker spaniel and she was about six weeks when we got her and brought her home. When we did, Uga fell in love with her instantly! He was so good with her and so sweet to her. He would let Cali do whatever she wanted to him, she would bite at his little Nub of a tail, cause she thought it was a toy. She would crawl all over him and he would just roll over and let her. They were the best of friends, it was the sweetest thing. When we had to move in with my parents, to the farm, Uga was in heaven! Getting to be around all the different types of animals made him so happy. If you have ever watched the movie barnyard, and the big bull Otis, which was the protector of the farm, Well, that's how Uga was with all the animals and us. He was the Guardian of the farm, and he did a good job at it too. Now you have to know that no one taught him or trained him to be how he was. He just was that way from the start. He never once had any kind of accidents in the house in all the years we had him, he never destroyed or chewed anything up. He never showed any kind of aggression towards anyone, he was protective but he never growled or barked at anyone. He would just sit in front of one of us and make sure that whoever was knocking at the door, knew he was the one you would have to deal with if you had any kind of malicious intentions. The only bad habits he had well the only two bad habits he had were chasing moving tires on a vehicle, and climbing fences. He loved to try and bite the tires on a moving car, it was the craziest thing. So we had to always drive slowly up the driveway just in case he was out cause we didn't want him to hurt himself from trying to get the tires on a moving car! Crazy ass dog. As far as fences go, well when we had moved to a place that had a front yard, he did not like the fence and if he was outside, he would climb the fence, and believe me he made that look easy as Hell! But when we moved to the farm there were no fences to keep him in and I guess he just felt free there. It's crazy how at first I was against keeping him and I think he knew that. Which sounds weird, but it was like he was trying to prove himself to me, and he did. The older he got the better he got. I don't know what kind of life he had in the beginning for him, or what it was that the people who had before us did to him, or why they did what they did. But I am so thankful that we ended up with him. He was by far the best dog we have ever had, other than our Cali. I would have a hundred more Uga's if I could, but there was only ever one Uga. I'm glad we got to give him a good home and all the love he deserved. Uga lived a happy life and he was very loved by everyone. We had him for ten years, he was twelve years old when he passed away, he died of natural causes and at home while surrounded by his family and everyone who loved him. We all got to say our goodbyes and tell him just how much we loved him, and how thankful we were to be able to have been the ones he chose. I know they say dogs don't have souls so they can't go to heaven but Uga was more human than he was a dog. He showed us love and kindness, he taught us how to open our hearts and not judge just on appearances or the so-called reputations that most dogs like him get. When he died it was like losing a family member. He was a big part of our family, and his presence was and still is very much missed to this day. We buried him out back so that he can look over all that he loved. The farm, the animals, and us. He had his headstone until a storm came through and destroyed it, but we don't need a headstone to know where he is. There is a tree there now, where he is buried instead. Just writing this story about him has brought tears to my eyes, but not sad tears. No, instead there happy tears because he lived, and he lived such a good life and made everyone around happy. When we think about Uga, we think of happy thoughts, we think about how we got lucky to have found him. We have always said we're not sure who rescued who that day, whether he rescued us or us rescuing him! Either way, we all got rescued that day. If by chance any of you decide to ever rescue a dog, that you get as lucky as we did with our Uga. Even if you were like us, and not looking for any kind of pet at the time, I can only hope that if a stray dog just happens to wander upon you one day at a family BBQ, That you think about our Uga and his story. He was more than just a dog, he was the other half of our hearts.