In Loving Memory of Monty
In October 2003, Monty joined our family and was our very first rescue, however, not our first Boxer. We had two others at home: a 3 year old male, Stryker, and a 6 month old female, Zoe. When I had first come across the BRLA website and started looking at photos I was hooked. There were so many wonderful Boxers that were just waiting for a family to call their own. I was particularly intrigued by the Senior Foster program and sent just an “inquiry” e-mail to Joni. I remember her very enthusiastic response about a Senior they had available whose name was Monty. I had described our family and she knew that Monty would be a great fit for us. I went home that evening and spoke with my husband who thought I had completely lost my mind. In May of that same year, we had lost our first Boxer, Addie, to Lymphosarcoma and we were both absolutely devastated by her loss. So he was leery of bringing home an older dog due to the attachment factor. But… he agreed to at least meet Monty and see what happened.
One of the other volunteers, Leslie, was going to meet us halfway and suggested we bring our other two dogs so the 3 dogs could all meet on neutral territory. I remember pulling up and seeing what looked to be a fragile older Boxer, with quite a bit of grey on his muzzle and some scarring on his hindquarters. He had very short, cropped ears and basically no tail to speak of. He was very docile and patient with our puppy who of course jumped all over him. We all went for a walk and then into a gated area where we could let all three of them off the leash. Everyone seemed to get along and Monty was very generous with his kisses to me. We agreed to take him home. We thought we would give him a nice place to spend his retirement years and my husband and already made the disclaimer that he was sure he wouldn’t bond with Monty like he had our others that we had raised from pups.
Well, within a week of having Monty home, the fragile “senior” had been replaced with a bouncy, wiggly “puppy” whose eyes just simply sparkled. He greeted us with the same love and enthusiasm that our others did when we would return home and he loved to snuggle up with us on the couch as well as the floor. We instantly bonded and my husband was smothering him with the same amount of hugs and kisses that he gave our other two. We knew that Monty was meant to be a part of our family. Our only regret is that we didn’t have him from the beginning to give him the life he deserved.
Aside from his arthritis, he was a very healthy dog until December of 2005. He developed a cough that was similar to bordatella. We thought he may have contracted it from his last vaccine, which had happened to our other dog, Stryker. We took him into the vet who confirmed bordatella and gave him antibiotics but otherwise a clean bill of health. Well, not a week later, on the Sunday morning before Christmas, he didn’t eat his breakfast and ended up having some sort of convulsion or seizure. We rushed him to the vet where they stabilized him on antibiotics and fluids and then did blood and x-ray. The x-ray confirmed a large tumor beneath his ribcage that was starting to impact his organs. Sadly, we had to make the decision to end Monty’s suffering. He was such a wonderful loving soul that we couldn’t allow him another minute of pain and discomfort. There is such a void in our home now, yet our hearts are so full of the love that we had for him and that he gave back to us.
I firmly believe that Monty opened our hearts up to adoption. And not just of older Boxers, but of our son, whom we brought home through adoption in March 2004. The two of them bonded instantly and our 2 ½ year old son now tells me that Monty is with the angels and that he loves him and misses him. Truer words have never been spoken.
I thought you might like to see this picture of Monty with our other male, Stryker, and our 2 ½ year old son, Mikhail. Our youngest, Zoe, was probably getting into mischief somewhere when this picture was taken. This was taken probably about a month and a half ago.
