The last 10 years I have shared my home and my life with a pure blood Old English Mastiff I named Moose because he would eventually become one of the largest dogs on the planet. As he neared his ninth birthday Moose settled at 235 pounds, just before he was diagnosed with Nasal Squamous Cell Carcinoma, one of the most agressive and of course deadly cancers. We had a surgery done immediately and the prognosis was good, tests showed that they got it all, but they had to carve a big ugly gouge in the middle of his face, No matter I still had my Moose and he was pretty much the same old friend and companion, he lost some (a lot) of weight, down to 165 but he's happy, he eats good and still plays with the cats, but a recent checkup has indicated the cancer has returned. There was talk of CT scans and radiation and after over seven grand in the past year I just don't have another eight to ten thousand. I am proud that I could give him another year, I am a Vietnam Vet with 70% PTSD and Moose has carried me through a lot, I owe him big. My only hope now is that he can hang on til Nov 18, his tenth birthday, my only other hope is that he lies down to take a nap and just does not wake up instead of makeing me have to make the decision when his quality of life has reached that point.. I will miss my big buddy, we have been inseperable since he was seven weeks old, the breeder was a friend and she let me take him early and I even gave him his last set of puppy shots. If ever a dog was truely representative of what it means to be a Marine it is the English Mastiff. What a history they have, from Ghengis Kahn to Hannibals trek across the Alps in his attempt to bring down the Roman Empire and creating several large breeds along the way. The Nobles kept great kennels and used them for sport from deer to bear a pair of Mastiffs were formidable, then during WWI they were almost wiped out but a few had been brought to the states and the breed exists today because of that…
I love you big boy (Sir Benjamine Stewart Mooneyhan King) sorry about that dude but paperwork and all that. Anyway Semper Fi to a great friend…. And to whatever you have left, I am proud of you.
my irish wolfhound named McTiigue wasgenttle in the extreme exceptwhen he spied a large shepherd dog then he would getready mctigue wouldstay with me onmy hunter for once around theindoor track.mctigue was 120 pounds the wolfhounds were sight hounds . their eyelevel was about 36 inches shoulder was33 inches and nose to tail tip about 33 inches. once a police dog came on my farm and tangled briefly with mctigue who quickly grounded it and stradled it and I was near enough by to separate them before mctigue got his mouth on the police dog’s neck. I would jog the Bedford golfclub course and neighboring lands dogs from Russells. retriievers to Scotties would intrude and there was never an incident .Mctigue retrired to Connemara to live with his sister(how irish!)Inever trried to visit because myheart couldn’t handle that and after a half dozen years I have heard nothing.truely yoursly Joe Breen proud nephew of mike mctigue who was victor over battling siki in1923 Dublin for light heavyweight title Mctigue lost to sharkey for heavyweight title in 1927and ended his career.