BESAME MACHO
FINAL UPDATE AUGUST 2008
WHEN THE DOG IN YOUR HEART IS
THE DOG IN YOUR ARMS
All good things must end. Sadly,
Macho is no longer sharing our life. He made it to twelve years
firing on all cylinders, but then began having problems with what what
looked like a stiff neck. Later, the stiffness went away but then
he began to lose control of his legs. While we hoped
it was just a bad disc, there were many features of his condition that
suggested it was not something that could be easily treated.
Luckily, he really had no pain after his condition bagan, but he became
less and less able to do the things he loved. His doctors
suggested strict rest, but he could never tolerate a cage and even
being confined to one room was devastating to his spirit. His
appetite never waned, nor did his ability to respond to our love and
affection. After several trips to the veterinarian, it became
increasingly apprent that even his indomitable spirit was not going to
overcome his problem and we sadly decided that it was his time to die
while he was alive, rather than making him live when he was
dead. He sat on Janis's lap to enjoy a final
lunch of Greek chicken with pitas and tzatziki along with a few
of his favorite biscuits. Then we went back to the vet where he
was given an infusion of a powerful sedative and the dog in my heart
faded in my arms. We kissed him and said goodbye. It was
strange how suddenly old he looked. The house is very empty now
and we are reminded by so many things of his presence and so acutely
feel his absence. Macho was a blazing star who raced across our
heavens and burned out far too soon. Twelve years sure goes by in
a hurry.
By the way, Macho wasn't the only thing we ever called him.
Besides "Baby", he was also "Poca Fa" (short for "Una Voce Poca Fa"),
"Snooto del Lupo", "Snooto" or simply "The Snoot". Of
course, there were also times when he was also "Scum" and occasionally
"Rodent Scum". It didn't really matter what we called him, he
knew we were talking to him.
MACHO 2/10/96 - 8/9/2008
This is the page of Macho the Chihuahua. Macho is not
your
grandmother's chihuahua. He is what is known as a "pet quality"
chihuahua,
and what a quality pet he is! The Big M came into our lives in
May
1996 when he was twelve weeks old and four and a quarter pounds.
He was a purebred but not registerable, probably because his breeder
suspected
that he would not conform to the required standard of six pounds or
less.
That was fine with us as Frank and Jeff wanted a playmate that wouldn't
be overly fragile. At first, Janis put pillows all over the floor
to keep him from hurting his delicate legs when he jumped off the
couch.
He immediately climbed up to the back of the couch and sailed off and
the
only thing that got hurt was Janis's longevity. Later that week
we took him for his first vet visit and after eyeballing him, the
doctor
predicted he would end up around ten pounds. When he went back two
weeks
later another doctor saw him and guessed fifteen! Macho ended up
at sixteen pounds, although he could stand to lose around eight
ounces.
We only buy him toys for aggressive chewers and he usually desqueaks
them
in less than a day and rips the seams out in a week. We believe
that
he is appropriately named.
Macho and Taz: Convergent Evolution?
Macho loves to play. His favorite game is "Chase Me". He
usually finds a toy and dares us to catch him and take it away.
He
is incredibly fast and corners like a Ferrari. The only problem
is
that his rule is that Macho always wins. The penalty for having
the
temerity to catch him is a good hard bite. If we don't want to
play,
he will encourage us by finding a sock or something else he is not
supposed
to have and dangling that just out of reach. One evening he came
in through the dog door with a big green smile, a mature tomato
worm.
He thoroughly enjoyed the chase that provoked. He also loves to
shred
napkins. He sneaks up on the table to steal them and if we go out
to eat, he carefully inspects Janis's purse when we get back. If
he finds a napkin he pulls it out, methodically rips to shreds, and
nonchalantly
saunters away.
Heritage
Every evening, unless it is pouring rain, Macho joins us on a 2 1/2
mile walk around the block. All of the other dogs on the street
want
a piece of him and he enjoys snarling at them to whip them into a
frenzy.
He often meets a Golden Retriever and loves to chase him while his
owner
laughs and says, "Look out, Macho is gonna kick your butt!" There
is only one dog on the street that Macho truly crosses the street to
avoid.
Our neighbor has a Great Dane that would love to carry Macho around by
his ruff. This does concern Macho as he really doesn't think any
dog should have a head larger than all of him.
THIRTEEN WEEKS
Trim
my nails?? With what army?
When Macho first joined us, he found that there was already a dog in
the house. This was Claymore the Fox Terrier. Clay was
getting
rather old and Macho quickly set about being sure that he was not only
the new dog, he was the top dog.
Excuse me, that's my pig ear...
DOMINATION
Claymore Winston-Thatcher 1983-1998
(Clay was a shelter adoptee. We would not have chosen
such
a flowery name. For the most part he was called Moogie)
Babooshka? Do I look Russian to you???
MACHO THE TRIUMPHANT
On August 13, 2000 a Chihuahua fashion show, called Dressed
to
the Canines was held in Pasadena. The event was started
by
Mary Beth Crain, author of A
Widow, a Chihuahua and Harry Truman. It included an open
invitation to any Chihuahua willing to come in costume. Macho was
ambivalent about wearing anything not associated with taking a walk,
but
we told him it was for the good of the breed. After an afternoon
of shopping, cutting and sewing, he was ready for the runway, or at
least
the top of the piano. There was a sizable crowd, and to our
delight
(and surprise), Macho got along famously with all of the other
Chihuahuas;
no fighting and no biting! He was definitely the largest
Chihuahua
anyone there had seen, and some of them had always thought that their
whopper
was the record-holder until Macho's shadow crossed their path. By
the way, he won. Well there were several prizes, but he won one
of
them.
Hey, guys wear grass skirts too!
CRUISIN'
Macho is the very first passenger in Jeff's new car.
Note the large windows for barking at pedestrian dogs.
CHRISTMAS PUPPY WITH 20-20 AMBITION?
I WONDER IF MY MOTHER THINKS I'M WARM ENOUGH?
BARBARIAN AT THE GATE
THIS IS MACHO'S YAPPING GAP IN OUR FRONT FENCE
YOU GONNA EAT THAT!??
ONE-EARRED
REINDEER
STOCKING STUFFER
THIS IS HALLOWEEN!
I don't know if this is Macho's most favorite time of
the year or not. He definitely enjoys barking at
trick-or-treaters and sniffing the children and their bags of
candy. He is still not happy about wearing a costume. It is
definitely interesting to see how the tapetum (the reflective layer in
the retina) shows up depending on the angle of the flash. He
really didn't like the idea of being a blonde, but it gave him an
excellent opportunity to display the results of all the time we spend
brushing his teeth every night! It certainly makes him appear
appropriately Halloweenly.
Ol' Greeneyes
Takin' the Redeye
EAT YOUR VEGGIES
Macho was, of course, a dog and
therefore descended from wolves. He was always happy to eat
meat, even though his main source of nutrition was always dog
cookies. We usually looked for something that helped keep his
teeth clean and always tried to find the largest nuggets possible in
order to encourage him to chew rather than simply inhale his
dinner. When we asked for the largest sized dog food pieces at
the petfood store, the clerks were always amazed to hear that we wanted
them for a chihuahua. Macho's favorite food though, was
vegetables. His typical staple mix-in for his nuggets was
broccoli, but he delighted in green beans, and ate artichokes like a
human, scraping the tender flesh at the base of the leaves between his
nippers. He adored tomatoes and once we discovered that fact, we
never had to throw out a scrap of tomato skin or even a stem. His
absolute favorite gourmet treat was asparagus. Again, there were
never any wasted stems in our house when he was around. Of
course, we figured that the biggest attraction for him was how it
helped him make his mark in the neighborhood. We will miss him.
HEY!! SIGN MY GUESTBOOK: HERE'S
YAPPING AT YOU
IT'S NEW IN 2005!
Macho has a new guestbook and he'll move the entries
from his old one over when he's done sleeping, sniffing and
scratching. He'll also chew up and discard any that he doesn't
think belong in the guestbook of a well behaved Chihuahua!
For other pictures of Macho, check out our other webpages.
He appears on our Homepage,
THE
GALEF OCEANSIDE ASYLUM
From there you can look for him as a Trilobite or a Dinosaur by
checking
the Links pages on those sites.
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at tyrarex2+gmail.com
Use @ instead of +
