Janice McGerr
08-31-2009, 12:28 AM
I would like to tell you all about my Uno (Ch. Rojans The Glimmerman).
Sorry about all the pictures, just wanted you to see and know the dog.
Uno was the son of Dagger (BIS, BISS Ch. Beaulane’s Hot Topic) and Tease (Ch. Cambria’s Sexy Rexy Rose WAC). He was whelped on 3/19/04, the only surviving male in the litter. Tease loved her little boy and he got a lot of her attention. With 9 sisters trying to boss him around, Uno learned early on to take most things in stride. By the time he was about eight weeks old I’d fallen totally in love with him. I could not keep him because of the male we all ready had, but I wanted him in a good show home. Long story short, I never found that perfect show home and Uno stayed with us. In the beginning it was to be only until he finished. I told myself that once he finished I would find him a new home with his very own family, but I never followed through. Uno lived his life with us as my beloved companion and best friend.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/643.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/th_100_0085.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/?action=view¤t=100_0085.jpg)http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/100_0015.jpg
Uno was all boy and all Doberman. As a young male he made some bad choices and got him self into a bit of trouble (how many of us got into trouble as a teenager?). He was a bit over protective of me. If he didn’t like someone or he didn’t trust them, he’d get nervous, looking at me as if to say, “Can I have permission to go to my room?” (his kennel).
When he wanted something you knew it. His favorite way of telling you something was to wedge his head under your arm and bounce it. He truly loved his humans; he was a very touchy feely kind of dog, craving human touch, especially my touch. You could always count on him needing his head stroked. But this softness belied a tougher side to Uno. When he had a job to do, he did it with enthusiasm and vigor. He could be an imposing figure when aroused.
When Uno traveled, staying at hotels or with friends, he always claimed the area that was our temporary home as his and put on his best guard dog face. No matter were I slept, Uno laid beside me. He loved to suckle on his plush toy men (especially when one of the bitches came into season, it was his stress reducer). Like everyone’s beloved pet he was all ways with me (even the bathroom), and every day when I came home from work he would come running, extremely happy to see me, asking, “Where have you been mom? You’ve been gone way too long.”
My son Trevor had taught Uno how to shake hands, high five, and “bang bang,” which was a prompt for Uno to lay flat on the floor and roll over.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/uno_trev.jpg
Uno was a high energy dog that loved to play, one of those dogs that could never get enough ball time. He loved to run the fence line every time I went to work or as I was pulling in the drive. And his best friend was my grandson Logan. Uno pretty much became Logan’s dog. I can still see them playing together. For Logan, Uno would push toy cars around with his nose and run with the toy swords together. Uno was always right there when Logan was eating, waiting for Logan to give him a piece. When Uno slept in my bed with me (which was pretty much every night), he liked the bed to be perfectly still, “No wiggling please.” When Logan stayed the night Uno would be right up by him with his face in Logan’s, it was like he was telling his Logan it is OK I am right here.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/th_unologan.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/?action=view¤t=unologan.jpg)http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/th_loganuno.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/?action=view¤t=loganuno.jpg)
When Logan was not around Uno loved his niece Co-Quette. They would play Chase Me - Chase Me for hours. Co-Quette would get him going and off they’d go, tearing through the house or the yard.
Uno was a successful show dog from day one. The first time out, he took the breed, over the Special, two days in a row (he was just a little over 6 months old). The judges for those first shows with Uno really shocked me. Up til then I had never seen a judge get down and put their face right into any dogs face before, not even a puppy’s face. Both of these judges called Uno their “Little Veteran.”
Uno finished his AKC Championship at around 18 months old. After Uno finished it was like a light went on; he became very animated in the ring. The only thing holding Uno back was me. I bred him; I loved him; I wanted to handle him. Little ‘ol me, who judges would look at and say, “Love this dog, but who are you? May not like that other dog there as much, but I know that handler better, so he wins and you walk.” If I had put a professional on Uno he would have been competitive with the best of them. When he moved it was like he was floating around the ring, his movement was effortless, this dog could turn on a dime and still look good. My husband loved to watch him in the ring.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/th_uno3.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/?action=view¤t=uno3.jpg)
Carmen Pitts was the only other person to show Uno and that was at the Nationals, the rest was done by myself.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/unocarmen05.jpg
There were a few times that Uno seems intent on embarrassing me in the ring. I think he thought it was fun. The most memorable time was in February of 2009. He had made the decision that he was going to get as much ring time as he could. So, on his first down and back he decided that skipping was the thing to doing. Have you ever seen a dog skip? It’s not pretty. On the second down and back he did a hopping thing. Again, not pretty. By about that time he must of decided that he was embarrassing himself as well as me, so he did it right. And it only took three down and backs. Charming! The whole time he is doing this all I could do was laugh inside; it really was quite funny! And he was having a good time.
Though I sometimes showed him as a Special, I never really had the expectation that he’d take the Breed. My goal was to have a good time, while simply showing him to the fancy. Uno competed at every DPCA National he was eligible for. He seemed to love the Nationals, I think it was all the attention he got, inside and outside the ring.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/100_0898c.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/IMG_2879.jpg
He also loved to be a goof at times.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/Untitled-4.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/IMG_1750.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/IMG_1754.jpg
Uno 2 weeks before out enjoying the weather.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/2414.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/2406.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/2421.jpg
Uno at the end.
Though it is painful to relive this, since it is all so fresh and vivid, my hope is that others may benefit from the details of the events leading up to Uno’s untimely death. We do not have all the answers, we know that Uno had an infection, but we do not know for sure how he got the infection or how long he had it. We will never know. When I looked at my Uno in the late in the evening of August 11th, he simply did not look so good to me. The next morning he did not want to get up from the floor. I ran him to the vet to have him checked out. Uno spent the day at the hospital. When I first got him there we thought we were going to lose him because his heart rate was so slow. I stayed with him until around 11:00 a.m. then left to take Co-Quette to Kansas (to be shown that weekend). On the return trip I came back through Lincoln and went back to the vet office. I was told Uno had a very high white blood cell count and they had him on antibiotics. They said he could go home, but that he needed to come back the next day for more tests. When we came back the first thing they tested was his kidneys and they were in trouble.
The vet also checked his heart, which at that time seemed stable. Keep in mind that during all of this ordeal, Uno is not eating like he normally did. From about the 12th thru the 19th he might have gotten maybe one and a half cups of food total. He drank plenty of water.
That night Logan came over to see his dog. Uno put up a great front and played with his boy. Lacey (my daughter) and I decided that this was too much for Uno and Lacey took Logan out of the house, so Uno could rest. Uno went back to the vet on the 14th and his kidneys were getting worst. We did not want him to suffer, so Roger and I called our kids to let them know we were probably going to have to put him down on Saturday. When Saturday morning came I took the long way to vets.
When we got to the clinic the vet wanted to check Uno’s kidneys one more time. We were thrilled because they were normal now. What was clear to all of us was that Uno was fighting back. His will to live was so strong, he simply would not surrender without a fight. The very least we all could do was to support him. So Uno got a reprieve. We made the decision then and there to let him guide us. As long as he was not in pain, as long as he had the tremendous will to go on, we did everything possible to support him, all the while hoping and praying for a miracle. There is no easy way to let go of a loved one. The decision of when to let go is one of the most private and painful things we as mortals will ever have to make. In all, we bought ourselves a few precious days and a chance to find some peace and acceptance.
Uno and I went home for the weekend. By Sunday he did not look like he was doing so well. He had another all-day stay with the vet on Monday the 17th. By then his heart was racing and his lungs were in trouble, and we had to keep a close eye on his kidneys. He was put on heart meds and we were not given a very good outlook on the whole thing. We took him home and went back on the 18th to check his kidneys again. They were still in the normal range. At about 2 a.m. Uno coughed up a very small amount of blood. I called the vet and he told me they could not do anything for that. Needless to say I was more than angry; this is my baby we are talking about. I took Uno into the vet the next morning of the 19th to have his kidneys tested again and find out why he had that small amount of blood when he coughed. Uno’s kidneys were in trouble again, but the vet was not worried about the blood. So they upped his meds, said he would be OK and sent us back home. I left around 12 p.m. to go pick up Co-Quette in Kansas. I kept in contact with Roger the whole day.
Towards the end of the day Roger said Uno was spending a lot of time looking at the door. “He is waiting for you Janice. And he’s standing in Logan’s play area.” When I got home around 8:30 p.m. and got in the house, Uno was there waiting for me. His ears went up and his tail wagged. As always, he was very happy to see me. I ran over and gave him a hug and looked down as I held him, only to see his feet and half way up his legs were swollen, I looked into his eyes and could see the pain in my poor baby’s eyes.
I called the vet and was going to wait for them to call me back, in the mean time I went into the crate room only to see a lot of blood everywhere, I called the vets back and told them I was on my way. Uno and I got there just before 10:00 p.m. And that’s when I said goodbye to my very special boy and let him slip out of my life, though he will live forever in my heart.
Uno put up a hell of a fight, my vet said most dogs that come in with that high of white cell counts usually do not go home even for the few days that I had. In the weeks and months ahead I may have a few more thoughts to share. For now I struggle to get through each day with the emptiness he has left in our home and in my heart. He will always be my very special boy, my Uno.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/IMG_2560.jpg
3-19-04 to 8-19-09
5 and a half years way too young.
Rest Now Sweet Prince And God Speed.
You will live for ever in my heart.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/myuno.jpg
Sorry about all the pictures, just wanted you to see and know the dog.
Uno was the son of Dagger (BIS, BISS Ch. Beaulane’s Hot Topic) and Tease (Ch. Cambria’s Sexy Rexy Rose WAC). He was whelped on 3/19/04, the only surviving male in the litter. Tease loved her little boy and he got a lot of her attention. With 9 sisters trying to boss him around, Uno learned early on to take most things in stride. By the time he was about eight weeks old I’d fallen totally in love with him. I could not keep him because of the male we all ready had, but I wanted him in a good show home. Long story short, I never found that perfect show home and Uno stayed with us. In the beginning it was to be only until he finished. I told myself that once he finished I would find him a new home with his very own family, but I never followed through. Uno lived his life with us as my beloved companion and best friend.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/643.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/th_100_0085.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/?action=view¤t=100_0085.jpg)http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/100_0015.jpg
Uno was all boy and all Doberman. As a young male he made some bad choices and got him self into a bit of trouble (how many of us got into trouble as a teenager?). He was a bit over protective of me. If he didn’t like someone or he didn’t trust them, he’d get nervous, looking at me as if to say, “Can I have permission to go to my room?” (his kennel).
When he wanted something you knew it. His favorite way of telling you something was to wedge his head under your arm and bounce it. He truly loved his humans; he was a very touchy feely kind of dog, craving human touch, especially my touch. You could always count on him needing his head stroked. But this softness belied a tougher side to Uno. When he had a job to do, he did it with enthusiasm and vigor. He could be an imposing figure when aroused.
When Uno traveled, staying at hotels or with friends, he always claimed the area that was our temporary home as his and put on his best guard dog face. No matter were I slept, Uno laid beside me. He loved to suckle on his plush toy men (especially when one of the bitches came into season, it was his stress reducer). Like everyone’s beloved pet he was all ways with me (even the bathroom), and every day when I came home from work he would come running, extremely happy to see me, asking, “Where have you been mom? You’ve been gone way too long.”
My son Trevor had taught Uno how to shake hands, high five, and “bang bang,” which was a prompt for Uno to lay flat on the floor and roll over.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/uno_trev.jpg
Uno was a high energy dog that loved to play, one of those dogs that could never get enough ball time. He loved to run the fence line every time I went to work or as I was pulling in the drive. And his best friend was my grandson Logan. Uno pretty much became Logan’s dog. I can still see them playing together. For Logan, Uno would push toy cars around with his nose and run with the toy swords together. Uno was always right there when Logan was eating, waiting for Logan to give him a piece. When Uno slept in my bed with me (which was pretty much every night), he liked the bed to be perfectly still, “No wiggling please.” When Logan stayed the night Uno would be right up by him with his face in Logan’s, it was like he was telling his Logan it is OK I am right here.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/th_unologan.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/?action=view¤t=unologan.jpg)http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/th_loganuno.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/?action=view¤t=loganuno.jpg)
When Logan was not around Uno loved his niece Co-Quette. They would play Chase Me - Chase Me for hours. Co-Quette would get him going and off they’d go, tearing through the house or the yard.
Uno was a successful show dog from day one. The first time out, he took the breed, over the Special, two days in a row (he was just a little over 6 months old). The judges for those first shows with Uno really shocked me. Up til then I had never seen a judge get down and put their face right into any dogs face before, not even a puppy’s face. Both of these judges called Uno their “Little Veteran.”
Uno finished his AKC Championship at around 18 months old. After Uno finished it was like a light went on; he became very animated in the ring. The only thing holding Uno back was me. I bred him; I loved him; I wanted to handle him. Little ‘ol me, who judges would look at and say, “Love this dog, but who are you? May not like that other dog there as much, but I know that handler better, so he wins and you walk.” If I had put a professional on Uno he would have been competitive with the best of them. When he moved it was like he was floating around the ring, his movement was effortless, this dog could turn on a dime and still look good. My husband loved to watch him in the ring.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/th_uno3.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/?action=view¤t=uno3.jpg)
Carmen Pitts was the only other person to show Uno and that was at the Nationals, the rest was done by myself.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/unocarmen05.jpg
There were a few times that Uno seems intent on embarrassing me in the ring. I think he thought it was fun. The most memorable time was in February of 2009. He had made the decision that he was going to get as much ring time as he could. So, on his first down and back he decided that skipping was the thing to doing. Have you ever seen a dog skip? It’s not pretty. On the second down and back he did a hopping thing. Again, not pretty. By about that time he must of decided that he was embarrassing himself as well as me, so he did it right. And it only took three down and backs. Charming! The whole time he is doing this all I could do was laugh inside; it really was quite funny! And he was having a good time.
Though I sometimes showed him as a Special, I never really had the expectation that he’d take the Breed. My goal was to have a good time, while simply showing him to the fancy. Uno competed at every DPCA National he was eligible for. He seemed to love the Nationals, I think it was all the attention he got, inside and outside the ring.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/100_0898c.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/IMG_2879.jpg
He also loved to be a goof at times.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/Untitled-4.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/IMG_1750.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/IMG_1754.jpg
Uno 2 weeks before out enjoying the weather.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/2414.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/2406.jpghttp://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/2421.jpg
Uno at the end.
Though it is painful to relive this, since it is all so fresh and vivid, my hope is that others may benefit from the details of the events leading up to Uno’s untimely death. We do not have all the answers, we know that Uno had an infection, but we do not know for sure how he got the infection or how long he had it. We will never know. When I looked at my Uno in the late in the evening of August 11th, he simply did not look so good to me. The next morning he did not want to get up from the floor. I ran him to the vet to have him checked out. Uno spent the day at the hospital. When I first got him there we thought we were going to lose him because his heart rate was so slow. I stayed with him until around 11:00 a.m. then left to take Co-Quette to Kansas (to be shown that weekend). On the return trip I came back through Lincoln and went back to the vet office. I was told Uno had a very high white blood cell count and they had him on antibiotics. They said he could go home, but that he needed to come back the next day for more tests. When we came back the first thing they tested was his kidneys and they were in trouble.
The vet also checked his heart, which at that time seemed stable. Keep in mind that during all of this ordeal, Uno is not eating like he normally did. From about the 12th thru the 19th he might have gotten maybe one and a half cups of food total. He drank plenty of water.
That night Logan came over to see his dog. Uno put up a great front and played with his boy. Lacey (my daughter) and I decided that this was too much for Uno and Lacey took Logan out of the house, so Uno could rest. Uno went back to the vet on the 14th and his kidneys were getting worst. We did not want him to suffer, so Roger and I called our kids to let them know we were probably going to have to put him down on Saturday. When Saturday morning came I took the long way to vets.
When we got to the clinic the vet wanted to check Uno’s kidneys one more time. We were thrilled because they were normal now. What was clear to all of us was that Uno was fighting back. His will to live was so strong, he simply would not surrender without a fight. The very least we all could do was to support him. So Uno got a reprieve. We made the decision then and there to let him guide us. As long as he was not in pain, as long as he had the tremendous will to go on, we did everything possible to support him, all the while hoping and praying for a miracle. There is no easy way to let go of a loved one. The decision of when to let go is one of the most private and painful things we as mortals will ever have to make. In all, we bought ourselves a few precious days and a chance to find some peace and acceptance.
Uno and I went home for the weekend. By Sunday he did not look like he was doing so well. He had another all-day stay with the vet on Monday the 17th. By then his heart was racing and his lungs were in trouble, and we had to keep a close eye on his kidneys. He was put on heart meds and we were not given a very good outlook on the whole thing. We took him home and went back on the 18th to check his kidneys again. They were still in the normal range. At about 2 a.m. Uno coughed up a very small amount of blood. I called the vet and he told me they could not do anything for that. Needless to say I was more than angry; this is my baby we are talking about. I took Uno into the vet the next morning of the 19th to have his kidneys tested again and find out why he had that small amount of blood when he coughed. Uno’s kidneys were in trouble again, but the vet was not worried about the blood. So they upped his meds, said he would be OK and sent us back home. I left around 12 p.m. to go pick up Co-Quette in Kansas. I kept in contact with Roger the whole day.
Towards the end of the day Roger said Uno was spending a lot of time looking at the door. “He is waiting for you Janice. And he’s standing in Logan’s play area.” When I got home around 8:30 p.m. and got in the house, Uno was there waiting for me. His ears went up and his tail wagged. As always, he was very happy to see me. I ran over and gave him a hug and looked down as I held him, only to see his feet and half way up his legs were swollen, I looked into his eyes and could see the pain in my poor baby’s eyes.
I called the vet and was going to wait for them to call me back, in the mean time I went into the crate room only to see a lot of blood everywhere, I called the vets back and told them I was on my way. Uno and I got there just before 10:00 p.m. And that’s when I said goodbye to my very special boy and let him slip out of my life, though he will live forever in my heart.
Uno put up a hell of a fight, my vet said most dogs that come in with that high of white cell counts usually do not go home even for the few days that I had. In the weeks and months ahead I may have a few more thoughts to share. For now I struggle to get through each day with the emptiness he has left in our home and in my heart. He will always be my very special boy, my Uno.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/IMG_2560.jpg
3-19-04 to 8-19-09
5 and a half years way too young.
Rest Now Sweet Prince And God Speed.
You will live for ever in my heart.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af330/RojansDobermans/myuno.jpg