Monday, July 14, 2008

Our Precious Zues

I arrived in Dallas on Friday evening. After the plan landed the pilot announced we were 20 minutes early and had to wait for a gate to open. We finally docked at the gate and there's always someone who decides to unbuckle and stand up before the belt lights extingished. You know what I mean? This guy happened to be in front of me. He stood up and I knew we would have to wait another 10 minutes , so in my head I'm thinking, "What in the world do you think you're doing? It's not going to speed your journey by getting up." He started drumming his fingers....a little faster....faster...While he's annoying everyone within 5 ailes of him he looks down at me and smiles. I smile back and realize that most people don't realize what they are doing is annoying. People have feelings that are naturally self-centered. Poor guy didn't see the faces being made around him. Maybe a calm smile from the girl sitting just behind him was what he needed to realize everything would be okay.
ha
So, I got home around 9pm. Everyone super excited and food on the table..yum yum! If there's anything my family knows how to do that's eat. I ate while everyone watched. We stayed up pretty late and visited. It felt surreal to sleep in a familiar, yet unfamiliar bed, in my old room. It was comfy and definately reminded me of jr. high and high school.
Sabbath morning came early with dad knocking on my bedroom door saying "I'm leaving in an hr." Mom had gotten called into work. She is a perfusionist and sometimes takes call. Most often she get's called in early on saturday mornings. So it was just me, Breanne, and ole'dad. Good sabbath- I heard a joke from a little kid at church who was acting silly. He said, "I'm like a pizza. I'm sooo white and cheesy." haha
After church we drove home to find my Aunt waiting for me. She's a lot of fun everytime she's here. We go shopping, see movies, laugh, tell stories, etc...She's everything a aunt should be :)
We swam and watched movies, ate ice cream that evening.
Sunday morning we slept in late- maybe until 11. We must've been tired. I love waking up to the smell of stripples and pancakes (yes, that would be sunday mornings in an Adventist home). I walked down the hall to find a plate already made for me. yum yum...like I said, we know how to eat good :) While trying to decide what the day should entale I sat down on the floor next to our dog, Zues. He's so cute. (I've posted a picture of him before) I was there for about 5 min. when he started to walk off. I reached for his torso and he turned real fast to bite me. I flipped my body over and he got my right arm. I could feel my human instinct to flee, but I could not. He only listens to my sister. As if his grip wasn't tight enough he bit harder. My sister ran into the room in response to my screams for help and grabbed the dog. My arm was bloody. My aunt applied pressure, while my dad got towels. I could feel the blood draining from my face. I knew I was going to puke. I did. Waited a few seconds and went for another round. My aunt fainted and my sister grabbed a rolling chair to sit me down. My dad holding my aunt and my mom wheeling me to a couch...it was actually quite humerous. I could see my family was going to laugh about this later...I mean, the fainting and rolling- of course.
I was propped on the couch, feet up, and breathing heavy. My aunt woke up and we all gathered in the living room. Everyone was crying (cept dad) trying to figure out what to do with Zues.
The verdict was to put Zues down this morning. He was good companion to my sister...possibly her best friend after Ben and I left for school. He had snapped at people before and been unpredictable, but never had anything like this happened. A responsible pet owner can't keep a dog that is unpredictable. I'm confident that my family made the right decision. Opinions from all sides were stated. It's been a very sad day for the Gleason's. Please pray for my little sister. It's hard to make a decision like this one. And thank God for the safety from what could've happened.
RIP Zues

7 comments:

The Beachcomber said...

So sorry, Brit. Hope you are healing okay and that your sis is okay as well. Sounds like you needed Ceasar, the Dog Whisper. I learned from the show that to make a dog let go of it's bite, you can push its upper lip up into its teeth/canine and it triggers them to release. Fighting breeds also need special attention since they do not respond the same way to physical pain because it actually drives them & makes them fight harder. I'm considering a bulldog one day, so I am reading up on their special needs. Love ya and miss ya.

Brit's Blog said...

Beachcomber :)- OUr family loves Cesar too!!lol...My family knew that he would never respond to physical pain so they treated him with lots of love. Even when he did bad things. We read that most animals with the recessive gene that makes them that blue color can be more aggressive then others. Sadly, there was nothing we could do. We kept him for 3 years. He snapped at people and we tried to keep him at distance of others. Who knows. Maybe the Dog Whisperer could've helped.

Thanks for the encouragement :) Miss you!

Mai said...

Wow, that's scary! But I'm glad you're okay. I'll be praying for you and your family. How long are you on break for? Will you be back to school by the beginning of August? I hope so, because I want to see you!

Brit's Blog said...

Mai- I will definately be back before August :) School starts on July 28 for me. See you soon! Can't wait :)

Barbara said...

Oh, Brit. . .that about broke my heart. I kept thinking: "What if it were Kimo?" I'm sorry that things turned out as they did but it sounds like you did what you had to do. :hug:

Otherwise, sounded like the perfect vacation. Hope you are well. I told Mai today I'm gonna do another "call-in" when you guys all get together when Mai is in Cali! So I'll look forward to talking to you then :)

Barbara said...

Oh by the way that comment--and this one--from Barbara is from me (Sean). lol! I guess Babs was logged onto her gmail on this computer and it automatically attributed the comment to her because of that.

Mike Ronesia said...

Hi Batgirl, sorry to here about Zues. We had to put Dude down after he bit a boy that ran from him in the butt. I know he liked you as well. He was sick with cancer and didn't have much time left anyway but it is still hard to do.