Kea - she was the 2nd dog we got. We got her when we moved to the ranch when Mana was about 3 years old. Kea had been seized in a raid of a "rescue" group where the animals had been found living in deplorable conditions. Kea appeared to be a german shepherd/shar-pei mix of about 5 years old. She was a scaredy dog for most of her life. She lived with us for 5 years and we tried to make her life as happy as possible given the start it had. In Dec, 1999 she was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma and by the end of January 2000, she was gone.
Rocco - we got him in 1995, and he was a poi dog that looked like a yellow lab. Charlie was working in the flower fields at the ranch and found a puppy. At the time we had 2 dogs and I said no way. We went to take the puppy back only to find some fairly horrible conditions. This puppy was in a litter of 7, all males, all identical. The people had about 30 dogs and they were not well-taken care of. We decided to keep the puppy. When he was found he weighed 4 lbs and fit in the palm of my hand. Once we had him he grew at a rapid rate. At his peak he weighed over 100 lbs (that was when he was overweight). Rocco lived a good life and passed away in 2009 at the age of 14. The last year of his life was difficult. He developed spondylosis in his spine and had trouble getting up and walking. At the very end his lymph glands swelled up with what we assumed was lymphoma.
Nala - One night a friend shows up at our door with a little pit bull puppy. She needed to get rid of it right then. At the time we had 3 dogs and I said no way. Then Charlie walked out and picked it up - I knew it was over. At the time I bought in to all that nonsense about pit bulls and I swore right then Nala was going to be the nicest pit bull ever. She grew up to be the greatest dog in the world. People who met her thought she was awesome. In September of 2008 she started having seizures. Through a process of elimination we determined it was probably brain cancer. She lived until April 2009. She was without a doubt the best dog ever. Because of her I became a huge fan of the pit bull breed. I now think they are the greatest dogs on the planet and plan to always have one in my life. That's quite a legacy for a 60 lb dog.
Axl and Lola - After Nala passed away Rocco was all alone and he had never been alone his entire life. He was not taking it well. I knew we would get more dogs so I decided to foster some rescue dogs. Hoping that it would help Rocco not feel so alone. Wow, was I wrong!!! We brought home Axl and Lola on May 8, 2009. They were brother and sister, pit bull/shar-pei mixes, and approximately 10 months old at the time. Rocco hated them with a passion. For a dog that could hardly walk, he sure made lots of attempts to chase them. Luckily Axl and Lola were young and fast. It gave him a reason to live for a few more weeks. After Rocco passed away we decided to keep them. I calculated a birthday for them - July 4, 2008. They have issues, especially Axl, but they are turning out to be awesome dogs and will hopefully be around for a long, long time.
Axl - passed away on June 25, 2016, at the age of almost 8 years old. We were getting ready to move to Arizona and in the midst of packing, prepping the house, and generally losing our minds, I noticed that Axl was having trouble peeing and pooping. Took him to the vet and through x-rays and ultrasound, we discovered that his prostate was seriously enlarged. Seriously. So large it was blocking his bowels and urethra. Also, his lymph node in that area was enlarged too. We were literally 5 days from flying off the island when this was discovered. We were then faced with an impossible decision. We could fly him over and the stress of the flight would most likely kill him. We could do surgery to see exactly what was going on in there since prostate cancer in neutered dogs is rare, but then he couldn't leave with us. I would not only need someone to watch him, but I was the only person in the world that he trusted completely and in the time he would need me most I would leave. Plus, he had so many issues, I couldn't ask just anyone to take him. And there was no guarantee that he would be able to travel after the surgery. If it was prostate cancer and it was as advanced as they believed, he would not be able to travel ever. So we made the incredibly difficult decision to put him down. We knew that the move would have been stressful on him if he was 100% healthy as that boy did not like change at all. So we had him put to sleep on the morning we moved out of our house. The house that had been his home for 6 years, most of his life. So we made the move without my Axman. A friend picked up his ashes when they were ready and sent them to us, so he's here with us. He had so many issues but I really loved him. He needed me. He trusted me and I feel like I let him down. In the frenzy of packing and prepping for the move, I missed early signs that something was wrong. At least I can say I loved him and he lived the best life I could give him.
Bella - the newest member of the pack. Bella's story started long before she was born. One day in 1996 or 1997, I was watching a program on Animal Planet about dogs. They discussed the different breeds of dogs and their strengths and weaknesses. One day they did a story on the Greater Swiss Mountain breed. I had never heard of this breed and was fascinated. They gave the history of the breed, which you can read here, and it really fascinated me. But what really attracted me was the look of the breed. They are large and tri-color - awesome. I fell in love. Over the years I looked around but found there were none in Hawaii. I kept checking though just in case. Then one day I was looking on Craigslist and saw an ad for a Swissy. I checked the ad and read that it was someone looking to buy one. I emailed him and told him how I had been looking and there were none in Hawaii and we took up an email friendship. About a year or so later I heard from him and he had found a breeder in Oklahoma who would work with the Hawaii rules to get him a puppy. He got Bella (not my Bella). After he had her about a year I ran into them at the Pet Expo and met Bella. She was everything I expected the breed to be and I fell in love. Turns out they were thinking of bringing in a male and breeding them. Fast forward a couple more years and I see another ad on Craigslist. Bella's owner was looking for me. I emailed him and it turns out he had brought a male in, they bred Bella and Duke and puppies were on the way. That was in October, 2010. I heard from Bella's dad again in January of 2011. Puppies were almost ready to go and did I want one? Did I want one?? Yeah, I wanted on more than anything else, but because of our financial situation there was no way we could afford $1500 for a puppy. I regretfully told him we would have to pass and maybe next time if he bred them again. It was sad because I had to say no to a dog I have wanted for 15 years. Very sad. Then in early February I get another email from Bella's dad. Him and his wife had talked and they wanted to give me a puppy!!! What?!?!?! Give me a puppy?!?!?!? OMG!!! I was beside myself. Yes, I wanted one, yes, yes, yes...... But we had Axl and Lola and I didn't know how that would work with them. After talking about it, we realized if we did it carefully we could do it, so we accepted the puppy. We picked her up on February 11, 2011 and have never looked back. Introducing her into the family took some time, you can read about it here. We ended up naming her Bella because it just seemed to fit her. It's her mother's name but it seemed perfect for her, so she is Bella Jr. Or more formally, Bella Donna - her cuteness will kill you :)
Update 5/31/2022: Bella was an amazing dog. She was loving and loyal and never wanted anything more than to be with her people. At a young age she developed incontinence and had to be put on Proin. That controlled it and it really wasn't an issue for most of her life. She also seemed to have issues with her wrists. She chewed them and when you manipulated them they clicked. The doctors decided it was a slight malformation in the wrist. This caused her to have arthritis at a young age and was on pain relievers for a large part of her life because of the arthritis. She still lived a good life. We walked and went places and life was good for Bella. In 2016 we moved to Arizona and she handled it like a champ. We moved Bella and Lola, Axl passed away the day we moved out of our house (see above). Once in Arizona, she adjusted no problem. Bella was always a super easy going girl who could roll with the punches as long as she was with her people. We settled into Arizona and Bella made friends everywhere she went. Although not as rare as in Hawaii, Swissys are still a rare breed in most parts of the country and so always attract attention wherever they go. We lived in a house with no yard for 3 years after moving to Arizona, at which point we sold that house and moved to house with a large yard for the dogs. After living here for almost a year, Bella started peeing in the house. Weird. We took her to the vet and they couldn't find anything wrong. That began the hunt for a problem. After lots of tests and investigations, we discovered she had Cushing's Disease. It then took a while to get the medication right because the initial vet was an idiot. I ended up having to take Bella to an internist to get things right. She was well controlled for about 18 months. Unfortunately, in the course of trying to get the diagnosis and medication right, the Cushing's weakened her tendons in her back legs. She began struggling to walk. Slowly that struggle got worse and worse. About a month ago we noticed that the struggle to get up was getting harder and harder and we had to help her more and more. Eventually we put a help-me up harness on her and basically had to help her up almost every time. She couldn't walk right and was tripping and falling frequently. We realized about 3 weeks ago that her quality of life had deteriorated to the point where there almost was none. Watching her walk was extremely painful. She could only take 3 of 4 steps and would have to stop and rest. Her breathing was getting worse and worse too. It was believed that she had laryngeal paralysis but I never bothered to have her diagnosed. We were having enough problems with the Cushing's. So we decided that it was time to let her go, but we wanted to wait until school was over. I wanted to be able to spend a few days with her before saying goodbye. So we did that. On May 31st, we had a vet come to the house and help her pass. It was really nice to be in her own home for it. The vets were also amazing. So that's it. This is literally the end of an era. Bella was the dog I waited so long for and she was everything I dreamed of. There will never be another Swissy, no one can ever replace Bella, and I don't know if I could take the loss of another one. I will love and miss her for the rest of my life.
Maverick - joined the pack on March 24, 2018. Maverick is a border collie mix and we got him from the AZ Border Collie Rescue group. He was about 2 years old when we got him and he came from an Indian reservation in Tuba City.
Maverick - joined the pack on March 24, 2018. Maverick is a border collie mix and we got him from the AZ Border Collie Rescue group. He was about 2 years old when we got him and he came from an Indian reservation in Tuba City.
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