Baggins Rowland

My Back Story
I was born in Houston Texas in 2012. I’m not sure if I was ever given a real name. I do remember being called a lot of things, but none of them were nice names. You see, I lived a rough life my first couple years where I faced a lot of bullying by the bigger dogs in my house and my owner was very abusive. Quite frequently, on the way to work, my owner would abandon me on the side of the road in Houston’s 5th Ward. I was left to fend for myself on the mean streets of Houston. I’d find food near a dumpster or sleep under a stairway. It got really scary when a thunderstorm came thru – I hate thunderstorms. There were other dogs just like me wandering around too in that area. I was friends with a couple of them, but most were very mean to me. One day I was running around and I guess I caught the eye of a rescue volunteer. The volunteer would see me roaming one day, but then not the next day. Then again a day or so later, and she was really confused. I saw that volunteer on and off for about a week or maybe two weeks.

One afternoon, that volunteer decided to follow me around really close, so I decided to show her where I lived. If I could make it there, I’d usually wait on the porch and if I was lucky, they would let me back inside. So this particular day, the volunteer followed me all the way back to my house and she waited for my owner to arrive. When my owner showed up, I could hear the volunteer ask what was going on? My owner explained that she had enough dogs already and this one (referring to me) had health issues that she did not care to, or have the money to address. When my owner was asked how I kept showing up in the 5th ward, she admitted that on her way to work, she would dump me out of the car in hopes I’d wander off and never return. I guess I never realized that till I heard her say it out loud. I was always able to find my way back, even though sometimes it would take me a day or two and I’d be exhausted when I got there. At the end of their conversation, I heard my owner yelling – take him, I don’t want him, I never did, I’ll sign whatever papers you want me to. So then I took a ride in the back of a car to some place called Shaggy Dog Rescue.

At Shaggy Dog I met a nice lady named Kathy. Man, did she treat me great. I guess I was in pretty rough shape when I arrived. The doctor said I had a cough, Parvo, Heart Worm, and an impact cataract to my right eye. Not sure what a cataract is, but I do remember being kicked by my owner and from that point forward I could only see about 50% out of my right eye. And let me tell you, boy oh boy did that hurt when it happened. But Kathy at Shaggy Dog Rescue took care of me and brought me to doctors and fed me and exercised me back to good health. There were other dogs that stayed with her too. Some were big, some small, some healthy, and some even sicker than I was when I arrived. She was always taking one of us to the doctor for a check up or to get our haircut or for a bath. And she was always on and off the phone with different people. Wow, was she on the phone a lot. Sometimes 4 or 5 of my dog friends would leave, but a couple days later, 5 new friends would arrive. I liked it there, she was nice.

My Trip to Connecticut
One day Kathy was on the phone talking to someone. And I overheard them say there was a little girl, Emily, who lived far away and wanted a dog. The family had been randomly searching around websites week after week. I heard the girl’s Dad on the phone say that he did not have any particular interest in getting a dog, until Emily and her mom came across the bio of a dog on the Shaggy Dog website. Emily told her Dad – Daddy, you need to read this, and we need to rescue this dog. I heard my name mentioned a few times, at least I think they might have been talking about me. Kathy started calling me Baggins and that was the name I kept hearing on the phone. Then a day or two later Kathy was back on the phone and I heard that same voice, again he mentioned my name. After a few more conversations Kathy asked me if I wanted to go join my forever family. She told me that she she checked them out and they sounded real nice. They had a yard I could run around in, I’d have my own bed, my own food & water bowl that I didn’t have to share with the other dogs, and that I’d have a human brother and sister to play with. Kathy asked me what I thought and I said it sounds perfect. She explained that I’d have to take a long ride, on a noisy truck, for a couple days with a guy named Greg from Rescue Road Trips, but eventually I’d arrive in Connecticut safely. I told her the truck sounded scary, but I felt up to it. So a few days later I boarded the truck and they tucked me into a cage with a new blanket they gave me to stay warm. The truck ride took forever, and we kept stopping every few hours to get out to pee and eat. More and more dogs boarded the truck at each stop until we finally arrived in CT on 14-Nov-2015 where I met Emily and her mom.

My First Few Days
Meeting Emily, her Mom, and eventually her Dad was great. After we all introduced each other, we jumped into Emily’s dad’s truck. I was a little nervous, but most of the ride I sat in the back seat with Emily. She held me tight and made me feel safe – she was very nice. I couldn’t really see where we were going, so eventually I got up and stuck my head between the front seats to look out the front window. I pretty much spent the remainder of the ride just looking at this area I would live in. And then finally they all got very excited and announced we’re home.

Things felt strange my first few days at my new home. I didn’t know where anything was. They let me go wherever I wanted so I could check things out and there were all different rooms. They set me up with a nice place to sleep in Emily’s room. I had my own bed there with my own blanket and another bed in the room they watched TV in. After a day or two, I met my brother Sean. He was cool but he kept wanting me to play catch and fetch. I’m not much of a fetch person, so I’d run after the ball and get it, but the whole bring it back was not my thing. The weather was much different than Houston. It was cold and sometimes there would be blowing leaves that startled me. Out the backdoor was a nice big grassy yard that they let me explore. But I still wasn’t sure what the rules were here – was I allowed to go on the couch while they were watching tv? could I go up Emily’s bed? when they took me out to the yard, was I allowed to wander around the whole yard as far as I wanted to? Sometimes they took me down the street for a walk. They would say… let’s go walk down to the beach and see what’s going on. The sand at the beach was fun, but the water was way too cold. I don’t like water or swimming much at all anyways. I guess it took me about 2 weeks to get comfortable with everything and learn all their rules. The new place and the new family were great. It was a lot quieter here than my original home or at Kathy’s house. There was no yelling, no big dogs to beat me up, no other dogs barking or making a ruckus, and for most of the day it was just me and Emily’s Dad at home. So I just hung out with him most of the day till everyone else got home.

My Life as Baggins Rowland
As time went by, I started to realize that I was pretty much part of the family. Everyone treated me, just like they treated Emily and Sean. They would say things like go see your sissy Em, or there’s your brother Sean, he must be home, or when the garage opened they’d say here comes your Momma, go meet her at the door. Emily’s dad worked from home all day, so he was always there to take care of me. There weren’t any other dogs in the house, so he was my best buddy. Sometimes when he was on his work calls he would even talk to me and ask me questions. He’d say things like… Bags did you hear that, what are they nuts? Or he’d say Bags, do you know how much work that means for me? Or he’d say, I dunno Bags, what do you think? I never knew what to answer, so I’d just stare at him and kinda nod my head. When one of his long work conference calls were over, I’d jump up on his side and tell him that’s enough of that work stuff, lets go for a walk, and he’d take me out. In fact, I even started calling him Dad, just like Emily and Sean did. He was pretty much by side day in and day out, hour by hour, minute by minute. He’d follow me all over the place when we walked. We did just about everything together.

And when I say everything, I do mean everything. For example, we had all our morning walks down to the beach, then there was riding in the golf cart around the neighborhood, to just sitting on the patio watching the birds and squirrels. Then we had all our trips down to Florida, to getting the lawn equipment out of the shed every Saturday morning, or taking a car ride to the post office, to meeting Frankie the mailman every afternoon for a bone, or even just laying on the couch watching the Yankees game – he was right there with me. He even bought me a little set of mini stairs so if I woke up cold in the middle of the night, I could walk over to his room and climb the stairs to get up in bed with him and my Mom. And almost every time someone went out to the store, they always brought a new toy home. I’m not sure if I had more toys or more beds. They bought beds for me for every room I liked to hang out in. So whether it was my Dad’s work office, or the family room, or the living room, or the mud room, they would leave a bed in there for me just in case I wanted to take a nap in that room. I still hated rain and thunderstorms, so Mom even had a bed for me in her closet, and when it rained or thundered out, she would take me in the closet and sleep with me.

I even got to go to family parties. It didn’t matter whether they were at aunt Mimi’s house, or aunt Pam’s house, or at Gom’s house, they always tried to take me along. Even at those other houses they had toys for me, and bones, and water, and sometimes even a bed. Some of their parties were really big and I got to meet new people. And another great thing was that all of them had front porches on their houses, and a good porch sitting event was one of my favorite things to do. There is nothing like a day of good weather and being able to sit outside on the porch with everyone and protecting them from anyone walking by, or another dog, or sometimes even just a noisy truck. I’d always do a bunch of barking at passerby-ers and everyone on the porch would get all worked up and yell – Baggins quiet down, Baggins cut it out, Baggins stop – sometimes the more they yelled, the more I barked. Boy was that fun.

Sometimes my Dad would have to travel for work, but that was ok because Mom would take me to her office for the day so I could hang out there. I’d get back home and jump up on the red couch where I could see the driveway and wait for Dad to come home. Even if he didn’t come home that night, I’d just go back to the couch and wait again the next day. It might even be 3 or 4 days, but I knew eventually he would get back home. And when he came in, even if it was the middle of the night, he’d wake me up and get in the bed and cuddle up with me.

Speaking of cuddling, that was one of my other favorite things to do along with getting some good petting. Anytime someone would let me jump up on a couch, or chair, or the bed with them, and pet me or cuddle with me, I was in heaven. And it didn’t even have to be my Mom, Dad, Sean, or Emily. People would come to visit and once I got a chance to get familiar with them, if they wanted to pet me, hey I was all for that. I mean even the neighbors when we went out for walks, I’d convince my Dad to stop and talk so I could get petted. There was Rob, Dave, and Lise across the street – I’d always get Dad to stop to talk to them. Next door we had Marty and Michelle, who ended up moving away, but Dad loved talking to them while I got some petting in. Down by the beach, sometimes we would see Drew and Sophie outside their house, and I’d always say hi to them while Dad talked. There were other people on our street, like Russ and Nunzio and Chris and Brian and Sheila and Lisa, but I was more interested at barking at their dogs than actually going over to get petted. But that was alright because my Dad would still talk to them.

All in all, I had a really great life I’d say. People were really friendly to me, and I was friendly right back to them. Some folks even said that I was the “Mayor of Woodmont”. But that all changed around 6 months ago.

A Little Bit About Me Getting Sick
Looking back on it, I guess I started having some health issues over the winter. Don’t get me wrong, I was never a 100% healthy dog. My first few years on this planet, my body really took a beating before I became Baggins Rowland. There was my compromised lungs and heart from the original heart-worm. I had that damn cataract that kept getting worse and I lost more and more of my sight. That got really painful because it caused me to have migraines. But do you know what they did? They removed my eye. Can you believe that? Well neither could eye at first. I heard them talking about it with the eye specialist up in North Haven, and I was like… whoa, hey, wait a second here. Let’s not get crazy, so I can’t see a tennis ball coming my way. No biggie guys. But actually, that really helped me. Those migraines went away almost immediately and once I got rid of that collar of shame after the surgery, I was right back to my spry old self. But I digress, lets get back to talking about my decline. At first it was more just annoying than something that seemed overly concerning. I developed this cough. It was like I had a tickle in my throat, except I just couldn’t clear it out of there. Of course Mom and Dad noticed right away, and like usual, off the the vet I went. First we tried a new collar, then we tried a new leash. Next vet visit we switched over to a full walking harness. Everyone was thinking there was something aggravating my throat. But no matter what they tried, this damn cough just wouldn’t go away. My dad was convinced it was just the fall allergies or the cold weather setting in. He was certain when we went to Florida for January and February this issue would clear up. But in Florida, there was no change. Unfortunately the cough seemed to get worse little by little. I used to like walking in Florida almost as much as I did at my regular home. There were so many different things to check out in Florida, new smells, a different kind of grass, golf carts and golfers always driving by, they had a cool lanai with a patio, and a pool that I’d lay by. And of course, I had my own beds down there as well. But man was this cough slowing me down. I mean I just couldn’t walk as far as I wanted to without the cough setting in and having to stop to catch my breath.

Well when we got back from Florida, it was back to the vet I went. And this time they started talking about my throat. Well technically, they said my larynx, whatever that is. But they were suspecting that the muscles were weakening and the larynx was starting to collapse. As a result of that, my airway was becoming obstructed, and I just couldn’t get enough air. So the cough was my way of trying to clear my throat to let more air come through. I think they had a point there, but unfortunately it wasn’t the kind of thing you could do much about other than do your best not to further damage the throat area. So that went on for probably another month or so. But little by little my walks got shorter and shorter. It started to become a real struggle for me just to get back from the beach. I mean I could get there, it was only 2 blocks away, but wow, those 2 blocks to get back home – what a challenge. I’d have to stop 4 or 5 times just to cough and catch my breath. There was a few times that my Dad just picked me up and carried me home. I’d be like, geez hang on pal, I can do it myself. Sheesh, just because I can’t walk as fast as I used to, no reason to embarrass me in front of all the neighbors. Although a couple of those times I did appreciate it.

So like a month ago my Mom and Dad were talking and I heard those dreaded words – I think he needs to go back to the vet. I knew they were talking about me. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all nice people there, but they poke you and prod you. They want to take blood out of you. Eehhhh, but I figured fine, maybe they’ll figure something out about this cough. That vet trip was pretty easy. They decided on a couple different cough meds, which tasted terrible, but if I took the meds they’d give me peanut butter, so it was a good trade off. Who wouldn’t trade a few drops of cough medicine and some pills 3 or 4 times a day for some big heaping spoonfuls of peanut butter? Not this guy, sign me up. We went to the vets a few times, not just my usual vet near our house, but the one up in North Haven too. Yes, that’s right, North Haven. The same place that plucked my eye out, but a diffeent doctor there this time. Anyways, different meds, more meds, and more peanut butter. Unfortunately, my cough just kept getting worse.

My Last Few Days Enjoying the Good Life
Well, I guess you could say good life. I did go from a terrible life in Houston, to a great life with my family, to these last couple months being a good life. But I’m not sure anyone would say these last 2 weeks have been good. Maybe lets just say ok. Well fine, maybe ok is even a stretch. Remember all those walks I told you about? Yes well, walking those 2 blocks to the beach and 2 blocks back home turned into walking just 2 houses away and struggling to get back home. It’s not that I didn’t want to go to the beach, it was just so far away. Even just two houses away my Dad started to have to pick me up to get me back home. Wandering around the yard? Nope, couldn’t do it anymore. I just couldn’t summon up the energy. And if I did, it wasn’t worth it – the cough and choking would set in, and that took alot out of me. Even around the house things started to get bad. Just a simple trip from the living room to the kitchen I’d have to stop three times to catch my breath or cough. Dad still wanted to throw the tennis ball or wrestle with the rope, but I had no interest. Actually, all I wanted to do was lay on the couch or in my bed and rest. Any activity was just too much strain on my breathing, and ultimately too much strain on my heart.
Yes I know, I hadn’t mentioned my heart till just now. The thing is, everyone saw my coughing and breathing, but no one saw it was my heart having issues. I think my heart just wasn’t pumping strong enough and due to that I couldn’t breathe well. Matter of fact, one day I was waiting in the mud room to go out to pee while my Dad got the leash ready, and I had a coughing fit. Not sure what happened because I blacked out for a bit. When I woke up my Dad was talking to Mom saying something about how I passed out and stopped breathing for a little bit. I’m not so sure about that, because when I woke up I popped right back up onto my feet. But my Dad said I was down for around a minute. I guess that scared them a bit.

Then came those dreaded stairs to get up to my bedroom. I used to run up and down those stairs a dozen times a day. But one night I didn’t even want to try it. They tried to get me to go up, but I just didn’t have it in me this time. I had to look up to my Dad and ask for help. Which he didn’t mind doing at all but that I think that was when my Dad started to realize I was REALLY not doing well at all. If it wasn’t that incident, then it had to be when I couldn’t even climb the three stairs to get in the bed with him… or when I didn’t have the energy to get off the couch the next day to pee, so I just did it right there. I never did that!! So finally one afternoon my Dad was laying with me and we had a long conversation, and I had to tell him it’s time, I just couldn’t do it anymore.

My Last Day
My last 24 hours were about a good as things could be. Dad took me to all my favorite spots – we went down to the beach for a bit even though he had to help me get there and back. We went out back and sat on the patio just like the old days so I could watch the squirrels and birds. We sat there for a really long time and he talked to me about a lot of stuff, it was great. We went and sat on Gom’s porch – twice that day! The second time we sat on the porch, Dad talked to Pop while I watched the walkers and other dogs go by. I didn’t mention Pop earlier but he was one of my best buddies too. He passed away about 14 months ago – he wasn’t feeling well either. Dad told Pop that I was coming to see him and asked Pop to take care of me. After he finished talking to Pop, Dad told me that Pop said he’d be waiting there for me to arrive and that he would make sure we both took care of each other. So that was cool. I haven’t seen Pop in a long time, so it will be good catching up with him on life. Dad even tried to take me for a golf cart ride, but couldn’t get the cart to start up. While I waited in the garage, he just kept walking around in circles muttering something about the batteries and the charger. Eventually he gave up, but that was ok with me, not sure how much I would have enjoyed the ride with the way I was feeling. I even got to eat my favorite meal for dinner. Dad made me a fresh piece of rib eye steak and I got to eat as much of it as I wanted to. And then Mom gave me doggie ice cream for desert. I didn’t sleep too well that night. I was even worse that night than the previous few nights. Mom and Dad kept checking on me, putting their hand on my chest or on my side. And I’d hear them say, he’s ok, go back to sleep.

The next morning I didn’t even want to get out of bed. I was so tired. But everyone was home and moving around, so I figured I had better at least get up. Dad carried me downstairs and outside to pee, but I just stood there in the grass. Ya know, a guy can’t pee, if he just doesn’t have to pee, if you know what I mean. Everyone was pretty sad all morning. Dad did some work and I hung out with him for a bit, but even that made me very tired. I decided to just lay on my favorite red couch and watch people walk by. No barking like usual though, I just didn’t have the energy for it. After a while, Dad came and got me, and brought me upstairs. We laid down on his bed and Dad told me this was our final nap together. He was crying, like really crying, like I’ve never seen before. I kept telling him not to be upset and everything was OK. Eventually I dozed off and took a nice nap, but I don’t think Dad napped at all. I woke up and he was in the shower. When he came back to the bedroom he told me it was time to go downstairs. He carried me down just like the he did each time the last few days.

Downstairs my family was there waiting on the couch. I looked around and there was Mom, Emily, Sean, Hallie, and the tiny new guy Hayden. I sat on the couch with everyone for a little bit. Eventually Mom went to the door and let a couple new people I never saw before in. I jumped down off the couch to meet them. Even that was a struggle for me. The two ladies seemed nice. They talked to everyone about what was going to happen. When they were done talking, everyone was petting me and talking to me, and kissing me. Once they all finished talking to me, my Dad picked me up and held me tight in his lap. Emily came over too for a little bit and petted me. The nice ladies were there too and told me I looked like I was sleepy, and not to worry. And boy were they right, man I was tired. I got sleepier and sleepier by the minute. I think I even started to snore the loudest I have ever snored. And then I saw something. It was the most wonderful rainbow and it looked like it was built for dogs. Like, it wasn’t too steep to climb it, and it had a great walking path. So I started making my way to the rainbow and it was actually a bridge – a Rainbow Bridge. Where it went to I had no idea, but that never stopped me from going somewhere before. So I followed it and about half way over the bridge I heard a whistling. I recognized the whistle, it was Pop’s whistle, so I started to run. And that’s when I realized… I’m running… I’m not coughing… I can breath… my lungs are fine and my heart doesn’t hurt me any more. Sure enough it was Pop on the other side of the bridge. He said, well hello there Mr. Baggins, I’ve been waiting for you – let me go grab a cigar and I’ll show you our new porch where we’ll sit.

So things are really great again. I do miss my family a whole lot, but I’m not feeling any pain like I was before. And I’m certainly not lonely because I hang out with Pop all day and night. It’s just like when I was always by my Dad’s side, but now I’m right by Pop’s side. I follow him around and he follows me. We talk a lot too. He tells me about what’s going on with my family lately. He’s got a great view of everything from his new porch on the other side of the rainbow. I hope when the time comes, each person in my family sees the same rainbow I did, and follows it. Because I am going to be the first person to meet them on the other side of that rainbow bridge and show them our new porch.