A Memorial For Another Dog That We'll Love Forever

Cleopatra Dayson

Friends,

     I regret to inform you all that our most beloved German Shepherd Cleopatra died in my arms at our local pet hospital on Tuesday, November 13, 2012, at approximately 2:00PM. She was a little over twelve years old.

I cannot believe I'm writing this as Cleopatra started the day completely normal, eager for breakfast and our routine morning walk. We walked the 1/2 mile down our hill to the park, then over to Pete's for our coffee (and a water no ice for Cleo), then back up the hill towards home so I could catch my Tuesday conference call. We met our doggie friend Joey (Standard Poodle) on the way home, and Cleo was happy and energetic to see him.

When Linda got ready to leave for work she mentioned that Cleo was breathing hard at rest, so I checked her out and indeed she was, plus she had little interest in a treat which is definitely not like her, so I called the Vet as Linda left for work. I checked on her a few minutes later and she was much worse, barely responsive and unable to walk normally or respond normally, though she did finally take a treat from me but only after I put it on her paw.

I called the Vet and said we're coming down early for emergency care and barely got her down the stairs and into the Van by myself as she was tremendously weak at this point. The Vet tried to stabilize her with O2 and fluids and the EKG's didn't show much, though what they did find via Ultrasound was a hemorrhage in the abdomen most likely due to an undiagnosed tumor.

Cleopatra had little blood pressure and could barely move her head after three hours of emergency care, so I made the decision to let her go. I understand the unwritten code of the Canine, where the old and feeble voluntarily leave the pack and go out on their own to die or be killed when they can no longer keep up, so I honored that code and didn't put her through the possibility of months of rehab following major surgery at 86 human years of age, though I'll forever question my wisdom in doing so.

"My mug shot from the German Shepherd Rescue adoption site (my Dad added the caption)."

A Short Chapter On Cleopatra's Life And How We Met

     We first met Cleopatra at a San Francisco Bay Area German Shepherd Rescue adoption event. We had actually gone to see a German Shepherd puppy but there was this amputee war veteran there with his eyes on that little pup, so we thought he should have her. The next thing I know I'm staring at this proud and beautiful one year old female Shepherd who's sitting in the middle of all the ruckus in front of a Pet Store with 20 other GSD's, completely composed. Whenever a couple of rowdy males would think about "throwin' down", Cleo would look directly in their eyes and tell them to cool it in no uncertain manner. It was simply amazing because they usually did (for a while anyway).

So, I walk over to meet Cleo and give her a treat, and while she takes the treat she then tells me to "talk to the butt" as she was way too proud to grovel. Linda met Cleo a bit later and couldn't understand my attraction to her as she was so aloof but suffice to say I was smitten with this proud German Shepherd. Next we took her for a walk on leash and rest is history as she moved into our place later that afternoon.

"Thank you German Shepherd Rescue!"
     Cleopatra unfortunately had been mostly unsocialized and neglected by her original owner, who as we understand it bought her from a reputable local breeder, tossed her into the backyard of his Santa Cruz mountain home, and proceeded to throw food at her twice a day with little social interaction. Later on he just dropped Cleo off at the Santa Cruz Pet Resort and went back to Texas without her.

It took a few weeks for Cleo to be legally declared abandoned, and the people at Santa Cruz Pet Resort started her leash/potty training and took her to the beach a couple of times, and then she was turned over to the wonderful people working with German Shepherd Rescue of Northern California. When we met Cleo she was fully potty trained and good on leash too! A big "thank you" to all at the Santa Cruz Pet Resort for taking such good care of Cleo.

"Taking my Mom to the beach and checking out some dogs playin' Frisbee!"

 Some Of The Many Notable Moments In Cleo's Life With Us (in no particular order)

Cleo's New Forever Home

      When Cleo came to our place she was pretty unsure of everything, us, new surroundings etc, so we gave her access to some food and water and left her to explore on her own. We were also given a Crate in case she would feel more comfortable in that but she never went near it. Later that night I invited her up on the couch with me and the look of happiness/disbelief on her face was incredible. That broke the ice some, but then even later that night when we went to bed we invited her up on the bed too, and then she was really shocked. In the wild wolf pack the higher ranking pack members sleep closest to the alpha, so it's good for a dog's psyche to be able to do that. After the new wore off she didn't sleep on the bed with us all that much, usually only when it was really cold until her arthritis made it too hard to climb up on, though she often slept on our bedroom floor or in front of our open bedroom door as she was an excellent "Schutzhund" ("Protection Dog").

Cleopatra was extremely easy to train and work with (excepting that strong prey drive in her younger years), plus she was also bilingual being fluent in both English and German.

"Waiting for my Dad in his chair!"

Learning About Cars

     Cleo hadn't spent much time in cars so I had to show her how to ride in one. We loaded Cleo and myself in the back of Linda's car, and Linda drove us around our local hills as I showed Cleo how to brace herself and lean into the turns etc. She was a fast learner and got it down pat in around 20 minutes. She got so good at car riding that she would sit in the front seat if we were alone, or on mine or Linda's lap if the front seat was occupied. This was ok on surface streets, but we always put her in the back when on the freeway in traffic for safety's sake.

"I've got this down, where do you want to go?"

Cleo Learning About The Dog Park

     Since Cleo was essentially unsocialized she had some issues at the dog park. The first time we took her to Ginger's old Dog Park Cleo proceeded to gather up all the toys in a corner of the park and guard them. Cleo wasn't aggressive like wanting to fight, but she had never learned to play so she could be a bit rough on smaller dogs (though she never hurt any!). We found that if there were up to five or six dogs she was fine, but if there were ten or twenty dogs then Cleo was a little nervous, so we didn't spend a lot of time at the official dog park with her I'm afraid.

Cleo did have a few best friends through the years however, Cooper the Mastiff, Buddy the Beagle, and another Mastiff named Lucas. These friends would tear each other up for fun without ever leaving a mark on one another, intriguing to watch as dog play is really mock combat used to sharpen their hunting skills. Regarding Buddy the Beagle in particular, the amazing fact was he was as tough as Cleo even though Cleo out-weighed him by at least 50lbs! Buddy always dished out as good as he got, time after time. We'd watch Cleo tear Buddy up for fifteen minutes or so, and then amazingly they'd switch roles, and Cleo would lay down and Buddy would tear Cleo up for a few minutes, sometimes even hanging his whole body weight from her jowls or ear (which simply had to hurt!). Cleo just loved to play, it's that simple.

Cleo was a little older than Cooper, so for the first few weeks of play Cleo would use her "Black Belt Dog Fu" on him by grabbing one of his legs and flipping him onto his back before mauling him, though Cooper was growing fast! A few weeks later after Cooper put on a few pounds he finally evened things up by playing "All Pro Linebacker" and body slamming Cleo so that she rolled over a couple of times, her first defeat to Cooper. The look on their faces after that was priceless as Cooper realized that he had just become a "big dog", and poor Cleo had just learned that the hard way too.

Cleo's friend later in life was an amazing dog, an un-neutered male Mastiff named Lucas, who loved to play just as rough as Cleo did. We'd meet often down at our local park, over across the bridge in the back area, and those two would toss and tumble for hours it seemed, until both were dirty sweaty messes with their tongues hanging all the way to the ground. This kind of companionship and exercise is so good for dogs, and both Lucas and Cleo benefited from their time together until Lucas moved away up to the wine country.

Cleo also had another friend later in life named Chloe, an elderly female Samoyed who would curl her lip showing her fangs at Cleo whenever Cleo got too rambunctious, which was funny to watch as she was the elder disciplining the younger Cleo (younger by only a year or so). Later when Cleo was a bit older and mellower they got along great with Cleo always greeting Chloe with kisses, though when ever we'd walk them side by side the race was on as both wanted to be the lead sled dog. Cleo was much stronger than Chloe, but she always deferred to Chloe and was very gentle with her even while playing rough with Lucas.

"Ya wanna play with me?"

Thank God She Wasn't Hurt Chasing Deer

     Cleo like Ginger before her had a strong prey drive, and one time she slipped out the door as a herd of deer were passing the house at 5:00PM. This is scary as that's rush hour, and people are hurrying home on our little street after work, usually in a hurry and driving way above the speed limit.

There were both a mom and pop deer, and a couple of youngsters, and when they saw Cleo tearing down our front steps towards them they took off down the street, weaving in between the cars with startled drivers coming up the hill, with a German Shepherd in fast pursuit, and likely most scary of all, me, the guy chasing after Cleo.

Luckily Cleo chased them down a side street that dead ends into the park where the deer live, and finally obeyed my "HALT" commands a block later, so no one got hurt, man, dog, or deer, though I'm sure some of those drivers swerving to avoid all of us wanted a stiff drink when they got home!

"Sorry Dad, I just couldn't help myself!"

Thank You Cleopatra, You Watched Over Us Well

     We've only had one break-in problem up here in the hills that Cleo took care of for us when we heard a crash over at our next door neighbor's house. Cleo alerted and we knew that the neighbor was out of town as he had asked us to watch out for his place. Cleo immediately checked the perimeter while I grabbed the Beretta and called the police. The neighbor two doors up was a local policeman's mother so the police arrived much faster than usual, but in the end it was only a drunk friend of the neighbor's looking for a place to sleep it off so ultimately there was no real danger. But Cleo responded perfectly as I knew she would, and seeing I used to travel a lot with the band I always felt better knowing Linda was being looked after by Cleopatra when I was on the road! Cleo loved action, and we always thought that Cleo would've loved to have been a "working dog" (police, military etc), so we were always sorry that we couldn't find enough for her to do with our busy schedules etc.

"Perimeter secure Dad!"

Dad, Get The Skunk!

     Cleo learned about Skunks the hard way as most young dogs do, with her first encounter being a full face disaster, especially after she ran into the house while we were asleep rubbing her face on the carpet etc! Linda and I stayed up the rest of the night cleaning her with Peroxide, Baking Soda, Dish Soap and Water all mixed just right, though when I finally got to the studio later that day they sent me home as I too was foul in a closed environment sans windows and fresh air.

Her second encounter showed she had learned from the first as she only received a glancing shot, and that she had learned the value of "retreat" when tactically over-matched. From this point on she left them alone and put her ears way back whenever we smelled Skunk Spray.

Later on when Cleo was middle aged we had a big ole' Skunk decide to make his home under a corner of our patio, so Cleo and I had to defend Linda and get him out of there. We didn't want to kill him so we called Animal Control but were told we were on our own (our tax dollars at work I guess?). Oh well, so we spread Baking Soda around his home's entrance so we would know when he's gone and waited until he went out to party one night, and then we boarded up the hole so he couldn't get back in.

Well, I had read where they'd dig a foot down and a foot across to get back in, but not our Skunk, no way, over a pitched battle that lasted forty eight hours day and night (Skunks are normally nocturnal too?), we fought him as he dug six feet across and two and a half feet down, though luckily and just by chance I had dug down three feet so he couldn't get back in (and yes, we confirmed his home was empty, no young'uns etc). Between us we maintained the Mutual Assured Destruction protocol (MAD), so the Skunk never sprayed us and we didn't shoot him, instead using Squirt Guns and Water Balloons sometimes filled with Listerine, while he'd just squirt stink into our general area, not directly at us so ultimately nobody got hurt, Skunk, Dog, or Man.

Finally he simply gave up and climbed out of the yard leaving us a big squirt of stink when he did so. We promptly boarded up the holes in the fencing and added a motion controlled sprinkler to our arsenal for defensive purposes only. Through all of this Cleo was at my side supporting me by saying, "get on out there and get that Skunk Dad, though I'll just stay in here if you don't mind" (smart dog!).

"Hurray, to the victors go the spoils, the patio is ours!"

Cheap Shot

     Cleo only had one scrape with another dog, a local unsocialized female German Shepherd named "Aquila", and interestingly enough it happened when they were both about ten years old.

Cleo and Aquila had gotten along fine before, but this time was different as we were on Aquila's turf while her Mom and Dad were away. We were just walking home from a Farmer's Market when we noticed Aquila's college aged daughter trying to put her bicycle in her BMW with the front wheel on, which was never going to happen. Cleo and I started up the driveway to help her get it into her car but unknown to us the daughter who lived away at college had forgotten to close the door out to the garage.

So, as you can guess Aquila runs out out the house and sees Cleo and I on her turf, standing next to the college aged daughter, and decides that this is way wrong and goes after Cleo. It only lasted a few seconds until I could swing my bag of fresh veggies and whack Aquila with it spilling them all into the street, while using "THE VOICE" to tell Aquila in no uncertain terms that she was a "BAD DOG!". Aquila broke off looking over her shoulder at me like, "what's wrong, I was defending my turf and human sister you jerk, isn't that what I'm supposed to do?".

In any case, no harm no foul as Cleo just got a little nick on the muzzle that we dressed with peroxide when we got home a few minutes later.

"Silly Bitch, what was she thinking?"

Cleopatra and Cats

    Cleo didn't care much for cats, as a matter of fact she'd go out of her way to scare them whenever possible. Case in point, the time when she jumped over me while we were getting out of the car to go to the park, ran into a park neighbor's yard, and pounced on their old deaf and blind cat that didn't hear her coming. Fearing the worst we were running over to get her but thankfully Cleo didn't chomp the poor cat, she instead just poked it's soft and tender belly with her nose and never did bite it. We got there immediately and the poor cat just ran under the truck it was sitting next to no worse for wear, so it seems Cleo thankfully just liked to chase cats (and not eat them)!

Cleo also chased down another neighbor's cat but this time it didn't end up the same as this big ole' scarred up tom cat simply didn't run, and instead squared up and told Cleo to "BRING IT DAWG FACE!", which confused Cleo to no end because in her world cats are supposed to run and be chased! Anyway, I got there soon after they had backed each other up a couple of times and nobody got hurt. This neighbor also has two tiny toy Chihuahua puppies which Cleo became great friends with. It was a joy to watch Cleo lay down on their lawn and get mauled by their two Chihuahuas!

Let's see, and then there's the next door neighbor's cat that drives Cleo crazy sunning herself in our front yard, though we love Jasmine the Hunter as she keeps the roof rat population down, and there's the one time Cleo got out of the yard and tree'd the aforementioned policeman's mother's cats in their yard, though thankfully she had previously owned German Shepherds and wasn't upset at all. So there you go, Cleo did have some issues regarding cats, but ultimately everything worked out fine.
 

 
"Come on now, really, I just like to chase'em..."

To Go or Gehen Sie

     "GO" (or "gehen Sie") was one of Cleo's favorite words (along with food, hungry, treat, love, etc.). We always had a routine to perform when it was getting time to "GO" somewhere. Cleo would first jump on my socks and shoes before I could put them on, and then force me to play some tug-o-war with her toy while I was trying to get my "pads" on. This was her way of saying that it's time "GO", and that she was of course going too!

At this point I had to say either "yes, yes, yes, you can go", which garnered a wonderfully happy reaction with Cleo running around the house with a toy, OR..., the dreaded "no, you're going to have to stay", which earned us the ears back completely depressed treatment where she'd lose all that happiness and just lay down and stare at us like we had just crushed the life spirit right out of her (it was tough to take as she really knew how to push our buttons!).

She always wanted to go with either of us as she just loved to ride in the car or take a walk. I've always believed that "going" is very important to dogs. They measure their status in some ways by accompanying their pack members (their people) on the trip/hunt. With wolves, the highest ranking pack members head out on the hunt while the lower ranking ones stay with the pups and guard the den. I truly believe that dogs that get to routinely accompany their people on trips etc have a better sense of self-esteem (no matter how short), and just to be sure Cleo always went just about everywhere with us.

On a side note, Cleo had been pretty "mouthy" when she was young, and we had trained her to always have a toy in her mouth when we came home to keep our clothes from getting small fang sized holes in them by accident, and even when she grew up she maintained the habit of looking for a toy when either Linda or I came home to her. One of the many day to day things I'll miss is looking up from the driveway to the front windows to see Cleopatra standing there with a chew toy in her mouth, head tilted sideways, with her tail wagging her whole rear end.

"Are we there yet?"

Cleo Helping Out Doing Sound At Our Local "Concert In The Park"

     As you can see Cleo also was an expert audio engineer, no doubt due to the size of her ears, and here are a couple of photos of her helping engineer sound for her friends in "System 9", during a recent concert in the park.

"Hey, I need a another beer here!"

"That hit the spot, though I'm feelin' a little tuckered now..."

Sorry, Didn't Mean It Max!

     Way back when we first got Cleo we had a good doggie friend named Max who was a 120lb Lab-Rottweiler mix, though Max was quite a bit overweight with rolls of skin hanging around his neck. Cleo accidentally caught a fang in those rolls one time when she was playing with him and gave him a small cut. Cleo immediately stopped chomping Max's neck and started giving him kisses as she felt really bad about it, and we offered to pay for any Vet bills if there were any but Max's Mom refused. Max was all black and Cleo was attracted to all black Shepherds as well. She had another all black German Shepherd friend named Vader who she met at the German Shepherd Rescue reunion parties. After accidentally hurting Max Cleo was very careful and never hurt another dog again, accidentally or otherwise, though she loved to play with Vader trying to get his purple scarf off of him.

It seems Cleo had somewhat of a mischievous streak in her as she'd love to pester dogs she liked, and get over on them until they got PO'd at her, and then she'd just turn her butt to them and giggle!

"I felt really bad about accidentally chomping Max, and I was very careful with my fangs after that!"

German Shepherd Rescue PARTY...!!!

     Cleo was a proud participant in all the German Shepherd Rescue Reunion parties, and let's just say it's a sight to behold with all those beautiful German Shepherds and their parents getting together in the breathtaking Santa Cruz mountains most every year. This is where Cleo and Vader got to play though I'm sad to report that Vader passed away a while back too. These German Shepherd Rescue reunions are wonderful, and amazingly enough there's never been any real trouble between dogs! Sure, there have a couple of minor disagreements here and there, but never a real knock down cloud of dust heavyweight bout, a testament to the breed!

"I'm on the far left with my folks in this 2005 picture, and I'm keeping my eyes on my buddy Vader, who's the black Shepherd right there next to me (he's HOT isn't he?)!"

God Bless Cleopatra Dayson

    Canines are a pack species just as we Humans are, and it's vitally important that we all have a pack to belong to as that's the true joy of it all, though at times like this is takes time to get past the sadness as the Canine lifespan is just way to short relative to ours IMHO!

Well, I guess that's enough for now. If any of you haven't experienced the pure unconditional love that can exist between man and dog then I strongly urge you to do so. It is one of the purest and most fulfilling relationships that can be had on this Earth, and that's how it has been since the dawn of human history.

"Thank you for giving me your last name!"


"Thanks for listening, and God Bless You All!"

Cleopatra Dayson

2000 - 2012