I am pleased I could make you laugh a little.
I am so glad you had that close connection with your pet. It is definitely hard when they go. But prior to that you had those enriching experiences sharing in a connection. Sounds like you gave Watson a good life.
I had a white albino ferret called Spike for a good while. He would often pull off my socks and then go lope off with them. I did not manage to recover many of them… Did watson have any amusing behaviors or quirks? There is definitely something that feels more pure about animals than people, maybe it is because they can't stab you in the back or lie to you.
There is certainly potential for you to grow close to people that would genuinely care about you. It sounds like you have been hurt by people often enough though that your trust is damaged as a result. I really do understand that feeling. Distrust can make it hard to start relationships in the first place. I had to work a lot on that to end up with the friendships I do have today.
Would you consider getting another animal?
Aww, Spike sounds adorable & an albino ferret is beautiful! I've never seen a ferret in person so I can only rely on google.
How did you end up getting Spike?
Did you ever walk/leash him? (I remember that one movie with Ben Stiller and a ferret for some reason).
Do you have any other quirks about Spike?
I know my past experiences have made me reluctant to trust people and because of that I tend to have a lot of 'shallow/surface level' friendships where I don't let anyone get too close, etc. I just find that even with the strongest relationships with friends/partners/whoever, I find that I am still self censoring my thoughts and the like. I do have a handful of solid relationships although they are starting to deteriorate as I've become even more of a recluse lately.. But I can understand that constantly living with that mindset is a hinderance to any positive relationship in the first place.
And I definitely agree that animals provide something far more pure than humans can ever provide one another. There really is something so special about animals and the bond that they share with us.
They love you unconditionally and truly love you for who you are-- with whatever flaws and doubts you might think you have... they don't care. They are happy to be with just you. Everyday & always.
They also teach us to live in the moment and not worry about what happened yesterday or will happen tomorrow. They just want to enjoy now. With you. In that moment. Just the two of you...
And oooooh Watson had a ton of quirks actually.
(Be prepared for a long read.. TL;DR: yes he has a lot of quirks)
Some of his physical quirks were that he was a gold fawn sable with white markings but also carried the merle gene which caused him to have blue eyes. He also had ticks of white fur on his back atypical to most sables from his merle gene but his hackles were darker with typical sable traits. I didn't have any idea about any of this until my vet told me about it after I had rescued him-- Pretty much it all just meant he looked liked a deer/bambi. He had blue eyes but his right eye had a little black on the very top so technically he had heterochromia. His eyes were extremely expressive and he was really observant to everything around him.
He was also predominantly left pawed and was very paw-y. Whenever I would take my phone out to look at something he would immediately paw my phone away and sit on my chest so all attention had to be on him. He would also always paw at me when he wanted my attention or if he wanted to go outside. He would also paw/crawl to me whenever I asked him if he wanted to go outside. His paws were never aggressive and actually always very gentle and endearing.
When he got excited he would lift both of his front paw up at the same time and tap the floor/bed/etc with his ears perked back, grinning and looking up at me. When he ran it was more of a hop-fly where his front paws would raise up simultaneously and he would glide around only to descend and hop back up to fly around. When I whistled for him he would do his best to hastily land by my feet in the perfect sitting position. .
He rarely barked but when he did, his bark wasn't the typical chihuahua high pitched "yelp" but it was more like middle pitch "bao". His bark always came in a set of two, the first one lower than the second "bao-BAO" .. "bao- BAO" ! As he barked with as much vigor a 5lb chihuahua could, his head would rotate slightly clockwise and his ears would always flap back and forth. He would also always sigh after he barked and sigh whenever he was bored or sigh if I was taking too long doing whatever I was doing.
He was an extremely fast learner when teaching tricks and learned almost everything in a day and a half. He learned through hand signals + vocal commands with treats. I'd have a treat in one and and my other hand signaling and I could always see his eyes shifting from treat to my hand, treat to hand. He learned all the usual tricks and he was getting better at saying " i love you" whenever I said it to him howling. He couldn't always get "wait" (my version of stay)-- if I told him to wait and walked into another room though.. he always had to be my shadow so he would break that one command just to be by my side. His separation anxiety was really extreme and I was trying to work on it but I realized I had separation anxiety just as bad so I gave up on that plan...
I could go on forever so I will spare as I have already written way too much... But yeah.. he had his quirks and he was really special.
Thanks for asking by the way.. Even though it makes me cry I'm happy to share about Watson and let people know he really was really wonderful.
And thanks..
I tried to give him the best life possible but I can't help feeling like a failure that I couldn't save him.
When he got diagnosed with heart failure I had found out there are 3 clinics that offer heart surgery for dogs and had immediately begun the steps to get him accepted as a candidate and surgery date.
They said 6 months to a year was the average for dogs with heart disease and about 6 months was the wait list for surgery.The day he passed I received an email for his surgery date and his approved candidacy....
To keep it short, I feel that no matter what did and would have done to save him, I just know it wasn't enough in the end and I hate myself for it.
Is this ironic that I'm saying that while on this forum? lol..
And.. I wish I could get another animal but I feel that it wouldn't be fair to Watson, nor am I ready. Also if I got another animal, I would have to stay alive longer for them. My only reason staying alive before was Watson, and now that he's gone, here I am.
Do you have any pet?
If you don't mind me asking, what happened to Spike?