Beethoven's Success Story - Part 2

A note from Manoel, the man who adopted Beethoven from Muttville –

“Fuzziwan Kenobi. Ludfuzz von Biscuit. Sir Marshmellow McFuzzybutt. These are some of the monikers that have been affectionately bestowed on Beethoven, an extremely fuzzy, gentle 13 year old senior dog I adopted from Muttville a few months ago. He is deaf, mostly blind, has bad skin, hind legs that are pretty shot, and cancer.

I wasn’t sure about getting a dog, but had decided that, with the prospect of taking care of aging parents and maybe children someday, that it was time to learn to take care of something that couldn’t take care of itself. But I also knew that I didn’t have much time or energy to devote to playing or exercising a young frisky dog, and I didn’t have the money for a lot of care. But I knew I could give an old dog a warm, safe, restful home for his final months (years?). So Beethoven was perfect, since his favorite activity is sleeping.

I was really happy dealing with Muttville. Stephanie, his foster mom has been helpful and generous with her time and advice, and Sherri Franklin has been most generous in subsidizing his medication and grooming.

Beethoven has given me connections and insights that previously weren’t there. I know so many more of my dog-loving neighbors and everyone from society ladies to homeless people are always delighted to give LvB (I insist he’s named after the composer NOT the movie) a head scratch and some cooing love.

My girlfriend recently adopted a young frisky overweight dog, and watching these two dogs learn to get along has been a wonderful, bonding “coparenting” experience.

Mostly Beethoven has made me look at my own aging father with renewed empathy. I see how much Beethoven was once a proud, beautiful lion, and how he can’t do what he once could as a young pup: navigate stairs, play catch. I see him trying to keep up with the younger dogs, and I see my own father’s struggles with his diminished capacities. Beethoven reminds me of a dignified old college professor or Shakespearean actor who, in his old age, had to move to the Tenderloin, but still insists on wearing a bow tie every morning!

I must confess that getting an older dog was also a way of easing into dog ownership. I wanted to see how I would like it, and reasoned, perhaps morbidly, that if i didn’t really take to it, a dog in his condition would not be around for 10 more years. Silly me, I am now of course, head over heels in love with him, and I know it will break my heart when the time comes for him to sleep for the last time. But I know he will live the rest of his days in a comfortable safe place, and I want to thank everyone at Muttville for the combination retriever-bernese-chow-buffalo-camel-lion ball of fur that is snoozing in my living room as I write this.”

AliG | 05.10.10