This is a Story of a REMARKABLE Dog

A REMARKABLE dog named Nandi

As I go about my day today I am struck for a moment by my precious dog Nandi, he is 14 years young and his spirit is even more beautiful and serene today. Nandi has always been our saucy sidekick… from the moment we saw him trotting the parking lot of our little mountain grocery store… an adorable pup carrying a giant size chew bone… we stopped to pet him and he completely stole our hearts.

We really had no idea that when we mentioned how cute he was in conversation with our clerk friend, Eric, that we would be adopting him hours later. It turned out that this little guy {Chewy as he was first called, because he was chewing everything while his humans were gone all day} was in need of a new home and we were it!

It was serendipitous! We were bonded at first sight!

Nandi {which means JOY}

was only 11 weeks old when we adopted him and he grew into a big strong (95lbs) beautiful German Shepherd Pit Bull boy. He was our first family dog and actually helped prepare us for the journey of being parents to human babies.

For the next 6 years he went EVERYWHERE with us. We never left him by himself. And wherever daddy was Nandi was… he was affectionately known as Darsana’s shadow.

He even waited in the truck patiently while Darsana’s sister labored and birthed her first baby!

He has always been so LOVED and spoiled that he slept in our bed until at 8 months pregnant I could not share the space anymore!

Nandi was always VERY passionate about everything he did… he chased the ball like he had to beat someone else to it. He would have given his life to protect any of us! And he was the MOST gentle dog ever!

Nandi was not that excited about being with other dogs, so he grew up an only doggie child. But at the ripe age of 13 he was blessed to gain a brother and sister!

He exercised down and up the mountain with us everyday from the beginning. He was an avid swimmer! His absolute favorite pass time was retrieving the stick in the lake or the ocean.

He has always been our baby, even after we had our first human baby. Whenever we showed up to places and visited with friends they always expected and asked for Nandi.

Nandi enjoyed a super healthy, fun, active life!

Then one morning in early 2010 when he got up to go outside for his regular morning greet the day… he took a few steps, stumbled and just fell over sideways. Right away when I got down to look at him I could see that his eyes were darting back and forth and his head was tilted like he was dizzy.

Of course being the savvy gal that I am, I began researching it on the internet and then we called the doctor as soon as they opened.

What we discovered was that he had something called Vestibular Syndrome/Disease with symptoms much like human Vertigo…

However it turns out that Nandi actually had a stroke and the Vestibular Syndrome/Disease are the symptoms/results of that stroke! You can find out more details about the symptoms and how to handle them from this great article.

Needless to say I was so scared that this was it for Nandi.

The doctor said there wasn’t anything we could do but to just watch over him and see if it subsides in a couple of days. Well after two weeks of our precious baby just sleeping non stop, being coaxed to eat tiny bits, drink and take some Chinese healing herbs and daddy having to carry him (85lbs) to the yard and hold him while he relieved himself… he finally began to want to get up, move about and eat normally.

But he’s never been the same!

Since that happened he has aged rapidly and lost his ability to play. He had surgery one year ago to remove a mass from his neck and without an urgent blood transfusion would not have come through it.

His hind legs have gotten very weak to the point that he cannot stand longer than a few minutes {not even long enough to pee or poop sometimes}. He does not hear or see well, so he is often not aware that we are there until right in his face kissing him.

But still he keeps on keeping on!

Nandi lived his purpose in life to the fullest! He was a champion!

When I started writing this about a week ago Nandi was still with us physically. As I finish this now… our precious Nandi is no longer with us in his body… he has freed himself from the limitations that his body was experiencing for the past two years.

Now he is FREE to run, play and jump again!

This is a CELEBRATION of our amazing best buddy, Nandi…

he taught us so much about love, friendship, commitment, understanding, patience, play… and most importantly… JOY!

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