Marley

February, 2001 - August, 2009

Marley was quite the character and always a little out of sync. Even his conception and birth were a bit quirky. We'd gotten a young small female pitbull mix named Pilot whom we kept with our resident male OES, Splatt. She was very young and hadn't at that point, been spayed. The size differential was so pronounced that it never entered our minds that the two could actually mate and produce puppies. We were wrong.

I was working in NJ when Marley was born, the only completely white pup in a litter of seven but I received daily updates on their progress until I could get home to meet them all in person. What a beautiful boy. As time went on, we noticed however that Marley didn't want to walk much and was the last pup in the litter to stand fully or run.

Once all the other pups were adopted we began to watch Marley more closely. He grew into a lovely big white fella but his back legs weren't right. He'd move in what could only be described as a pegleg fashion. We took Marley to the vet to see what was happening and what we needed to do. His X-rays showed that his long bones sat on the outside of each hip socket and if nothing was done, he'd be paralyzed in short order. After researching the problem, we found a vet that had experience with the FHO surgical procedure and the decision was made to go ahead with surgery, one hip at a time. Poor guy! We visited him after the surgery was complete and when he was finally able to come home, he even tried to run to the car! At that point, physical therapy started with Pete. The two found a tall hill and climbed up and down it several times a day. Eventually Marley was able to run and did so well we never pursued the surgery for the other leg.

Oh yes, Marley was an oddity. No one could quite pinpoint exactly what breed he was - Russian Mooseknophler? That's where the nickname Moose originated. And of course, with his white coat, Marley also became the scapegoat of our painting projects. Each holiday we'd find an appropriate holiday colored water based spray paint and decorate the dog. Marley was green for St Paddy's Day, red for Valentines and orange and black for Halloween. He got to the point that anytime an aerosol can appeared, Marley disappeared!

Marley slept upside down when given the chance. You'd find him fast asleep with his head dragging the floor and the rest of him spread out on the sofa. Whatever, it was comfortable for him.

Time passed and Marley saw plenty of dogs, both our own and a bunch of rescues come and go. He was always getting into things and I remember one horrifying trip to the Emergency Vet Clinic after hours because he'd gotten something stuck in his throat.

Marley lived out his days at Muttley Manor. At age 8yrs he began to fail rapidly and his last day was unfocused, his breath shallow and then he was gone. I'll always remember Marley's eyes as he'd look up at you - they were dark pools surrounded by his white hair and reminded me of the eyes of the baby harp seals in Canada.

Marley aka the Moose brought a lot of laughter and fun to Muttley Manor. He was loved and is missed. You're now free to run with abandon big guy. The Moose is finally loose!

Belinda and Pete Lamm