Wolfgang Amadeus Masasyu
200# long-coated "giant"
I received a phone call from a lady in the Adirondack region of New York
State. Her name is Barb Kravec, she had a very large problem.
This very large and matted Alaskan Malamute had shown up at her doorstep. Not
knowing what was happening she placed ads and did all that she could to find the
big guy's owners. She was going to keep the dog until his owners showed up to
take him home. Well, they never did.
Barb took him to her vet's office and had all the routine shots and tests
done so she could keep him with her Golden
Retrievers ,she also had him shaved because of the mats. Life at the
Kravec house was wonderful until the Goldens decided that this huge thing wasn't
going to stay in their home. They had literally pinned him in the corner and he
wasn't fighting back. Barb didn't know what to do so she called me and asked if
I would take him into rescue so her dogs wouldn't kill him.
The answer is always ”sure thing.”
So off to Syracuse my fiancé Harold and I went to get this dog. We were told
that we would know the truck coming down the thruway from the swaying of the
truck. She wasn't kidding!! The little S-10 pickup was literally swaying from
one side of the lane to the other because of the size of the dog in the back!!
She told us that she had named him Wolfgang because of the woofing noise that he
made. Barb, not having any experience with Malamutes didn't know that this is a
normal sound for them to make.
Out of the back of this truck came this huge dog. I must admit that he was
very funny looking because of no hair but was also very dignified in the way he
presented himself to us. There was no hair on this giant dog's body except for
this huge head of hair. Harold called him Linus because of his strange looks. I
knew that I was in trouble the minute I saw him. I had lost 3 giants to bone
cancer and kidney failure 3 years ago and have missed having big dogs around
under foot.
Wolfgang came home with us with the intentions of being put up for adoption.
I think he knew differently. We had a family come look at him after his hair had
grown back in and they decided that after driving 6 hours that he wasn't the dog
for them TOO LARGE. Wolf had decided when he first saw them that he already had
a home and wasn't leaving.
After this episode, and almost
breaking my heart because of his maybe leaving us, I decided to adopt him
legally! This action put me over the limit for dogs in my city but who cares. He
just reminded me so much of my other 3 that I still miss, I couldn't let him
go.
All went well for 8 months then he decided that one day he wasn't hungry. For
this guy not to eat meant serious trouble, he always ate peanuts with Harold and
laid on the floor next to his Dad at any meal. This was not normal for this guy.
Off to the vet's office we went. Many tests later, the vet said that he had an
infection and would be fine at the end of the antibiotics.
Two days later, back to the vet's office we went. This time I saw my regular
vet and she said that he was bleeding internally, needed to have x-rays done.
Well we found spleen cancer and had to do what was right for him.
I said goodbye to my big guy and after he passed on I fell apart. I knew that
I had done the right thing for him, but it didn't ease the pain of losing him.
Then next thing I did was very hard but had to be done. I called Barb and had a
good cry with her over our boy .I knew when we got him that he was very old, but
I hoped that we would have him for a long time. Not true. At least the time we
had together was great time.
I wanted to share my story with all of you so that you would know just how
much love and happiness an older dog can give you. I love him very much and
miss him very much. He was a very big part of my life along with my other three
Malamutes. I know that someday another one will come along and find a big piece
of my heart, but that's okay. I always have room in my heart for old dogs. If
you ever have the chance to be blessed with an older rescue dog, please take
the opportunity to allow them into your heart, you won't regret any of it. See
you someday buddy I LOVE YOU WOLFGANG, MOM.
