Our Fassie

Fassie was a mutt my husband and daughter found 2 years ago, in a ditch with freezing rain and sleet pouring down upon his frozen body. With our whole family being animal lovers, they couldnt just pass by him. When they approached his almost frozen body, He was shivering from fear and cold. They gently placed him in the backseat of the Blazer and my daughter sat with him stroking his sad face. He was just a pup, not much more than 4 or 5 months old.
He was malnourished and his body looked as if his skin had been painted on him, he had no meat on his bones, just skin.
I opened up a can of Cambells Hearty Chicken Noodle soup and warmed it. When placed at his shivering body, he began to lap it up. He didn't gulp it, he took his time to savor the flavor and the warmth entering his body.

My daughter named him Mufasa from the movie Lion King, and as time went by it was shortened to Fassie. Over a course of two weeks Fassie became use to our family, but he presented much shyness. We started noticing little things about him other than his shyness. If we raised our hand as if to scratch our head, he would hunker down and start shaking. We tried to teach him how to fetch a stick, but when we would pick the stick up to throw it, he would drop to the ground and his body would shrink into a ball is if he was ready for us to strike him with that stick. If we struck a lighter or match he would freak out and run from us. Clearly this was a sign of an animal that had been abused. It was so hard for us to imagine the abuse he went through but we made sure Fassie was loved and well cared for. Later Fassie began to trust us and realized we would never harm him. When we would throw a stick, he no longer hunkered down but ran to retrieve it,but he never got the concept of bringing it back to us.
By the time Fassie reached a year old he was loved by family and friends and neighbors. He knew he was always safe as long as he was with us .
My husband said when I would leave to go take the kids to school, or the store, wherever i went, Fassie would sit at the top of the driveway till he heard my car around the corner coming home. I could see him from the road as i approached my driveway, he would run to greet me, and turn quickly and escort me up the driveway. He did this every day for almost 2 years.
Sometimes I would babysit, and one particular summer afternoon, I was babysitting a little 1 and half year old girl. she took off running down the driveway, I was chasing after her with all i had, when Fassie past me with such speed, and grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her to the ground to stop her from entering the road.
Sometimes a few days out of the week, I would babysit a 3 year old boy, who would climb on Fassie's back, and hold on to his neck, and he would ride him around the yard as if he was a horse.

We have other animals but none of them ever possessed the knowledge Fassie had. My husband is a mechanic and often would do work here in the yard. He was working on a moped one day. It wouldnt start, it wouldnt run. We left to go out to eat, when we returned the moped was not there. Someone had stolen it.
We called the police and he made a report. While the policeman was here, Fassie kept barking at him and running toward the driveway. My husband and I both kept telling Fassie to hush. He never was much of a barker. When the officer left, Fassie escorted him out of the driveway. When the policeman turned onto the road, Fassie ran across the street down a pathway in the woods and continued to bark. We called him back home. For about 30 minutes Fassie kept acting weird barking and running down the driveway. I told my husband, "hes trying to tell us something, let's follow him" . We followed Fassie down the driveway, across the road, down the path in the woods, and he walked right up to the moped that was stolen. We called the policeman back out and told him we had found it along with 2 bicycles. We told him Fassie led us straight to it. The policeman said that evidentally since it wouldnt run they parked it in the woods and was coming back to get it along with the bicycles.
We fed Fassie a good meal that night for being such a good detective!

Fassie never showed any agression, he never showed any anger. The neighbors liked Fassie and one neighbor across the street would often feed him when he would go for a visit. My husband's friends all loved Fassie. Fassie was a part of everyone. Not just our family, but of friends and neighbors.
He would often place one paw on our knee or a visitors knee as if to say "hello, pet my head"
And even though he weighed about 60 pounds he loved climbing in our laps and visitors laps and taking a nap.
I could go on and on about the different qualities Fassie had, but I dont have enough time in the day to describe everything about Fassie.

About 2 months ago, Fassie walked up the driveway with a black and white dog with a red collar. He had a friend, a friend of his own kind. She was a pretty dog, but she wouldnt come close to us at all. We told Fassie he had to take her back home but she never left. We didnt feed her just because we didnt want her to stay. When I would feed Fassie his meals, he would eat, and then leave her the other half to eat..always.
One morning about 2 weeks ago my husband told me she wasnt acting right, he actually pet her head. She stood to walk and fell over. She had been poisoned. I called the police who in return called animal control to pick her up being she wasnt my dog.
We put fassie in the garage when animal control came to get her, so he wouldnt see her leave. For 2 days Fassie sat in the middle of driveway staring at the trail across the street in the woods, waiting for her to walk up. Finally I told him she had gone to doggie heaven and wouldnt be back. As if he understand, he hung his head and walked off to lay down.

Yesterday morning, I came back from taking the girls to school, and Fassie was a having a difficult time walking. I sat with Fassie, and I sat with him till I realized Fassie had been poisoned just like his girlfriend 2 weeks ago.
The pain in my heart, the pain in the pit of my stomach, in my soul was indescribable. I promised him, I would not let him suffer and I promised I would stay by his side.
Fassie left us at 7pm last night to go be with his wife in doggie heaven.
Neighbors and friends, and our other dogs, my husband, my kids, and myself, were angered, hurt and very confused, the tears flowed from us all. Grown men scratched his head and said their final goodbyes with tears rolling down their cheeks. Out of all the dogs we have had, out of all the ones we have now, and out of all the ones we have saved, Fassie made one hell of an impression on us all!

Fassie will be greatly missed and will never be forgotten!

I love you Fassie!




FASSIE AND HIS GIRLFRIEND: