I was warned by our mobile vet that Raider would be a crazy dog as he knew the owner and her mother. It took 9 months to house break her. When she was one our son moved out and she started to have panic attacks when left home alone: like breaking through doors, knocking books off shelves, tearing apart down pillows and breaking into the panty to help herself to whatever her fancy was that day. So we discovered there are behavior veterinarians. Then she started to fear lightened and thunder storms and soon after fireworks. She took to tearing apart my closet and banging a chair against the wall to vent her frustration. It took a few years to get the right meds to work through all she was afraid of but we were committed to help her as she was the friendliest, happiest and smartest dog we have ever had. She loved everybody and everything. Then one evening she was running and hurt her back and was in agony when she got up or ran. We then discovered another veterinary specialty: neurology. We spent a minor fortune to have a nerve cut so she could move without pain.
As time went by, we advanced from wooden gates to metal ones to contain her within the house. The metal ones were even hard for us to open. Some days we would come home and the gate would be open. Of course we’d blame each other for not shutting it. But one day we caught her opening it with her teeth. Next thing you know she has a dentist to fix a root canal. So we covered the metal gate with vinyl hoses. Well after the 2nd root canal we took down the gate. Besides she could open almost anything: her food bin with a screw on lid, a jar of peanut butter just to mention a few things she would raid from the pantry. But that is not how she got her name. She was named after the Oakland Raiders.
As the years progressed she started having congestive heart failure. She was now getting 8 pills a day. Then one day Raider and her buddy Jena saw her stash of pills left on the counter. By the time we caught them around 50 pills were missing. After an overnight stay, fluids and supervision at the vet hospital they survived. After that the extra pills were kept in a room behind to additional doors to prevent another incident.
In her last months she was still very happy, eating great and swimming almost every day. When her legs started getting weak we were worried she may not be able to get out of the pool but alas she always did. And during all this time she was a regular alarm clock: if we didn’t get up by a certain time she would insist that we do to get her pills. It made us think she was smart enough to know they helped her. Then one day she passed of heart failure in my partners arms. She was almost 13 years old and we enjoyed all of our days with her of course some more than others.

Sharon & Linda S.