| Another Experience with Pet Preservation |
Ode to Gunny
Cutest little doggy in the world, really! He measured 6 and three quarter inches from stem to
stern and weighed a whopping 1 pound and 7 ounces at three years of age but don’t let the size
of this puppy fool you, he had a heart as big as a grizzly bear. Why else would this puppy be
given the title of “Gunnery Sergeant” better known as “Gunny”?
Born premature odds were he wouldn’t make it through the day of his birth but his human
mommy, my loving wife, not only nursed him through a bottle but tube fed him by injecting milk
directly into his tummy because he was too weak to even nurse on his own. Gunny was born
with a bad back left leg, it just kind of stuck out behind him as he ran like the wind on the other
three God have given him. Being the miracle dog he was he surprised every vet that treated
him; they said he wouldn’t last a year but Gunny was three years old and going strong.
We needed him as bad as he needed us! He lived in a laundry basket on our bathroom
counter (warm and humid to help with his asthma) where we would give him food and water and
tuck him in for the night. Feeding Gunny was primarily my duty and it became a pleasure. We
played a game where I would put him down on the floor and he would follow me into the kitchen
where he would wait patiently and then when he saw me with his little dish he would sprint as
fast his little three legs could carry him back to the bathroom and hide in his floor level little
house (a picnic basket) until I arrived with his food and then he would tease me by coming in
and out of his picnic basket like he was playing peek-a-boo.
My wife would pick him up and cuddle him in her arms and he would turn his head to her face
and kiss her on the cheek. When she let him relax in bed with her he would nurse on her hand
as if he was still a puppy with his canine mother. It took Gunny a year to learn how to bark and I
taught him how by imitating another little dog. When he barked it was a barely audible little
squeak but sometimes when he really wanted attention it could be very loud and clear but still a
squeak.
Tragically Gunny’s life was cut short on the 19th of March when another dog, an over zealous
Jack Russell that we were dog sitting, probably saw Gunny as a mouse and in the blink of an
eye before we knew it happened our little Gunny was dead. I’m a 44 year old tough guy Marine
and I will never get over the loss of this little wonderful creature. He brought joy into everyone’s
life he touched; he was the perfect little pet. My wife, Cindy, the only mother he recognized gave
a part of her soul to his life and I pray she will be happy again as she was when she was being
loved by her Gunny.
There will never be another “Gunny”. “Semper Fidelis” puppy.
Christopher E. Proctor
Cutest little doggy in the world, really! He measured 6 and three quarter inches from stem to
stern and weighed a whopping 1 pound and 7 ounces at three years of age but don’t let the size
of this puppy fool you, he had a heart as big as a grizzly bear. Why else would this puppy be
given the title of “Gunnery Sergeant” better known as “Gunny”?
Born premature odds were he wouldn’t make it through the day of his birth but his human
mommy, my loving wife, not only nursed him through a bottle but tube fed him by injecting milk
directly into his tummy because he was too weak to even nurse on his own. Gunny was born
with a bad back left leg, it just kind of stuck out behind him as he ran like the wind on the other
three God have given him. Being the miracle dog he was he surprised every vet that treated
him; they said he wouldn’t last a year but Gunny was three years old and going strong.
We needed him as bad as he needed us! He lived in a laundry basket on our bathroom
counter (warm and humid to help with his asthma) where we would give him food and water and
tuck him in for the night. Feeding Gunny was primarily my duty and it became a pleasure. We
played a game where I would put him down on the floor and he would follow me into the kitchen
where he would wait patiently and then when he saw me with his little dish he would sprint as
fast his little three legs could carry him back to the bathroom and hide in his floor level little
house (a picnic basket) until I arrived with his food and then he would tease me by coming in
and out of his picnic basket like he was playing peek-a-boo.
My wife would pick him up and cuddle him in her arms and he would turn his head to her face
and kiss her on the cheek. When she let him relax in bed with her he would nurse on her hand
as if he was still a puppy with his canine mother. It took Gunny a year to learn how to bark and I
taught him how by imitating another little dog. When he barked it was a barely audible little
squeak but sometimes when he really wanted attention it could be very loud and clear but still a
squeak.
Tragically Gunny’s life was cut short on the 19th of March when another dog, an over zealous
Jack Russell that we were dog sitting, probably saw Gunny as a mouse and in the blink of an
eye before we knew it happened our little Gunny was dead. I’m a 44 year old tough guy Marine
and I will never get over the loss of this little wonderful creature. He brought joy into everyone’s
life he touched; he was the perfect little pet. My wife, Cindy, the only mother he recognized gave
a part of her soul to his life and I pray she will be happy again as she was when she was being
loved by her Gunny.
There will never be another “Gunny”. “Semper Fidelis” puppy.
Christopher E. Proctor
| As seen on the National Geographic Channel |
| NY Newsday |
| Pet Preservation Specialist 602-230-4268 |
| For more information on pet preservation freeze dry taxidermy, call 602-230-4268 |
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| Pet preservation freeze dry taxidermy for cats, dogs & all family pets. |
| Pet Preservation Specialist 602-230-4268 |