In 1987 as some of you know, my mum & stepdad moved us all from the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the deep woods of Maine, namely a ways outside Abbot Village. (Deep, DEEP woods, yes. I still have dreams about how amazing & mysterious it was, especially to a small child.)
They purchased two adorable male puppies in Upstate New York along the way to protect us: a goofy, sooty-black Newfoundland, & a bedraggled mutty adorable Irish wolfhound. I fell in love! Sebastian was the Newfie & Casey was the wolfhound. They grew VERY quickly & were, without a doubt, absolute partners in crime- in every possible way.
This is a lot what Sebastian looked like. Below, much what Casey looked like.
(We lost all original pics of them while being in the Amish for so long, they forbid pictures as "graven images". I have done my best to recreate here what they were like with these borrowed images. Bear with me. I used the images which remind me of their looks & personality, the most. I just wish I had a pic of them playing together, which by far is the most irreplaceable!)
Casey & Sebastian (aka "Sebastian Swashbuckler"-the little devil, haha!) quickly grew to utterly massive, full male size. They had to be at least 120 lbs each, the pick of the litters. They would accompany me on my three-year-old pursuits of the land, ha. I remember dragging them by the collars once they were grown, bigger than I was, one on each side of me, all bossy little-girl style, telling them to "Come" & "Heel" as I fearlessly walked my tiny self down massive logs, from the scattered mess of what Dad had felled from tall old trees, trying to clear the area a bit & tame the land from absolute wilderness. We used the best beams for building, & heated the cabin with the refuse.
I never saw a Maine black bear in those parts, but they were rumored to be common in the area, & having those dogs around me gave my parents more peace of mind. I played outside incessantly, & they were almost always nearby. They were so gentle with me!!!!!!! They barked ferociously when they heard a noise in the woods, then would come lay down next to me & watch over me, aww. What perfect guard dogs for our little family~ usually, that is. When they weren't being naughty & causing mischief!
Ah, such goofballs they were. We tried to take them swimming once, & only once, in the creek down the road. The newfoundland Sebastian, who half-carried himself regally like some sort of sooty Moorish king, & half stupid-cutely like his own court jester, was supposed to have carried centuries of water-rescue in his blood.... swimming in frigid Northern ocean waters, in his very genetic makeup. Not so, however. Glug, glug, glug down in the water, & Dad actually had to jump in & save HIM, simultaneously swimming & pulling him to shore. LOL!!!!!
Then there was the fence my parents put up once, to attempt to keep them from running away instead of keeping them tied or on leashes. They would run, run, run down the hill & then, at the same time like two racehorses, scale the fence gliding through the air like you wouldn't believe!! It was a high fence too, like a 6-foot tall one if I remember correctly!!! (They were always trying to run away from what I can remember as a tiny tot, lol. It was both worrisome & ridiculous at the same time.)
My parents conspired to move it further down the hill & make it higher, I believe. Or at least closer to the treeline so it wasn't so easy for them to scale it. But then, the funniest thing happened.
I will remember to my dying day looking out the back door with my mom who was absolutely doubled up in fits of laughter, showing me what was happening out back. Those naughty boys were running, running, running down the hill and then, JUST at the spot where the fence used to be, in unison they lifted up & SAILED over absolutely *nothing* in the air. Invisible fence?! Bwahaha! They did this at least a few times before realizing it wasn't there......
I don't remember if the new location of the fence kept them in or not, but the sight of them jumping the good part of the next week over absolutely nothing, with that devil-may-care attitude like they were getting away with something, was just too adorable &, quite frankly, hilarious. I miss those guys & all their ridiculous antics, too numerous to mention here. We had several awesome, huge guardian dogs come & go over the years, but those guys were the legendary ones. The dogs my mom & I still bring up in anecdotes on the holidays, & still laugh our butts off about, hardly having to say a word past mentioning them, but just remembering how utterly silly they were, a perfect humorous combination of very smart & a wee bit dumb at times, but in the cutest ways. I mean that of course with the most respect, I love animals very, very much. We all have our mindless moments however, & animals certainly are not excluded from that in the least!
They both, quite sadly, came to a tragic end after some happy years had passed. Casey the wolfhound started acting strangely confrontational to my poor mum right before Christmas one year, suddenly turning & growled/snarled & snapped at her for no reason.....& she was heavily pregnant with my little brother at the time, so it was a no-go. They got rid of him the next day, & it was so heartbreaking but, with a pregnant mama, they didn't want to take any chances & I understand!!!! He is etched eternally in our minds though from the good days & years with him. He was very, very sweet & generally lazy as all get-out. You know how, in the old movies set in the British Isles, how the kings always have wolfhounds laying around the fireplace sleeping? That's how he was generally, whenever he was in the house. Somewhere there's still a pic of him standing up where my stepdad had put his paws on his shoulders, & Casey's awesome wiry-haired head and shoulders towered over Dad!!!!! Probably a good almost-7 feet tall. He was really like a small horse. Incredible dog. Probably just needed socialized more, looking back on it all!! He was an amazing, mysterious, loving Soul.
Sebastian Swashbuckler, Mum's favourite, came to a different tragic end. We had him for years longer, & got another adorable pup to keep him company. But one fateful winter night, he slipped leash & ran away. I awoke the next morning to my mom weeping inconsolably & having to tell me he got hit by a plow truck, after dad & older brother fruitlessly searched/called for/tracked him all night long. The plow truck broke his back severely (((tears))). He was alive, but completely paralyzed beyond repair according the the vet, & suffering to the point that it would not have been fair to keep him alive. His mournful eyes said such a loving goodbye to my parents as they tearfully had to make the quick decision to put him down that night, there at the veterinarian's. Everyone was so, so sad... the plow truck driver didn't forgive himself even though it wasn't even his fault. It was so emotional with such a magnificent creature like that. Such a loving, massive, amazing animal with such a hardheaded love of running free...at all costs.
The dogs, to this day, are each living Legends... my fearless childhood Protectors.
The dogs, I still, when I get my own little cabin in the woods again someday, want to recreate & get each of those breeds again, as an adult.
And let my children grow up with them, & create new hilariosity, & new legends.
May both dogs be running free in puppy heaven to this day, Forever.
........And of course, they'll probably still be jumping in unison over invisible six-foot fences, ALL the while.
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