Introduction to Briggs

Briggs was six weeks old when the breeder suggested we bring her home. She was one of four puppies that our English Mastiff Ruthie delivered six weeks prior. It seems that this not-so-little puppy was feeling her oats, picking on her three brothers. The breeder called it “puppy wars.” She had been weaned from her mother weeks before and was eating well on her own. Usually, when you take a puppy from their birthplace, they may cry a lot. Briggs didn’t seem to care too much about that, probably because her mother was already home with us, so she was the lucky sibling who was able to live with her mother.  

This all started after Ruthie finished, which means she reached Champion status in the dog show world. Now that she held that ranking, the breeder we bought her from asked if we would be interested in breeding her. “Of course,” was my first thought, so we planned out how this would work. They were half owners of Ruthie, so her Championship was part of their kennel’s name. I soon started learning the intricacies of dog breeding. 

The breeder managed the breeding process, from insemination to C-section. I did not realize how much was involved. Once she was impregnated, we were to keep a close eye on her at home, being guided through the process by the breeder. When the puppies were born, the plan was for Ruthie and her puppies to stay at the breeders’ house until the puppies were weaned, and then Ruthie would return home with us. We lived only a couple of miles away, so it was a convenient plan. 

After hearing what we had to watch for the night before Ruthie’s C-section, I asked the breeder if she could stay with them that night. I was a nervous wreck. For such large dogs, they and their puppies are fairly fragile. The delivery went well. Mom and the kids were all healthy.

Until we were able to bring Briggs home, we spent quite a bit of time each evening at the breeders’ home to help with the puppies. In addition to their mother’s milk, they were bottle-fed to be sure they got enough nutrients. And there was the human connection with the puppies, part of their socializing and trust development. At birth, the puppies weigh about a pound and a half and within three years grow to be on average 150- to 200-pound dogs. Their life span is eight to ten years. 

By week five, I had chosen one of the males as our puppy. The agreement was that we would get one of the dogs, and the breeders would sell the rest. One evening while visiting, sitting on the floor with the puppies, the one female walked away from her siblings and over to me. She climbed up onto my lap and stared into my eyes. The eye contact was amazing and eerie at the same time. That stare caused me to change my mind on which puppy I wanted to take home, or did she change my mind? I believe she picked me. 

Weeks prior, immediately after delivery of the puppies, the breeders, my son, and I were at the vets and each had the opportunity to stimulate a puppy by rubbing their backs until they cried with all their might. This helped them to clear their lungs. I often wondered if Briggs was the puppy that my son had held that afternoon. I am going to guess she was. My son had died by suicide exactly one week after the puppies were born. He was a believer in the spirit world, so I believe he had a special connection with the female puppy he had stimulated, and that is why I believe she came to me that night at the breeders. I believe her job was to help me through the grieving process, which she did so well. 

When the puppies were old enough for their first round of shots, we met the breeders at the vets. Briggs weighed in at 19.5 pounds; one of her brothers weighed twenty-five pounds. For reference purposes, English Mastiffs put on ten to fifteen pounds each month up to the age of ten or eleven months. 

We were not privy to where the other puppies ended up, but I did hear that one of the brothers matured to well over two hundred pounds. And another one of the brothers ended up living in a fancy residence on the Jersey Shore. We smiled when we heard that. 

Memorable Moments

In her prime, Briggs weighed 160 pounds. We started entering her in dog shows. She was doing well but did not gain Champion status, which was our fault. My son used to come to many of Ruthie’s trainings and dog show. It just was not the same when it came time to show Briggs. There was a huge void for me without my son, so we stopped showing her. She seemed fine just being our pet. 

When Briggs started entering her senior years, which is six to eight years for English Mastiffs, we started feeding her senior dog food. My goal was to reduce her weight to ease stress on her joints. When she turned ten, she was in excellent shape. Ten years old in a giant breed is equivalent to seventy-nine human years. No wonder she was being more careful, moving more slowly. Having made friends with quite a few of our neighbors, she was very comfortable walking up a neighbor’s driveway and onto their porch to see if they wanted to come out to play. Everyone loved her. She loved her walks around the neighborhood, but in her last few months, I noticed she was getting winded. It was going to be a sad day for us all when Briggs passed. 

One very memorable walk with Briggs was when she and I were out for a walk and came to her friend Betty’s house. Whenever we got to Betty’s driveway, she would stop and look up the driveway to see if Betty was outside. Sure enough, on this walk, Betty had seen us coming down the street, so she came outside to say hi. One of Betty’s friends was staying with her because she was experiencing deep sadness over her mother’s illness. Betty wanted her to meet Briggs, so she asked her to come outside. When her friend saw Briggs, she walked up to her and knelt down in front of her. Briggs gave her a little kiss and then put her head on the woman’s shoulder. It looked like Briggs was hugging her. It brought tears to the woman’s eyes. 

Remember when I said that I believed my son was spiritually connected? When he was alive, one of his female friends was agonizing over the news that her cousin had been killed while serving overseas. She shared the story of how my son simply sat with her, comforting her. He didn’t have to say anything. Just his presence consoled her. I was reminded of this memory as Briggs consoled this woman. My husband always said Briggs reminded him of my son, which may seem like a strange thing to say, but I agree with him. Her caring personality was a true reminder for us.

Briggs had been doing so well. We thought we would have her for another couple of years, but then she started having trouble getting up off the floor. This started happening a couple of weeks prior to losing her. Not long before this, we left Briggs with her “auntie.” She loved staying with her. While away, we received a call. Briggs had fallen and was shaking. Before leaving for St. Louis, I noticed Briggs had been tripping, both front and rear feet.  

We returned home and brought Briggs home a few days later. She could not get herself into the back of our car, which was a substantial change in a few months’ time. She used to be able to jump into the back of our SUV with ease. Because she was losing the ability to jump, we started using our smaller car, thinking it would be easier. It was not. 

The Journey of Loss

As I sat in a chair on our three-season porch, my eyes were drawn to the deck of cards that were left there the night before. My husband and I had been playing cribbage. Briggs was on the porch with us. She got up and stepped into the house, leaving us behind, which was not unusual, but there was something different this night. She had always been an independent dog, but she had become clingy over the past few months, leaning against us, gently pressing her head against our legs, and looking up into our eyes. She was such a lovable dog. 

I heard something bang on the floor in my office. I got up to check and found Briggs standing behind my office door. She had knocked over a heavy metal doorstop. I peeked around the door and saw her. She was trying to stand, but all four of her legs were splayed out. She was visibly upset. Looking closer, I saw that she had urinated on the office floor and could not walk to maneuver her way out of the office. This was a very bad sign and the beginning of an awfully long night.   

We guided her into the living room onto a blanket, where she stayed until her life ended six hours later. I had never experienced a dog dying at home. It was Labor Day weekend, so there was nowhere we could take her. Besides that, she didn’t have the strength to walk. We agreed that we would just keep her as comfortable as possible. She did not seem to be in pain. Her only symptom was difficulty breathing. She slept most of the time but occasionally woke up and glanced at the two of us. It seemed that knowing we were there, she could go back to sleep. One time, she woke up and stared straight ahead into the kitchen. I swear she was looking at someone. I told my husband that I thought someone was waiting for her. We stayed with her until just after midnight, when she passed very peacefully. 

Legacy of Love

I recently had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who is a dog trainer. We were talking about dogs and their end of life. I told her Briggs was slowing down. This was about three weeks before we lost Briggs, so I must have intuitively felt that she was not going to be with us much longer. My friend and I had started the conversation talking about my son, who passed away ten years earlier, and how I was dreading the day we lost Briggs because of the timing of her birth and my son’s death. Briggs was born exactly one week before my son died. My friend said she could not bear the thought of anything happening to her son and was wondering how I dealt with it so well. I told her I may have the appearance of “dealing” with my loss, but I still had my days. I can say for a fact that Briggs was an important part of my grieving ten years earlier. She always seemed to know when I was sad. 

A message to your pet

Thank you, Briggs, for being my soulmate after losing my son. I wish you had the chance to play with him like your mother did. He would have loved that. But I am confident that you have reunited with him and your mom in heaven.  

I feel blessed to have been able to spend your last hours by your side. I will never forget you raising your head about a half hour before you passed. I want to believe that with your eyes, you were saying “goodbye” and “thank you” for being there. 

Rest in peace Briggsy.