Shamus joined the extended family in 1995. He was an oops, a litter of Hungarian Greyhound / Emglish Mastiff puppies. He had the body of a greyhound (tall, sleek, fast), with a rather broad head. A distinguished looking dog. He was a gif for my Mother, who wanted a mastiff, but without the $1,200 or so to buy a puppy.
He was a bit rambunctious, and was all over the furniture. My mother was constantly telling him “shame on you” so he became Shamus.
Shamus had a couple of stops in his life. He was a bit of a handful for my mother, so Shamus went to live with my sister, Tracey, in Richmond. He was really unhappy there, living on Carlson Avenue, a crime riddled neighborhood. He hate loud noises, fireworks, and lightning storms.
As we were moving from San Jose to Tucson, my Mother once again had Shamus and urged us to take him with us. Barbara was unsure, as she had only seen how crazy he behaved with my moms obnoxious parrots. But we took him with us for our last night in San Jose, and Shamus grew on her, and alas we took him with us.
Shamus was an absolutely joy. Everybody loved him, and he was unique. He was the sheriff of the dog park, he loved to run, and he really was a good partner for our first greyhound, Oliver.
Shamus wasn’t perfect though. There was a Rottweiler at the dog park that he just didn’t like. Once he pierced his ear (to the tune of $400 in vet bills).
Shamus made it until 2008, almost to the ripe old age of 13. The end was pretty quick, but it was clear when it was time to say goodbye.