By now many around the farm have heard stories of Damian, his aggression and courage. He was no ordinary dog, he could in a wink take on anyone irrespective of the size and skill. He lacked fear when it came to protecting his territory and his family.
Back to the scene, Damian was swift to run out of the gate and in a matter of seconds we hear screams from people nearby, pigs running in chaos and Damian growling bearing his teeth literally while striding in the air. He caught the biggest pig of the lot by the ear, bite deep into his flesh and wouldn't let go. The brawl went on for hours with the pig running around the farm, Damian chasing him and ripping his flesh from different parts of the body. There was not much I could do as a school going child with my mom and grand mother left at home while the rest were out and about their daily grind.
It went on for hours before the pig got tired and Damian caught him by his neck and chocked him to death. That was the last of the pigs to enter our farm again.
Many of you might wonder what kind of a monster he was, but in reality he was adorable with kids, gentle with the elderly and loved the family. He was a nutcase around the family, goofing and loved to play. There were times he was caught stealing mangoes from the dinning table, he loved them and he would howl at the scent of ice cream and drool like no other dog for a scoop.
He loved things shiny and once actually stole my moms diamond earring while she was wearing them and ran across the house, we were so worried he would ingest and we heard stories of how diamond damages the intestines but all he needed was his favourite treat, meat sticks and he dropped the earring like a hot potato.
We were all impressed with the way he guarded us at the same time worried about his aggression and instinct to guard his territory to the extent of never backing off till the trespasser is down. We spoke to our vet who asked us to try mating him to bring down his frustration and aggression. Many came forward with their female dogs as Damian was robust, popular and one of a kind. He never allowed any dog near him, he hated the presence of any other dog on the farm and getting him to mate soon became a nightmare with many dogs sustaining injuries that we paid to take care of by the vet.
The only thing left to do was to get a female puppy and let her grow up around Damian. Irrespective of his anger issues he was so gentle and patient with the puppy whom we named Doodle and true to her name, she was full of life, carefree and a total wackadoodle. It was a task to keep Damian away from Doodle during the first two heat cycles, when she was around one and a half she had her first litter. She had a total of six litters during her life span with Damian with half of them being pure black German Shepards and one such litters gave us Pepper the completely black German Shepard that stole our hearts and stayed with us and now there were three dogs.
Damian was an amazing dad who would let the pups, all nine of them to climb all over him, bite his tail, pull his ears, chew on his paws, play with his snout and hide under his belly to sleep. There were times when this dog known for his aggression would run from the pups and be so ever gentle to not hurt them. We would give away all of them to friends and people who loved pets as soon as they turned 2 months old.
Vaccinations with Damian was not easy, we would use three leashes pulled in different directions with the one in centre hold him against a huge gate we had to ensure he can't turn around or snap at the doctor, which he did many times growing up and also broke multiple thermometers.
Our vet retired, we got a new one who was young and very enthusiastic about his job but lacked experience. He kept pestering my parents to spay Damian to calm him down and also it was taking a toll on Doodle and my parents were growing tired of managing so many pups, vet visits, vaccinations and sometimes hospitalizations due to infections when they were very young. They agreed and Damian the beast was neutered. This was the beginning of the end for him!!
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