Ben_Memorial

    As best we can figure, Ben was ten years old when we adopted him – based on some old veterinary records.
We knew he was not going to be with us forever. And it became apparent not many months after he moved in
that he had progressive arthritis. When I realized that he was going to have increasing amounts of pain for the
rest of his life I made my second promise to him. I would do everything I could to keep him comfortable and,
when that was no longer possible, I would not let him suffer for even one day beyond my ability to make him
comfortable.
    We spent the last six months of Ben’s life working with a wonderful veterinarian, Dr. Deborah Mitchell, who
specializes in both holistic and “standard” pain relief for animals. Through a combination of drugs, acupuncture
and chiropractic techniques, she was able to keep Ben reasonably pain free.
    But we eventually reached the limit of what could be accomplished. When the time came, Jeaneen and I kept
that second promise, fulfilling the first at the same time. Ben is gone from our home now, but he will never be
gone from our hearts.

Dave Berkowitz
February, 2009

The first time I met Ben was on one of our regular Eskie
walks. I had free hands since Jeaneen and I only had Riley
at the time, so I was drafted to hold Ben’s leash for the
walk. He seemed rather aloof; he never looked at me, pretty
much went his own way, but he did respond to gentle tugs
on the leash when I needed to bring him along in a different
direction.
After the walk Joanne – who was fostering Ben at the time –
asked me how the walk went. I said, I think, that he was a
good boy and I enjoyed the walk with him. Joanne
responded with “He’s looking for a home.” I didn’t really give
it any more thought.

The second meeting with Ben was at Joanne’s home. We were gathered there just to socialize – I think it
was either too hot for a walk or perhaps we just wanted to do something different. Ben was out with the rest of
the gang and I noted how great he looked. He gave me a huge laugh when I watched him squeeze his big
body through an Eskie-sized tunnel on Joanne’s agility course. He ended up near me at one point and I petted
him affectionately. He was one of those dogs that people just have to pet – big, fluffy with amazingly soft fur. I
asked Joanne about his story and learned that he’d been in a lot of homes over the past few years. Joanne
would place him in a home and the people would bring him back to her. This saddened me – no dog should
have to go through that.

Joanne once again said “He’s looking for a home.” I said that I’d talk
to Jeaneen about him. Joanne was quick to say that she wasn’t trying
to pressure me into anything, which I’m sure was true. But the seed
had been planted. I knew that we had room in our home and plenty of
room in our hearts to perform an act of charity. So after some
conversation and working out of logistics, Jeaneen and I agreed to
take Ben on a trial basis to ensure that he posed no danger to our
flock of birds and that Riley would not start to act out by our bringing
a second dog into the house.
On November 4th, 2006, Joanne brought Ben to our home to
begin the trial.

The first indication I had that he really liked it with us was when
we returned with the dogs for a social visit to Joanne’s house.
Ben would not leave my side and insisted on sitting close to me
with my arm around him. It was very apparent that he thought I
was going to leave him with Joanne. In retrospect, that wasn’t an
unreasonable assumption on his part. He’d been returned there
before. At that time, I made my first promise to him – that he
would never, ever, not for one minute, have to worry about losing
his home. He was going to stay with us for the rest of his life.

We had prepared well for him by getting him a new food dish, a large crate that would comfortably hold him, a
new collar and leash. We don’t do things half way, even on a trial basis. Ben had no problem adjusting to our
home. Riley had no problem adjusting to Ben. If the birds made any impression at all on Ben we sure couldn’t
see it. Things were going to work out fine.
Ben remained rather distant though. He would never look directly at either Jeaneen or me, was very
inconsistent about responding to his name, and mostly kept to himself. He would play a bit with us, especially a
good game of tug or soccer. And he did enjoy the variety of food we presented him. But I wasn’t sure he was
really bonding to us or if he was only making the best of his current circumstances.

Ben must have understood me, because he became more affectionate and responsive almost immediately after
that. He would occasionally look at us, got much better about responding to his name (though I can’t say he
ever really got consistent about that) and worked hard to become a full member of the family. And in very little
time, what started as an act of charity became an ongoing act of love. I don’t understand how anyone could
have had Ben in their home and given him up. He was the sweetest, gentlest dog I have ever known.
Sammies are working dogs. And Ben had a job. He was the family policeman. He would routinely break up
bird and squirrel fights in the backyard. Any time voices got raised in the house he would try to break that up too
by barking. “Calm Down! Restore Order Here!”
Ben did the cop’s job of protection too. I was walking with Ben and Riley one day when a neighbor’s German
Shepherd, a rather fierce dog, managed to slip out of the house and immediately attacked Riley. Ben, who
already was not moving that well, went immediately to the defense of his brother, trying to get the Shepherd out
of the way by butting her body with his own. Fortunately the owner managed to grab his dog and get her under
control right away. But Ben had shown his willingness to put himself on the line for his packmate.

Ben was such a social dog. He loved people in general and had a
special love of children and “women of a certain age.” He would go way out
of his way to meet people. My favorite memory of Ben was at the dog
beach at Wilson Avenue in Chicago. We were there one summer day in
2007 along with, maybe, 150 other people and at least that many dogs.
Ben spent the couple of hours we were there going up to each and every
person on the beach to introduce himself, get petted and admired by them.
And everyone did, of course. Ben was an irresistible guy.