PERSONAL UPDATE: Remembering the Waag Family Dog - Shayna Punim

Remembering our Waag Family Dog:

Shayna Punim (RIP - April 8, 2013)

****Update 4/23/2024: In honor of Shayna, who was great with our family, but not always friendly with others!

My previous dog was not friendly to SOME dogs. Her name was Shayna. What Shayna disliked most was unleashed dogs running up to her at speed, which she interpreted as an attack, and acted accordingly. Can't say that I blame her. If some human ran up to me in such a way, I might take a defensive stance also. YOUR UNLEASHED DOG MIGHT BE FRIENDLY, BUT MY "CONTROLLED, LEASHED" DOG IS NOT. CONTROL YOUR DOG.

PHOTO: My dog Shayna (may she RIP), a beautiful but protective dog. Around 60 pounds or so. Should I never be able to take her out in public on a leash because other dog owners have their dogs running around out of control (usually illegally unleashed).

*****Update 2/11/2017: I'm updating this page in honor of the passing of brother Larry's dog Mia. These are photos taken on a camping trip between 2003 and 2004 to Arizona with the family. We love you, you crazy dog!

*****Update 8/28/2014 for National Dog Day: I vowed to continue to remember our wonderful family dog forever, and this is one way to do it: Update her tribute page. The way I'll update it is to add 3 random photos of Shayna. These were taken at Fossil Falls in Owens Valley March 2008 with some friends. Just happened across these photos, and it made me sad, but happy to remember her. 

This also gives me the chance to not only honor our family pet, but to encourage others to do so as well. We love them while they are alive, and I believe we should honor and love them after they have moved on and are gone. So here goes!

Above (click to enlarge): Shayna learned the "get up" and "get down" command rather well. She is up on the picnic table because we issued the "get up" command!

Above (click to enlarge): A few minutes after that, our oldest son Andrew is spending some quality time with his dog. We believe that Andrew loved Shayna in that special way that is shared by boys and their first dog. Shayna was Andrew's first dog; we got her when Andrew was 6 years old.

Above (click to enlarge): Nice group photo, with Shayna well-posed. Shayna was a very cooperative subject for picture taking, as can be seen here. Left to right: James (our youngest son), Brian (my brother), Sue (my wife), Douggie, Greg, Andrew (my oldest son), Bob (my Dad), Lewee.

*****Original Tribute Article Below:

Above: (click to enlarge) Andrew and James' first day of school in Fall 2005 - we always took photos of them on their first day of school - and always with Shayna. Andrew would have been 14 and James 12 years old in this photo (Andrew will turn 23 in May and James just turned 21).

Sister-in-law Laura calls it the Sad Day. Somehow, it is appropriate that the last day of Shayna's life is an unusually cold and blustery spring day. Until today, Sue and I had never been there to the bitter end with a lifelong family pet. Laura was right: today is the Sad Day. Thanks to our friends and neighbors who stopped by, or otherwise expressed such kind words regarding the loss of our sweet, sweet Shayna.

Thanks also to the vet, Julia, from "Be Right There" (mobile vet service - we highly recommend her) for coming to our house on the day we called her, and doing her job with great compassion and technical mastery. She gave Shayna a sedative before injecting her, thus minimizing any suffering on Shayna's part.

It is important for Sue and I to not lose Shayna to the relentless march of time. Writing this tribute to our family dog is both therapeutic for us, and a way to remember her forever.

Shayna will always be our one and only "family pet" for the four of us. College-grad Andrew and Junior-in-college James are only occasional visitors to our house now, and we had no other pets while they were growing up. Our backyard, which both our boys and our dog loved, feels awfully empty right now. We had no idea how hard it would be just to look back there and realize that we will never again see Shayna's big, fluffy orange tail wagging back and forth, high above her head, as she goes out on patrol, exploring and re-exploring every little bit of our backyard.

We made a home for Shayna in February 1997, when a stray dog was brought into the office one day at Sue's old law firm. It turns out, that stray was our beautiful dog, Shayna. The vet figured she was about 6 months old. With a warm, thick fur coat and an orange and white coloration (complete with black eyeliner) that we had never seen before in a dog (or since), we quickly decided that the mutt we had been searching for had found us, as we had always hoped she would. Naming her "Shayna Punim, the Wonder Dog" was something we came up with quickly. Sue knew that "Shayna Punim" was Yiddish and meant "Pretty Face":

shayna. in the yiddish language, means pretty, or beautiful. Shayna maidela! you look so shayna tonight sweetie. buy shayna mugs & shirts · shana pretty ...

punim. A yiddish word for face, or more specifically a cute face. Oy, look at the punim on that one! buy punim mugs & shirts. 

Shayna has been a dopey dog, but she is OUR dopey dog, and so we love her for what she is: not too bright, but tried hard to do what we wanted her to do. We trained her to NEVER go through a door without us saying "Okay" first (the Release word), and NEVER to go on the stairs in our home while we were on them - somehow, she learned all that. Impressive learning feats. But we could never teach her to fetch the paper, or get her to chase a ball. Oh well - at least Shayna didn't have to earn a living - just be our companion.

Kudos to friend and neighbor Anthony R. for providing us with an awesome book on how to train your dog. I always wanted a well-trained dog, but obedience school didn't seem like all it was cracked up to be. Instead, I followed the advice in the book: "a well-trained dog is a free dog", because you can take that trained dog anywhere, knowing that it will obey your commands and behave, and thus, not be stuck at home due to behavior ill-suited to outside the home.

Above: We staged this photo to illustrate all of a man's best friends: his dog, camping (camp chair), BBQing, smoking a stogie, with his truck by his side - all that's missing is a beer (oh, and my wife? - sorry darling...oops).

We waited to get a dog until the boys were old enough to appreciate having one. Shayna showed up right on time: Andrew was 6 and James was 4 years old when Shayna came into our life — perfect. We also planned on getting a mutt, and that the dog would live long enough for the boys to leave for college. This plan also worked: Andrew graduated from UCDavis in 2012, and James is a Junior at UCSantaBarbara right now. We were hoping the boys would NOT have to be at home when we put Shayna down — today's "Sad Day" — and the plan worked again.

We started our Waag and Co. law firm at our home in SLO in 1998, allowing Shayna to be an office dog. She hung out for most of the day under Sue's desk in her legal office; Sue enjoyed her silent partner under the table, and Shayna enjoyed being there. A few years back, Shayna could no longer make it upstairs to Sue's office, and that situation signaled the inevitable slippery-slope of old age and today's ultimate end. We were able to take Shayna on most of our family vacations (especially camping) and she was just a regular family dog.

Above: Andrew and James with Shayna at California's Mission San Juan Bautista on December 24, 2004.

Nobody that was around Shayna for long could say that she was not a strange dog. We concluded that she had a few short circuits in her brain. For instance, though she disliked the water, whenever we threw rocks into a lake, ocean or stream, she would go CRAZY and chase after the splashes, often barking and swimming far out into the ocean if we threw them far enough. You'd have to see it to believe this bizarre behavior.

Except for us (the family), Shayna would pretty much growl at ANYONE and EVERYONE, especially small children. Though she never bit anyone, the various dogsitters over the years can attest to how scary her snarls, growls and raised hackles could be. She had natural guard dog tendencies, but without the muscle to back it up! But she definitely looked scary when defending her territory. Her sweet looks combined with defensive tenacity were unfortunately, a bad combination. She looked like a dog that would love anyone, and thus invited uninvited familiarity and petting from strangers, which seldom ended with a happy stranger! Out in public, we always had to keep alert to strangers approaching her.

Shayna Punim,  the Wonder Dog

Rest In Peace

1996 - April 8, 2013

Being a photographer of sorts, I wanted to capture some peaceful moments from Shayna's last days. Here are a few of them, below. RIP, our sweet, sweet Shayna.

 Above: self portrait taken by Tim of the two of us together, about 5 days before her passing. We are both giving a despondent one-eyed look into the camera. We both seem to know the Sad Day is coming...

Above: Shayna loved sniffing the grass in our front yard, so we took her out there one more time on the Sad Day. Sue holds her up so she doesn't fall over. It was doubly hard to deal with her passing, because she still looked amazingly young and healthy for her age - only a cruel visual trick, sadly enough. Her health was failing rapidly, and we did not want her to suffer.

Above: Another (unintentional, this time) "man with dog" photo. Our Mako boat and Dodge Diesel truck in the background, along with "Man and his Dog". I carried her out to the front yard for the last time, for her to enjoy sniffing the grass to learn who/what had passed by recently. Though Shayna looks awkward in the photo, she always (strangely, for her) liked to be held like this by Tim. Sue thinks that was because of how often I picked her up to get her up, over or around an obstacle, or the many times I carried her out on the trail when her foot pads were damaged by sharp rocks.


*****12 comments:

November 10, 2014
Tim I am crying with happiness and sadness at your blog post. 
"happiness" because it sounds like you gave Shayna an amazing life.
"Sadness" because I know that feeling you and Julie are feeling.
I to have lost a wonderful friend and said I could never go through that pain again. And then along came an abused Pomeranian that needed a good home. So now I have "mister". He will never take the place of my bichon. And no other dog will ever take the place of him when it's time for us to say good bye. But oh how grateful I am to have him!!

April 10, 2013 at 1:11 PM
Tim and Sue,
I'm saddened by the news. Its so tough to lose such a great family member yet a great dog. Truly you must think of the days that were made richer from this pet coming into your life. Your blog was a great way for me to remember Shayna too. Our best wishes over the next week as you grieve and also enjoy the memories. -RA

April 10, 2013 at 1:13 PM
oh, i am sooooo sorry... i read your blog and it made me cry.

KR had to handle the whole brunt of our dog's passing by himself. he was quite heroic, but it was our dog's time.. i was off college-shopping with the kids when it happened and just couldn't come home in time.. 

i was desperate to be there with him at the end, but he couldn't wait for me. i am not ashamed to say that i pulled off the road multiple times those last few days because i couldn't drive... i was sobbing too much. 

i still miss the big lug... as you will always miss your sweet Shayna... but i promise you'll cry less often and be able to smile more when you talk about her...

sending condolences seems like a stupid phase... just know that we are thinking of you and know exactly how you feel and we empathize... not sympathize. -KR

July 1, 2014 at 11:23 AM
Nope, Rachel. I will always smile AND THEN CRY...like I am now. RIP Shayna.

April 10, 2013 at 1:14 PM
Sorry to hear about Shayna Guys. I know how hard it was for me when I went through this w/ a cat and a dog. -GD

April 10, 2013 at 1:15 PM
Sorry to hear about Shayna, guys. Her absence is going to take some getting used to. Thanks for letting me watch out for her, and thanks for the heads-up.

Best wishes, -GH

April 10, 2013 at 1:15 PM
Dear Tim and Sue,

I am so very sorry that you are having to say goodbye to a wonderful dog and longtime member of your family. Our pets are a huge part of our lives and always bring us love and joy.

She will be greatly missed, but always remembered.

My thoughts are with you. -WB

April 10, 2013 at 1:16 PM
Sweet picture. So today is the sad day. It's time. She's had a really great, long life and was well loved. So there's not much to be sad about except that I'm sure you'll miss her. My condolences on that. We'll crack open some wine tonight and raise a glass to a dog's life - she lived a good one. -WL

April 12, 2013 at 3:38 PM
We have had many dogs during our years of marriage. Each one has been a blessing and all are remembered - even today. We share in your sorrow. KT

April 15, 2013 at 4:40 PM
Dear Tim and Sue,
We have made a donation in memory of Shayna to the Woods Humane Society. This tribute gift is providing meaningful support for the cats and dogs in our care. 

With Sympathy,
-All of us at Woods Humane Society

January 30, 2014 at 8:58 PM
Deryl D: Agree Tim, sadly they do. I volunteer at my local shelter and cant believe the lady that runs the place bought a purebred Boxer. I find her to be heartless, some dogs that are there for months and she doesn't even know their names. I memorize them as it helps with training them to respond. As for example one of the workers bought a purebred bulldog the larger kind. There's many of them looking for homes. She says it's different because it's AKC whatever. Funny thing is she likes a boxer mix that has been around for a year or more and see this dog suffer daily but wasn't secure enough with her kindness to adopt Brook who is an amazing dog! I took Brook for a long walk to the river one day off leash and she stayed within 50 feet of me in the Redwood forrest. When we got there the look on her face was of sheer confusing joy , like what is this , what do I do, how can I make the most of these moments, can you teach me how to play. She muddled around in the mud , went swimming a bit , ran and splashed in delight. Just the look on her face was worth millions to see. I can't take them all home so I spend my time educating people of the suffering, begging and pleading with them to not look the other way of the reality of buying and breeding. Sometimes i feel like I make a difference and won't stop until I have no energy to do so. I am committed to them just as they are committed to us ♡

January 30, 2014 at 8:59 PM
Deryl D: I just read the blog. A story about a family and love, my favorite kind ♡♥♡!!!

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