“Yesterday was weird. I couldn’t get myself out of bed. The guy I live with lifted me up. I tried to get my legs under me, but they wouldn’t cooperate. He said, ‘Don’t worry, I gotcha buddy,’ carried me downstairs, and out the front door.”
“Doctor pants lady said, ‘He must have an incredible will to stay with you. He is really powering through. That’s impressive.’
“My person choked back tears and said, ‘I know. This guy lives for me. He is the most devoted soul I’ve ever met…’
“We put our heads together, and closed our eyes. I felt good. I can’t really describe it. We looked at each other again.
“I just felt like riding that buzz, but maybe lying down was better. My person helped me down. Man, that felt gooooooood,”
This begins an open letter a dog owner wrote that imagines what the last day with Benny was like from his perspective.
letter here
ht/ lir
If this doesn’t ring your bell, you have no clapper.
*sniff*, damn you Fur, I told you I was chopping onions for that casserole…
I have a 14 year old Pom, that has epilepsy, is incontinent and just found out the cough he has is from a heart murmur and he has congestive heart failure. He’s on medication to try and get rid of some fluid but he’s lost a lot of weight and I know he’s coming close to his time to go. This post made me break down.
Has there ever been an article here that was less than two clicks away???
This post made me emotional, and I am glad about it.
My Ruby…a german shorthair was near 16 years old, incontinent, near blind and going ever more deaf….and the dear soul pulled on her leash to go see her favorite vet….What a friend, what a dog…
The emotions are more like losing a child than losing man’s best friend. It is a shame that a dog’s life is usually 8-14 years. Why do turtles and parrots get to live so long?
To this day I cannot do it again. But I know many that repeat the years of good times with this tragedy by adopting a new family member. And may God bless them!
Brings into memory all the dogs that I’ve been blessed with over my life time. The joy, love and devotion they share far outweighs the loss we experience from their short life span.
Tears…..memories flooding forth of my dear Felix.
I am on my 4th black lab. 2 was a rescue, all the others were mine since puppydom. All are buried on the island I live on now, 2 in the yard I borrow from God for my brief time here. If you can’t love dogs and learn from them…..
nevermind…I’m shutting up now….
I can’t have a dog anymore. I had to be hospitalized when the last one died.
I thought I’d be ok but I just fell apart.
Luckily my memory is bad and after a year I forgot about it.
i endured an eternity of dragging my dog home on plastic tablecloths, because i was not strong enough to pick him up, and he kept collapsing in creeks or wherever….when the neighbor’s dog went into heat, i had to follow him and bring him home, because he was too deaf to hear me calling him….i built him a “handicapped” ramp so i could support him up into the house….i cleaned up his puddles and listened to the family complain about the smell for two years…..i listened to him howl, and sometimes – i am ashamed i did not always – sat with him …..
all because no one else in the house would accept the inevitable…..the dog had his good days, and so i heard:
“he can walk well enough when he WANTS to”……
he finally died alone on the front porch……i will have to pay for that…..
we got him when he was eleven days old, because his mom had no milk…….i bottle fed him…..i was his mother, as far as he was concerned, and i failed him when he needed me…….
i am a sorry sack of s**t……..but he will run to meet me when we meet again……..because he’s a dog, and that’s what dogs do…….
i don’t know whether to end 🙂 ..or :(…….
The Hunt
Twilight Zone 1962
Travelers to unknown regions would be well-advised to take along the family dog. He could just save you from entering the wrong gate. At least, it happened that way once – in a mountainous area of the Twilight Zone.
My dog had a rough day Sunday – he lost an hour of sleep because we moved the clocks forward Saturday night. Messed him up. He needed a nap about noonish. And an extra treat.
Menderman, My dad and his wife are on their third black lab. She is a beaut! They always say “no more” then when we go to visit them next, it’s all puppy is jumping around and licking the kids.
I’ve been thu this a couple times. Believe when I tell you they know they’re dying. The last one hit so hard the wife had to take him to the vet. Hey what can I say, hunting buddy and I’m a puss. I still morn them like humans I’ve lost.
ps…
his name was jeepers……because he was over three weeks old and still his eyes had not opened….and i said to him “jeepers creepers, when you gonna get some eyes?”….and – voila – he opened his eyes……a border collie/english spaniel mix…….
remind me not to read these posts about dying pets………
Except for one of my wife’s cats that played chicken with a Dodge 4X4 I have personally put down every animal I have owned when it was time.
I have never been selfish enough to force any of them to live beyond the point where they were capable of doing what they were put on this earth to do, nor have I ever passed on my final obligation to another person.
I also do not personify them. They are animals and deserve to be allowed to be what they are.
The bond between my dogs and I is unbreakable, however, they don’t burden me with their emotional issues and I don’t burden them with mine.
yup…..still crying……
still got two dogs and four cats to go…….sigh…..
Damn it, we should be politicking right now!
It is the eve of the Ides of March, Florida and Ohio.
Yet what, damnit what, I’ve got these damn tears in my eyes because I don’t know what I will do when my Roxy chihuahua…
She is ten years old and still mobile.
She has slowed as have I.
Yet the thought crosses…
How do you even know what to do when they die?
Where do you bury them?
How?
It will drain me like nothing else.
I don’t want the life sucked out of me.
She was just a pup when I first laid eyes on her.
My girlfriend brought he home.
She was one pound fourteen ounces.
She didn’t know how to bark.
The chihuahua breed typically attaches to one person.
That was me.
My girlfriend left but I got the best deal I could ever have.
I kept my Roxy.
and that’s AFTER i swore NEVER AGAIN……sigh……. 🙂
JohnS, Congratulations so your point is that you have dogs, shoot them dead in their old age then:
“they don’t burden me with their emotional issues and I don’t burden them with mine.”
You’re a real tough guy. Glad I’m not you.
JohnS:
“they don’t burden me with their emotional issues and I don’t burden them with mine.”
That pretty much sums up why assholes like you live in a state that is so gung-ho for assisted suicide.
Wow!
What exactly do you think the bond between man & dog is if not emotional?
apparently, iotw people are all a bunch of wimps, where our pets are concerned……
and i kinda think that’s a good thing…… 🙂
lost 2 dogs in 3 years. I cant do it again.
When you are sorrowful, look in your heart and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
— Gibran
except, of course, for the much reviled john s….
the only one here who has spoken with the voice of REASON, as opposed to the voice of THE HEART…..
i don’t know how you can do it, john s, but yours is actually the correct position…they are animals……just animals……
only……even animals are beloveds…….sometimes…….
I SUPPORT JOHN S FOR TAKING THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY TO TAKE CARE OF HIS ANIMALS’ FINAL NEEDS ON HIS OWN, WITHOUT PAYING SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT……
SO THERE
Chuck, I support that too. That’s not the point. The point is love for a dog by an individual or family and what that dog gives them. Do you have Amazon Prime? Look up “Hacki”, the movie.
Sorry Chuck, Hachi”, the movie.
My Angus turns a year old in a week.
I used to do a lot of rescues. It pains me still.
But this one dog.
This Angus, he will live the life of Reilly
And
That’s how you know you’re going to Heaven, you can hear the barking from a good ways off
Dogs and cats are great to have and very tough to lose.
I live with my dogs like few others I’ll wager. I commend JohnS for taking care of his animals when it’s time-me? They have usually died in my arms-very few times has one died alone-I can tell. I’m 64 and my 2 GSD are much nearer the end-one, Crockett is absolutely the best ever in a lifetime of dogs. It’s going to be tough, don’t know if I have the time for more-it’d be the first time in my life without a dog.
I thought it was Obama’s story with Reggie carrying him out…..
Our miracle dog is still with us, and still encouraging me on those days when the aches and pains pay more attentive visits.
Harry got loose about seven years ago – broke the metal clasp on his runner lead. He’s part working dog so he ran around trying to find something to herd. That old Dodge Monaco didn’t want to be herded, and Harry ended up under the rear left wheel, and as fate would have it, was under that tire when the driver locked his brakes.
When he came running to me from the road, wild-eyed, bloody, strands of muscle and bone hanging from him, I started to say my goodbyes as I held him close. “No,” said the wife, “we can fix this.”
Long story short, he lost his right rear leg at the hip, lost about 40% of the muscle mass of his left rear leg, and suffered damage in both hips and his abdomen. Today, out little tripawd gets around just fine without wheels, still loves to play soccer, and herds our cats effectively when they get feisty. Sure, with age he moves slower and gets tired easier, so we replace that space with more cuddle time.
When it’s his time to go, it’s gonna be a rough one. Like the pair in the story above, we often just put our heads together, eyes closed, and I can feel it from him… “Everything’s gonna be OK.” I hope he can feel that from me, too.
I never knew I could feel this way about an animal. I call him my best friend, and he really is.
This is Harry in action five months after his accident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_IWuxExLs0
.
Friday marks one year since we had to put our beloved Jody to sleep. My heart is still broken in a million pieces. That dog made me a better person.
We had ours put to sleep about 2 1/2 years ago, but at 17 1/2 years old he had run a long race and lived a good life knowing nothing but love the whole time. It was the hardest thing to take him on his final ride to the Vet, but we also knew that his life was miserable the way he was. We miss him a lot, but have many pictures and videos in his memory. There will never be another one like him.
Meerkat and Loco;
So you guys think hiring someone to kill your animals is morally superior, the person you hired is the asshole, not you.
As to the ’emotional’ part;
If you truly connected with your animal rather than blocking that connection by viewing it as human like you would understand what I am talking about. I guess watching Bambi fixed your understanding of animals at an early age and there has been no progress since.