Friday, August 7, 2009

Doggie Heaven

Doggie Heaven

We have had to put down 2 dogs in our lifetime. What a gut wrentcher. Fred was a 50lb cross breed: half Saint Bernard and half German Sheppard. She was the size and shape of the sheppard with the long hair of the Saint. We got her as a puppy and enjoyed her for 15 years.

Sabbath was a Newfoundland that we got from the Dumb Friends League. She was jet black and a good friend for Fred. When our kids were small they would climb all over Sabbath and she would just look at them as if she was saying "thanks for the attention" I will always remember how her eyes rolled up in her head when she was injected. It was sad to lose her but she was not really "living" at that stage.

We all dread days like that but one old quote says it well: "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

So it is.

What about you? Have you ever had a similar experience?

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2 comments:

Sharon said...

I also prefer dogs to cats, but our cat Mercedes was the one exception. She was a really great cat and even those who normally didn't like cats liked her. She was a stray cat that adopted us and just moved into the family. We had her for most of my life, and she as a good member of the family.

One day I came home and she was laying in my room on the floor. When I picked her up to say hello, she was totally limp. I rushed her to the vet, and they told us she was dehydrated and would need some tests, so I could leave her for the night and they'd call when they knew what was wrong. As soon as I got home from the vet, they called and said that she was dying of kidney failure and would need to be put down. I drearily made my way back to the vet.

But by the time I drove down to the vet, Mercedes had already died. I had expected to say goodbye to her, but she had already gone. I wish I'd let her die at home, where she was comfortable and had lived most of her life, but instead she died in a cage, probably very scared and alone. I'll always regret taking her in.

Dave Thyfault said...

Well Sharon, it sounds to me like you did all of the right things. Your primary duty was to protect the pet and you did that. The fact that you were not there for the final moment is sad but there was not much you could have done, given those facts. Don't beat yourself up. You did well on everything you could control.