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LaTigresse -> RE: tomorow we take sparky tp be put to sleep (10/18/2008 8:40:10 AM)
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YourHand, my heart goes out to you. I've had pets most of my 46 years. So many times I've cursed the fact that their healthy life span is so much shorter than ours.
When we moved down here to the farm, we had three dogs. Molly, a sweet, aged black lab that was my son's best friend through difficult teen years. Bella, a beautiful, too smart for her own good, elegant, shepherd mix that went to work with me often, and ruled her domain, as my sidekick, without question. Her presence was so much bigger than her 80 pounds. Then there was Rusty, a huge 110# golden retriever, that was such a gentle giant after his rehabilitation. He came to us already in middle years and brought a comic relief to many days. I will never forget watching my first grand crawling over him, poking baby fingers into eyes, ears and a mouth big enough to fit over that fragile baby head. Or, as a toddler standing on a sleeping, living, big hairy red step to see out the windows to watch the horses. That dog would lay so still with those bony little heels digging into his ribs.
All three of them kept me company through many military deployments, when the guy that lives here at the farm, was gone. They gave my kids unconditional love through their teens when it was very hard to like them, they guarded, they entertained, they frustrated and made me late for work on occasion. Hunting season was guaranteed to lure them down by the river at least once a year to investigate what the deer hunters left. Usually coming back, after they heard the tone of my voice change when calling, stinking to high heaven, requiring an instant bath. All in all, three of the best dogs of my life.
All three are gone now, first Molly whom I chose to euthanize rather than put her through the hell of beginning treatment for diabetes. She was an old dog that had been severely tramatized before I adopted her and would not have dealt with the ongoing vet stays well at all. Bella died in midstride, running in the yard chasing a rabbit one frosty morning. I was so devastated by her loss it still brings tears to my eyes 4 years later. Rusty was also euthanized due to cancer. Three dogs gone in three consecutive years.
I believe in quality of life. My pets give me so very much. Taking Molly and Rusty in to be put down was awful. Comforting and holding Molly in her fear of the vet's office, and both she and Rusty as they slipped away.........so hard. But it was my way of repaying them for all the difficult times they comforted me and my family. The joy and love they gave. The smiles their memories still give.
There are three different dogs here now. Each as special in their own way. Someday their time to go will come and it will be just as painful. I hope I will be there with them to cry in their fur and thank them for the joy and love they give me every day.
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