Death of a Friend's Dog
Alana,
I always thought dogs were dogs and humans and humans and couldn't understand why people have so much emotional attachments to their pets. That is until Sonnie and I had our first dog together shortly after we got married.
He was the cutest golden retriever I have ever seen, dark red with an attitude, tiny enough to stuff him into my jacket when I ran errands. He was a relatively slow learner, taking about a week to learn how to heel and sit properly at an age of just 8 weeks. He slept with us on our bed, warmed our feet during bone chilling Minnesotan nights. We always referred him as our "first son."
Fast forward about 9 months...
He started to limp. We thought perhaps he pulled a muscle chasing after some Canadian geese at the park across the street. It didn't get any better as the time went on, so we brought him to the vet. She said both of his hips were dislocated due to a hip dyplisia, a common occurrence for big dogs with not-so-great family tree. The operation would cost $2000, and he was going to get a lot worse without it. We loved him, but at the same time we had to draw the line somewhere. We asked the vet to put him to sleep. What could we do? We were newlyweds just starting out. I kept telling myself that he was just an animal and it was better this way, but could not stop myself from crying, letting go of a puppy just 9 months old. The vet saw how sad we were, so she said perhaps somebody will adopt him and get the operation done. I knew she was just saying that to make us feel better. Who in the world was going to adopt a dog that needed a $2000 operation?
Fast forward a week..
We get a phone call from the vet. She said somebody DID adopt him and gave him the operation. Even though we were not allowed to see him, we were ecstatic that Sen (the dog's name) was alive and well. It seemed pretty miraculous.
Fast forward 6 months..
A friend of a friend told us a wonderful story of a vet who had a dog that needed to be put to sleep because the owner could not afford an expensive operation. Instead giving him the needle, she operated on him at her expense and gave him to her sister. You guessed it, she was THE vet. What a wonderful story, what a compassion. We later visited her and showed her our gratitude.
I don't know animals have souls like we do, but I know they are full of life, being loved by us. If there is a good place dogs go after death, I am sure yours is there.
I always thought dogs were dogs and humans and humans and couldn't understand why people have so much emotional attachments to their pets. That is until Sonnie and I had our first dog together shortly after we got married.
He was the cutest golden retriever I have ever seen, dark red with an attitude, tiny enough to stuff him into my jacket when I ran errands. He was a relatively slow learner, taking about a week to learn how to heel and sit properly at an age of just 8 weeks. He slept with us on our bed, warmed our feet during bone chilling Minnesotan nights. We always referred him as our "first son."
Fast forward about 9 months...
He started to limp. We thought perhaps he pulled a muscle chasing after some Canadian geese at the park across the street. It didn't get any better as the time went on, so we brought him to the vet. She said both of his hips were dislocated due to a hip dyplisia, a common occurrence for big dogs with not-so-great family tree. The operation would cost $2000, and he was going to get a lot worse without it. We loved him, but at the same time we had to draw the line somewhere. We asked the vet to put him to sleep. What could we do? We were newlyweds just starting out. I kept telling myself that he was just an animal and it was better this way, but could not stop myself from crying, letting go of a puppy just 9 months old. The vet saw how sad we were, so she said perhaps somebody will adopt him and get the operation done. I knew she was just saying that to make us feel better. Who in the world was going to adopt a dog that needed a $2000 operation?
Fast forward a week..
We get a phone call from the vet. She said somebody DID adopt him and gave him the operation. Even though we were not allowed to see him, we were ecstatic that Sen (the dog's name) was alive and well. It seemed pretty miraculous.
Fast forward 6 months..
A friend of a friend told us a wonderful story of a vet who had a dog that needed to be put to sleep because the owner could not afford an expensive operation. Instead giving him the needle, she operated on him at her expense and gave him to her sister. You guessed it, she was THE vet. What a wonderful story, what a compassion. We later visited her and showed her our gratitude.
I don't know animals have souls like we do, but I know they are full of life, being loved by us. If there is a good place dogs go after death, I am sure yours is there.
posted by Bill Voelker at
8:53 AM
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