Said good-bye to an old friend

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Gary Allan

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Our 19 year old beagle was put down yesterday. She was almost as old as our youngest daughter.

About a week ago, without any other symptoms, she just stopped eating and pretty much drinking too. Her usual forte was to gobble down her prepared breakfast and to drink ..I'd seriously say about a quart of water at a clip (or so it seemed) AFTER coming in from relieving herself.
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She had gotten quite demanding in the past few years. She would give that beagle sounding (range finding) wave when she wanted you to do something. You could kinda play "Lassie" with her.

"Give me a ping, Betsy. One ping only." Wooah~!

"What's the matter, girl?" Wooh!
"There's a lady, tied to the tracks?" Wooh!
"..and a train's coming?" Wooh-Wooh!
" ..and you want me to get Dad ..and the sheriff?" Wooh!

There was a time where my wife overfed her so much that she looked like a mature embedded tick. We got her trimmed down to pretty much normal weight for the last 5 years or so. She enjoyed going on walks and preferred me as the one holding the leash. I'm not sure why, but it made me feel good that she liked it that way.

She was most clever at puzzles where food was on the other end of the problem. When I would catch her, I would say, "Evil fat dog!!" and she used to immediately stop and go back where she belonged. In the last couple of years it evolved into eating the forbidden food faster before I could stop her. I had no intentions of stopping her in either case. It was just fun to catch her.

My sadness was not about having to put her down. It was that she had lived such a care free and happy life and that she could not possibly have understood what was happening to her. Some will say, "Sure, she's an animal" ..but that look of uncertainty ..that "quiet fear" was most painful for me to watch. You can comfort physical pain from injury and the like, but this was really pushing my empathetic buttons with my own feelings of helplessness/hopelessness.

My wife took it the hardest ..she was very sensitive to both dog's more subtle behaviors and much more tuned to how they "felt".

While I didn't have the super personal relationship with her that my wife did, I must say that I enjoyed indulging her and maintaining her illusions of "rightful peer" in the household.
 
i have lost 3 german shepherds over the years, it is very gut wrenching...my dad died 12 years ago today and this is usally a hard day for me...he is probably up there smoking a pipe with the dogs beside him...i had a incredibly vivid encounter with my last shepherd who was hit by a car, he visited me after he died maybe to let me know he was ok...it was like half real life and half real dream, i never had something like this happen before or since...the shepherd i had before him was peeing himself in my old car but after he died i smelled urine in my new car that he had never been in, my girlfriend noticed it too
 
my friends dad died in 1986 and his beagle pretty much died of a broken heart or he was very ugly and they had to put him down after his master died
 
Gary,

I am sorry to hear about your loss. There are many things that can be said but nothing can ease the pain you are feeling right now. Your little one had a good life and the love you all had for each other is priceless. Many people in this world will never know the unconditional love she gave and received. Do not kid yourself she ruled the house with an iron paw -- the same way my little Sheltie did. I will remember you tonight when I talk to the big guy.
 
Gary,

I am sorry about your loss.

We,my Mom really,have a standard Daschund that is 9 years old.We have had him since he was a puppy.He belonged to another person for a week or two but they returned him to the original owner.I worked with that owners neighbor and she told me about the puppies that were their.I went and looked at them and picked him out.We named him Peanut.He was really for my Mom,she was going through some things and Peanut helped to raise her spirits.Not long after getting him,he got parvo.We took him to the vet and he stayed in the hospital for a few days.We and the vet didnt know if he would get well or not but he did.Now,some people may think that this is odd but that little dog was prayed for.He did get better but he has had problems since and it seems the parvo is the cause.He is a fun little guy,he thinks he is ten feet tall and as mean as a grizzly.He has had some health problems over the years and more so here lately.We even had to go yesterday to get him some medicine.There is a bond that a person has with these little guys and unless a person has ever had a dog,they cant understand the feelings that one has when they are gone.I lost Butch,a Chow/Lab mix a few years ago and there I times that I think about him to this day.
 
Gary, I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I/We have had many pets and have had to put down several so I guess I know what you are going thru. Obviously she had a great life with your family and couldn't have asked for more but I know that feeling at the end. The helpless pain that you can't fix it this time just pulls my insides out.

To paraphrase A line from the late George Carlin, "When you purchase a pet, you are purchasing a tragedy. Either you are going to mourn when the pet is gone or you will be gone." I think any passing of things (animate and inanimate) close to us reminds us of our temporal existence - the transitory nature of life. But I also believe its all an illusion. We are a manifestation of energy in this realm, if you will. And as we know, energy can not be destroyed, only transfered, so perhaps we will all meet again, hopefully in a better place.

Again, sorry to hear of your loss.
 
my prayers are with youand your wife.so sorry dude.
i think it may have been kipling who said words to the effect--to own a dog is to know one day you will weep
 
There isn't much to add to the expressions already given but I will add that I personally believe that God has made everything with a purpose, a purpose that often we cannot know or understand. In the case of dogs, I think they know and understand far more than many people are willing to give them credit for.

I believe God must have put them here to show mankind what pure selfless love is, what devotion is, and to set a perfect example to us of how we should relate one to another. Of all the creatures on earth only one, the dog, chooses to live with and among us. No other being in all creation gives more of itself to us, and expects less from us in return, than does our dog!

I believe that a dog, for a lack of other words, is in many ways, like a "person," a person with certain obvious limitations. Anyone who has knowledge of a dog knows his dog has a vocabulary of words that it thoroughly understands, a set of likes and dislikes, and a certain affinity for members of its "pack or family" just as we do as humans.

But to know and love a dog is to know something of happiness, to know there is joy in life, and certainly to know sadness and grief when that little soul's time has come to pass on. And yet, when that little life passes, even then it prepares us in many ways to prepare for and accept more easily, the passing of those people in our lives that we are most unwilling to let go.

There are many of us who understand your loss.

Will Rogers once said it best: "If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."
 
Sorry for your loss Gary. We had to say good bye to our best friend 2 years ago. He had brain cancer, and his last two weeks were very difficult, it was hard to say good-bye. I knew that last night when we carried all 100+ pounds of him to my van he wasn't coming home, he knew it too. We were hoping he had vertigo, and the vet was treating him for that, but deep inside we knew that wasn't the case. The house is empty and my wife and I miss him everyday.


19 years was a good long life for a dog, she was truly Blessed!
 
Gary,
I had some sand in my left eye for so long, and you just helped me flush it out.
-
-
My Condolences on the loss of your "family member".

-AG
 
My most sincere condolences.

As someone who has lived all 65 years with at least one dog, and who generally prefers the company of dogs to most people I can empathize with your loss. I've had to do that very same thing far too many times, and it never gets easier.

19 years is a very old age for a beagle and a testament to the care that you clearly gave her over her life.
 
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