The loss of a great dog

[snuffy]

How to start this--? Well just say it I guess--. Arrow had to be put down Tuesday. !! The emotional pain is intense. Such an all around good dog, the best behaved and most loving animal I've ever seen. His sarcoma tumor burst through the skin on his belly, the bleeding was heavy the last 24 hours . There was no fixing it, the hide was stretched to the breaking point, no way to close the skin with stitches. It would only have delayed the inevitable anyway.


Dr. Dianne (owner at the clinic), did a good job on giving me an extra 6 months with him by removing the first tumor. The regrowth was a harder more aggressive cancer, she didn't think she could remove the new growth, or that Arrow would survive another surgery.


Karen, my daughter-in-law came in to comfort me and sat with me during the procedure. She works at the vet clinic. Saying goodbye is so darn hard, why do we open ourselves to such pain. I'll eventually get another dog, so to begin another bonding, experiencing the pain of loss again.


I just wish the rainbow bridge had visiting hours!

He just turned 12 on 10-30. I had him since he was 2, my son's BIL had him before.

[rockrat]

Oh man, I feel your pain. So sorry to hear of the loss of your friend

[cephas53]

Condolences.

[kmw1954]

suffy I know exactly what you are going thru. We had to put down our 14yo. Sheltie Roscoe this summer. We had him since he was a 9 week old puppy. Even our 5yo. Husky Diesel went into Morning. This was Roscoe and Diesel on his last morning.

[kmw1954]

This is our newest addition and Diesels new best friend MAX. He is now 13 weeks old.



Max and Diesel

[RogerDat]

Condolences. Our Standard Schnauzer is recovering from having two mammary and teats removed this week due to a tumor forming. No results yet from pathologist but she had a small tumor removed from a back leg on same side back in 2013 and the cells in this one were not "right".

She seems to be happy and doing ok, if a bit tired and not liking the cone of shame but we know eventually we will probably be facing the same difficult choice you did where returning their love will mean having the heartache of doing what is right for them by easing them on their way rather than trying to selfishly hold on.

[shoot-n-lead]

Sorry for your loss...it is tough to lose a good dog.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I've gone through the pain of the departure of many a great dog myself. Some slipped away in sleep, a few had to be put to sleep. It's never easy, but it's the last kindness you can show them.

[snuffy]

Thanks for the thoughts and concerns. Time has already healed my thoughts to the degree that I can smile about some of his quirks instead of start choking up or tears start rolling down my cheeks. It'll be a while before I will go more than 5 minutes without thinking about him.

I waited too long for my prior pooch Ziggy. He had some skin disease, ( the vet couldn't decide if it was bacterial or fungal), and his front end was so bad he needed my help to get down the front steps. The vet techs asked if I wanted Dr. Dianne to look at it to see if there were something that could be done to stop the bleeding. I said no, it's time! As much as I wanted to hang on, I was NOT going to wait too long again. Sure now I have second thoughts, if I had done this or that he might still be here beside me.

PETA will tell us we are mistreating our pets by imprisoning them, forcing them to satisfy us. What PETA doesn't understand is how much our dogs love us. How faithful they are, how much they will sacrifice to please us. As bad as Arrow felt in the last minutes, he wanted nothing else but to be petted, to have his fur stroked just one more time. He'd lost so much blood the vein to place the catheter, low blood pressure.

[labradigger1]

So sorry for your loss.
Dogs are the best people ever created.

[smokeywolf]

Words cannot describe the sadness I feel. Arrow was a beautiful dog. When we take them into our house and our heart, we also assume the heart-breaking responsibility of seeing to it they don't suffer. It is the final act of love.
Timber (my avatar) will be 10 this month. When we got him, he was the size of a loaf of bread.

[Lloyd Smale]

I lost my dog elmer this spring. Ive had many dogs but this one will allways be the ONE. He was such a great dog and such a great friend. My eyes still water up when I think of him. He was more a son then a pet. I know how you feel right now and wouldn't wish it on anyone.

[buckwheatpaul]

snuffy, I cant begin to say how sorry I am at the loss of Arrow. It sounds like he was quite a remarkable companion and will be waiting for you and your family at the rainbow bridge. In our home our dogs are all old, kind of like us, and they truly run the show. Sir, you have my sincerely condolences for you and your family loss.....Paul

[Ballistics in Scotland]

You did what you could with the first tumour. There are people who would have a dog put down as soon as they realise he is going to cost (their words, not mine) more than he is worth.

Offensive noises to PETA for not understanding a couple of important instincts a dog has. He has loyalty to his family, even if the outsider is a dog and the family member is a parakeet who tweaks his nose. He also likes being talked to. I've seen that in Arabian wild dogs who probably hadn't been owned by anyone in a hundred generations. They make friends, for most of the year regardless of sex, like horses. In some ways they are much more like us than apes are. In that same country I would have been very wary about getting out of the car to feed baboons.

This one, surely familiar to any Australian who knows dingos, has lucked out with a house-dog's job with a friend of mine, and immediately behaved more appropriately than most purpose-bred pets. She is now an old dog, in retirement with him in Spain, and I imagine her with Spanish pets who brag about their exploits, and thinking "I've been! I've seen!"



Many years ago our old Labrador died, and our cairn terrier (a jealous little control freak of whom you would never have expected it) started to mope. She would take no exercise and became so fat she was hollow across the back. We had to carry her to the park, and I worried about heart failure every time I saw her dash to any big yellow dog, bouncing frantically for a moment, then relapsing into inactivity as she realised her mistake.

So I had to get a puppy in a hurry, i.e. a slightly dubious but beautiful foxy collie for thirty shillings in a Glasgow petshop. The cairn was violently jealous. She wouldn't bite a puppy - only a neurotic dog will do that - but for three weeks she wouldn't come into the same room. Then the ;ittle black nose levered the door open, and they started wrestling frantically until the collie was too big. The fat fell away like lightning, and she became the healthiest fifteen-year-old dog I ever saw.

[Goatwhiskers]

And so the cycle starts again. We raise Pembroke Welsh Corgis on a very small scale and the younger female had her litter last night, two tri-color males, both already promised to good homes. Our dogs live in the house, a red/white male, a r/w female(new mom), and a tri female. All have a piece of my heart along with the ones that have gone before. GW

[BNE]

Losing your buddy is tough. I lost "Honey" over a year and a half ago. Still brings tears to my eyes.

[Freightman]

I had to put down the last three friends over the last 35 years, get another asap believe me it helps enhance your memory, and who else will be as loyal and love you unconditionally?😞

[lightman]

Its tough to loose a good friend. Best wishes and condolences.

[Teddy (punchie)]

Darn rough it changed me at 15. I never felt the same after that loss. God Bless !!

[w5pv]

I have lost a good many good friends the past 70 years but there is always one that comes to mine first, the first family pet that I can remember. He was my dad's hunting dog a black cur dog that he called Ratus because he was solid black. To us kids he was a playmate and a protector I still have very fond memoirs of him. I remember one time a family friend was coming to visit and my younger brother went to meet him and he put the brother in a tote sack and this old dog went ballistic. My dad had to run out catch the dog before he really got a good bite on the friend. A good laugh for everyone afterwards but the old dog was serious.