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memorial - an old grief.
Aug. 16th, 2007 02:21 pmThis is a rather old photo. Pony, the large dog in the antlers died in August of 2001. Silver, the small dog, died in June of 2003.
I was reading on my Dog Board this morning and someone was celebrating that 6 years ago today they got their dog and I realized that yes we had an anniversary too... six years ago August 6 we put our beloved Pony to sleep.
She was so sweet. She looks so unimpressed here.
We saddled her with a stupid name. So what she was going to be a big dog. She deserved better, a better name, better than us.
She loved to sleep in the bed. And we never let her because everyone told us we should never let the dog sleep in our bed...it would lead to behaviour issues. So we'd always come home to the sound of her feet hitting the floor as she jumped out of bed. She loved everyone. She didn't care if you walked her, it was great if you did but... you know, she understood we were busy. She didn't demand anything. She was content to just hang out. If you were around so much the better, but she was never needy or jealous or had to stick like glue to your side. She loved people, all people, strangers, friends, everyone. She especially liked kids, they'd come up and throw their arms around her and she'd just stand there smiling.
She used to come over and snuffle my hair whenever I was 'within snuffling distance' of course.
We were such terrible people/pet owners. We didn't know better.
We got her from a reputable breeder, we signed a non-breeding agreement. Which didn't mean that we couldn't breed her but only that the woman that sold her to us had the right to pick the sire of her puppies and she had rights to one of the puppies from the litter. So... we planned to show her and then breed her... except life got in the way. At age 5 she tore a tendon in her leg. No big deal. It's a fairly common injury for a large breed dog. But they warned me that she was a 'senior' and so... surgery was a risk for her. A year later when they wanted to spay her... I didn't see the point. We knew she wasn't going to have puppies but we'd always been careful to keep her isolated and it's not like her heat cycles were really even evident. (In retrospect, the vet thought maybe her reproductive organs had been immature since she'd never evidenced a heat.)
In July of 2001. She got sick. very sick. It turned out that she had cancer of the uterus, and ovaries and it had spread through most of her abdomen. She lived another couple weeks with us hoping all the way that she was going to make it. No we didn't take extreme measures - when it was obvious that she just wasn't going to recover from the surgery... we let her go.
It was my fault baby, I miss you.
Yes I have Pandora and Mason now. Yes I spoil them rotten because I wish I could indulge you. Yes I know about breed rescue now. So I'll never have that ludicrous idea that breeding puppies would be a good idea. Pandora taught me that pediatric spay was an equally stupid idea but that's another story.
I know I would have lost you eventually but... sweetheart, I miss you.
*please spay and neuter your pets*
I was reading on my Dog Board this morning and someone was celebrating that 6 years ago today they got their dog and I realized that yes we had an anniversary too... six years ago August 6 we put our beloved Pony to sleep.
She was so sweet. She looks so unimpressed here.
We saddled her with a stupid name. So what she was going to be a big dog. She deserved better, a better name, better than us.
She loved to sleep in the bed. And we never let her because everyone told us we should never let the dog sleep in our bed...it would lead to behaviour issues. So we'd always come home to the sound of her feet hitting the floor as she jumped out of bed. She loved everyone. She didn't care if you walked her, it was great if you did but... you know, she understood we were busy. She didn't demand anything. She was content to just hang out. If you were around so much the better, but she was never needy or jealous or had to stick like glue to your side. She loved people, all people, strangers, friends, everyone. She especially liked kids, they'd come up and throw their arms around her and she'd just stand there smiling.
She used to come over and snuffle my hair whenever I was 'within snuffling distance' of course.
We were such terrible people/pet owners. We didn't know better.
We got her from a reputable breeder, we signed a non-breeding agreement. Which didn't mean that we couldn't breed her but only that the woman that sold her to us had the right to pick the sire of her puppies and she had rights to one of the puppies from the litter. So... we planned to show her and then breed her... except life got in the way. At age 5 she tore a tendon in her leg. No big deal. It's a fairly common injury for a large breed dog. But they warned me that she was a 'senior' and so... surgery was a risk for her. A year later when they wanted to spay her... I didn't see the point. We knew she wasn't going to have puppies but we'd always been careful to keep her isolated and it's not like her heat cycles were really even evident. (In retrospect, the vet thought maybe her reproductive organs had been immature since she'd never evidenced a heat.)
In July of 2001. She got sick. very sick. It turned out that she had cancer of the uterus, and ovaries and it had spread through most of her abdomen. She lived another couple weeks with us hoping all the way that she was going to make it. No we didn't take extreme measures - when it was obvious that she just wasn't going to recover from the surgery... we let her go.
It was my fault baby, I miss you.
Yes I have Pandora and Mason now. Yes I spoil them rotten because I wish I could indulge you. Yes I know about breed rescue now. So I'll never have that ludicrous idea that breeding puppies would be a good idea. Pandora taught me that pediatric spay was an equally stupid idea but that's another story.
I know I would have lost you eventually but... sweetheart, I miss you.
*please spay and neuter your pets*
