By show of hands, who wants to wake up on a Tuesday morning, and head to the vet with a loved fifteen-year-old dog, who is tired, and really prepared to ditch the regiment of prednisone and blood pressure pills she’s been on, in favor of a long delicious sleep?!
To add insult to injury her hepatic cancer was burdened by some kind of stroke yesterday, that left her tilting to one side.
No one. No one wants to face that. But we must. It is part of the process, part of the amazing phenomenon of loving a dog, and letting him/her go.
I was first at the vet with Goosey, who was slowly dissolving in a towel in my arm. The vet took one look and that was it.
Goosey, was grey, as in Grey Goose. She was born in my yard and had two meals served to her every day of her 5,400 and something days.
She was a lucky dog.
I adopted her pregnant mom from Arashi beach in the spring of 2005, and Kaya promptly rewarded me for my hospitality with seven pups, which she laid under a bush in the yard.
We kept three pups, and mom.
They all had a charmed life.
Kaya was the first to go, she must have been 13, a few years later Bruiser, he was the biggest, a gentle giant, at 12, then Peanut Butter at 13, suffered a sudden heart-attack and was gone, now Goose, who enjoyed longevity, because she’s always been the most athletic, and the leanest!
Pay attention.
Trim is the secret.
We sometimes called her Gustavo, because she was not a girlie- girl dog. But she was the social hostess of my kingdom, and kept three other male mutts accountable for their digging, and peeing, in unauthorized places.
She was an excellent correction-officer, firm, but sweet.
Jacqueline B. from Criollo Trapper met me at the vet this morning, she just collected four pregnant females from one home t Iguana Morto. She said Goosey’s departure created a job vacancy, and looked at me in a certain way.
Soon I said. We are indeed looking for a social hostess, one capable of filling big shoes, because Goosey was the best.