Even when they've been gone for years we can still miss them like it was just yesterday that we said good bye.



***Warning: This is not a happy story. ***

Here's my poor Duncan. He was a rescue brought up here to New England from a high-kill shelter in West Virginia. We had him for almost a year before he started to become increasingly aggressive, and he attacked my then 10 year old son, biting him in the face. It was one of the hardest days of my life. I not only had to spend hours at the ER with my son, having his face stitched up, but then I spent hours on the phone trying to find someone to take my dog, so his life would be spared. In the end I had to take him to be euthanized that evening and I felt such remorse. :o(

Oh Clam, that's such a sad story and Duncan was such a beautiful dog. It's a shame that his past experiences influenced his behaviour in such a bad way.

I was bitten badly on my face as a small child too by a friends Afghan Hound and it is traumatic. I was fine but could never go near their dog again so never went back to their house.

I can't post pictures but wanted to put my guys on here.

Scamp was our first dog, a mongrel terrier who we had for around sixteen years. We got him when I was three and he spent most of his life running away from us at every opportunity to beg outside the local fish and chip shop. His eyesight got bad in the end and he used to run around the wrong side of an open door to bark if anyone rang the doorbell. He'd be standing there barking at the wall with this confused look on his face, wondering where the people were.

Then we had our first German Shepard, Jasper, when I was ten. He was beautiful and as I have said before, he liked to drop cricket balls from our roof garden onto the chickens next door. He was very brave and loving and was my best friend for ten years. He died the year after we lost Scamp and I think partly it was from missing his friend.

When Jasper died my parents got Jed, another German Shepard, and he was like a big black bear. He never quite lived up to Jaspers standards and it turned out he was from a bad breed. He wasn't as intellegent or as friendly but he was a good dog. He liked to herd people and gather things up into piles. He started to have seizures and had to be put to sleep when he was seven.

I can't ever remember not having a dog, other than the two months between losing Jasper and getting Jed. My first memory is the night Scamp arrived.

We had a similar experience clam, it's so heartbreaking.

When we lived in Nova Scotia we bought our first house, an old farm house with 9 acres of land and we promised our daughters that we could get a dog. We got a sweet mongrel puppy from the shelter, named him Wally, 'cause he had whiskers and looked sort of like a walrus. He was wonderful, loved all 4 of us, was gentle and so smart. He was recorded as a bearded collie and a "midnight marauder" cross.

We had him for two wonderful years. Then my husband was posted out west and had to leave us behind for 8 months while we sold the house and the girls finished up the school year. Almost as soon as my husband left Wally took over the role as guardian of the house. He wouldn't let any men into the house, so any male friends who came to visit had to be escorted in by one of the girls or me. Any utility people who came to the house I had to lock Wally away because he just went wild. It was a complete change of personality on his part.

When we finally moved out west we had to move into military housing and Wally lost the freedom he'd been used to. We still took him on lots of walks, but he had to stay on a leash. He still hated men and started biting at them at every opportunity. We asked for help from our vet and tried various training suggestions. (This was before The Dog Whisperer). Finally Wally bit a man and then a little boy and we realized we couldn't trust him anymore and had to have him euthenized. It was the hardest decision we've ever had to make. The vet was unknown to us, totally unfriendly, unsympathetic and cold and we were all heartbroken. To him it was just a vicious dog that needed to be put down. My eldest daughter has said she will never get another dog because it just hurt too much to lose Wally.

My mini-schnauzers appealed to me so much initially because they had whiskers and reminded me of Wally :-) I think that's why I like all whiskery dogs now.

#4 - *big commiserating hugs*
So sorry to hear the tale of your poor Wally.
:o/
I'll bet you still miss him in some ways.

Oh we do, we still talk about him lots. And if you were to ask my family which dog is/was their favourite, it would unanimously be Wally.

(except me, I'd say Lady, but that's just me)

Duncan looks like he was such a sweetie. It's an incredibly hard decision isn't it? Such stress! Son's face getting stitched up, then having Duncan put down. :( That's what we found so hard. Wally would be just fine when he was with us, it was when he was outside, exposed to other people that he was so untrustworthy, we just couldn't risk it.

Is your son okay with Rosie? Not frightened of her at all?

Katy, sorry to hear about poor Wally, especially with the unsympathetic vet. Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to give your love to another pet when you have lost one so sadly and for such sad reasons.

Thanks Jody. It was a very long time before we got Lady and Daisy. My husband just couldn't face getting another dog. I guess it was 5 years - long years - oh! I missed not having a dog.

Mark never really got very attached to Lady and Daisy. I love watching him with Pippin, he's having so much fun with him, it's the first time since Wally I've seen him get close to a dog. It's very good to see.

My sad story is a happy one at heart. We got Stubby from a man I worked with who was going to shoot her after work. I told my husband and he told the man to put her in our car, that we would take her. He thought that we were crazy because we had never even seen her. After work there was this skinny, obviously pregnant, black lab with no tail. She was the best dog we ever had. For 16 years she was our best friend. She grew up with our kids. She didn't bark, wasn't aggressive, and was every dog owners dream. You could even put a plate of food on the floor and she wouldn't touch it. Very handy trait having 2 toddlers in the house. When she was diagnosed with spinal cancer, we were devistated but had to put her down. That was 3 1/2 years ago and we still miss her everyday.

You guys! All these sad stories.

My story is about Victoria, an afgan/dobermann pinscher mix. My brother got her and raiser her. She lived with his family on some property in the San Jan Islands. One time when I went to visit she was chained under one of their buildings; had a terrible eye infection; and was coming into heat, once again. They were very poor and could not afford (so they thought) the vet bills. So I left my little terrior mix (terminal wiggles) and took Victoria. I told my brother that I would take her to the vet, get her spayed, get her eye cleared up and bring her back. I lied. I did not like the terrior mix and I loved Victoria. She lived with me for several years before dying of old age. She was truly a princess and the terrior I think ran away (probably a smart dog).

Ah, back in the day ....

These are all sad stories of loved ones lost. But the important point here is that all these dogs were lucky enough to be loved by someone. The heartbreak is when a dog never knows the great love a human can give them.

My first dog was a family pet and was around before i was born. As I grew up he bacame my best friend. His name was Tembo. He lived a long and loving life with my family. We had to put him down at the ripe old age of 14. He was going blind and deaf and had stopped eating. But he was always my best friend until his last day. We never had another dog growing up as my mom's allergies got worse. As soon as I moved out and into a place that allowed dogs i told my husband i couldn't wait any longer and i needed a dog. So we found Sgt. Pepper (she and her family minus the dad, were left outside of a wendy's in Arkansas) Pepper is now loved by my whole family, we've all been missing the joy that only a dog can bring for so long, Pepper is more than just my dog she is my parents and my sisters and my in-laws.

So here's to the joy and laughter that dogs bring, even if it's only for a moment, they've done their job well.

This is Crash. He had Cushings Disease and died after a long illness. His kidneys failed and he started losing blood. He was very sick and I couldn't let him suffer. I lost him August 28, 2006.
He and Zoe were my children for a long time. His loss was devastating and I didn't even recognize my life for a long time after he died.


This is Zoe.
I lost her January 12, 2008. She had just turned 12 January 6.
She was by my side for 12 years through many many changes.
She had a brain tumor and the symptoms became too much for both of us to handle. She was in pain and I did what I thought was right and I let her go.


I was very lucky to have both of them in my life.

Message edited by its author, Apr 10, 2008, 3:04pm.

Those are two beautiful little dogs and you so very much did the right thing to help them when they were sick. It's a tough choice to make and it breaks your heart to make it but at least it means they didn't suffer unnecessarily.

Ah, there was my Miss Booboo, a crotchety dachshund who hated racoons and loved strawberries. I was so very fond of her, but she was a hard dog to get to know. She numbered very few friends, but those she loved she loved to the point of screaming and crying when she saw them, even if years had passed. She had a bent hind leg so she was dumped by the breeder as damaged goods when she was far too young so she came to me for fostering and stayed. When she was 7, on a Saturday night, she was first ataxic and then paralyzed and a veterinary surgeon left a dinner party to come and operate on her. It cost the earth, well the new/used care I had been saving for, yet she emerged physically ok. But she wouldn't get up and move, as if she had given up on life, so I found Widget, another dog in trouble to come share the house and be her companion She was so furious she got out of bed that day and kept going strong for another 10 years until her kidneys gave out. I put her down 3 years ago and I grieve for her still.
When she was with me, she was the main dog and Widget was second fiddle, now Widget is the main dog and I am just as mad about Widget as I was for Miss Booboo or for Buster Brown (snatched from a pet store where he was so very ill) or for Pretzel (left behind to fend for himself), but for different reasons. Widget has Stink to give her someone to push around in her old age and there will be someone after to keep Stink, who I will be besotted with, company. My life with dogs, as it were, each one growing on me slowly, inexorably, and each different, although I have never had a really "good" dog.

#14 - they all sound like good dogs to me and I fell for Stink as soon as I saw his picture on the other thread. I can just see him realising one day that he is top dog and making the most of it. He had this look on his face that reminds me of Steve Bushemi (sp?) who played Mr Pink in Reservoir Dogs.

To me a good dog has a personality and a bit of a stubbon streak and couples these with being a dog other people describe as "funny looking."

Miss Booboo sounds like a great little dog and I love the idea of her making a full recovery just out of bad temper at an interloper.

There have been many dogs in my family through the years and all have been wonderful companions, but I don't know if it's because of my own advancing years but the most recent to part this life is still frequently in my thoughts. He now has his own spot in the garden and I try to grow flowering shrubs to brighten the plot but they die also although the weeds have no problem. But then in life he killed most of the shrubs in my borders with a frequent wave of his back leg. So I think he is still making his presence felt. My children have promised me that in time my ashes will join him!

URL=http://img18.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=90345_Young_Leo___C0647_122_800lo.JPGIMGhttp://img18.imagevenue.com/loc800/th_90345_Young_Leo___C0647_122_800lo.JPG/IMG/URL
URL=http://img237.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=90350_Portrait_of_Leo.___C0653_122_68lo.JPGIMGhttp://img237.imagevenue.com/loc68/th_90350_Portrait_of_Leo.___C0653_122_68lo.JPG/IMG/URL
URL=http://img147.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=90369_Leo_Convalescing__C0680_122_1057lo.JPGIMGhttp://img147.imagevenue.com/loc1057/th_90369_Leo_Convalescing__C0680_122_1057lo.JPG/IMG/URL
URL=http://img140.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=90374_Leo_Relaxed____C0416_122_623lo.JPGIMGhttp://img140.imagevenue.com/loc623/th_90374_Leo_Relaxed____C0416_122_623lo.JPG/IMG/URL
URL=http://img138.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=90375_Leo_R.I.P.__Apr_28_06_012_122_923lo.jpgIMGhttp://img138.imagevenue.com/loc923/th_90375_Leo_R.I.P.__Apr_28_06_012_122_923lo.jpg/IMG/URL

Message edited by its author, Aug 1, 2008, 6:08am.

#16 That's a pretty dog, but you might want to be spaces in between each picture because it makes the page really wide. You can go on the thread titled How to post pics if you need help.

Had to respond to Navigator7's message 16 about having his ashes mingled with his dog's. I have made my own kids promise me that my beloved Tucker and I will either share an urn or be buried in the same grave.

And I know it's a wee bit morbid, but I have the ashes of my loved Cookie and Honey in very pretty containers on one of the bookshelves in my bathroom (which is actually a very pretty, airy, and light space in my house). No one can tell that these are urns, and I don't often tell people, but it comforts me to have them still with us.

I told you it was morbid!

I have Bert's ashes in a little covered pottery jar, with his collar and tags circling it. He sits in the kitchen on the corner of the stove, where he can see everything that's going on. ;-)

This isn't my dog but if we could all spare a thought for this poor little guy.

It's been in the news today that a couple from the West Midlands have killed a scottie dog, Laddie, who was in their care.

They were supposed to be caring for him while his elderly owner was in hospital, instead they say he 'nipped' one of them so they kicked and beat him before throwing him off a balcony. He was five years old, a year younger than my Scottie. The news report says they had been drinking and arguing first so I think this poor boy got the brunt of their anger for no reason of his own.

There's no punishment bad enough for those people, who are due in court later this month. The report says they face a prison sentance but they won't get one. Evil as they are, these people never do get punished properly.

The scottie's owner died in hospital five days after they killed him and nobody told her what they had done to her poor little dog. That's why I am asking here for everyone to just give him a thought today, he has nobody else to remember him or care the way we have here for our dogs.

So here's to Laddie, who I'm sure was a good, brave little dog.

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-s...

Message edited by its author, Jul 14, 2008, 3:22pm.

poor puppy :( how can people be so cruel.

Here's to Laddie.

Vale Laddie
I hope your owner and you reunited at the rainbowbridge!

*sniff* How sad.

I'd like to execute the killers of that poor Scottie.

I feel sick. I know I'm not famous around here for my tact but I really do think that if I said what I want to say, I'd be thrown off the site forever.

If only, at the very least, these people could have done to them what they do to these poor animals. If I believed in hell I'd say I hope they burn there.

As I don't, then I'll leave it to everyone's imagination. I'm sure you all have your own versions.

A tribute to old dogs and a celebration of their special virtues, excerpted from the book "Old Dogs" by Gene Weingarten and Michael Williamson:

Something About Harry: Old Dogs are the Best Dogs
By Gene Weingarten
Sunday, October 5, 2008; W16; Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

What a beautiful tribute.

Sad to be adding to this thread but have just had a call from my mum to say that her dog Bob had to go to the vets today and has been put to sleep.

We knew that he didn't have long left, he was diagnosed with a heart murmer and failing kidneys about two weeks ago but even the vet was shocked at how quickly his health deteriorated.

Today his legs gave way and he could no longer walk. The vet said they could possibly prolong his life for another day, perhaps two, to give us time to say goodbye, but that he would not have any quality of life over those last hours and it would be kinder just to let him go immediately.

He was such a lovely dog and had a tough start to his life (we got him from a shelter and he hadn't been cared for) but for all that he was a proper family dog and we loved him for the fourteen years we were lucky enough to have him in our family. We really are going to miss him.

Hugs to Momreadseverything. My heart cries for your family.

:HUGS:

I've just had a good cry reading back over these stories of much loved, and much missed, dogs -- although I was teary even before I started reading. I've only been home for a couple of hours after taking my beautiful Bonnie-dog to the vet to be put to sleep. She was 17. She had been on medication to control seizures for the past 12 months or so, but over the last week had started having fits brought on by any excitement or change in her anxiety levels (eg. even if she came in from outside and couldn't find me quickly enough). On Thursday when I came home from work I put her lead on to take her for a walk, and in her excitement (which has never diminished, despite thousands of walks in her lifetime) she had a seizure. If you can imagine this: she's just starting to come round, still unable to get to her feet, but trying to drag herself along the passage on her belly to get to the front door because she didn't want to miss out on her walk!!

On Friday, my vet tried altering/increasing her medication, but this made her drowsy and affected her co-ordination: every time she tried to stand up she couldn't control her back legs, which made her anxious, which caused another seizure...a viscious cycle. Saturday and Sunday were pretty bad days. She spent most of yesterday in her bed, only able to get up with assistance, and refusing to eat or drink except for a tiny bit of chicken (her favourite). She had a number of seizures duing the course of the day. I sat up with her all last night as she was very unsettled and I didn't want to leave her alone, and at 6.00am this morning she had a big seizure trying to climb into her bed, and actually stopped breathing. I thought she had passed away and lifted her out of her bed onto my lap for a last cuddle, and after about a minute she took a gasping breath, then another, and another -- she's a fighter! But it was pretty clear to me that she was also scared of what was happening to her, the joy of living had gone out of her and she was starting to suffer, so I called my sister who came and drove us to the emergency vet, who agreed that it was time to put her to sleep.

So much has happened in my life in the last 17 years, and Bonnie has been with me every step of the way. I know I will get another dog, but there will never be another quite like her. Rest in peace, Bonniekins.

So sorry to hear about your loss. I'm right now fighting the impulse to wake Annie for a cuddle...she has something of Bonnie's spirit, I think, and so your sad loss is particularly poignant for me.

So sorry Valerie. {{hugs}} to you.

Rest in peace, Bonnie. and {{hugs}} to you Valerie.

Thanks for all your kind thoughts! I've shed quite a few tears in the last couple of days, but we've also been recounting all the good times spent with Bonnie, which has made me realise again how lucky I was to have had her.

Ah, Valerie, a hug from Atlanta. Bonniekins was so lucky too. 17 years! How wonderful to have such an impact on a lil' ones life.

Thanks Bons, I appreciate the thoughts.

I've finally felt like catching up on everyone else's doggy news - your Benjamin Boodles is absolutely adorable. I think I have puppy envy!

Valerie, so sorry to read your story. She sounds like a very special dog. Lots of hugs.

Thanks Jody - she was pretty special (but of course we all think that about our furry friends - and we're all right, of course!).

My little brother's "Foxy" a Husky, who was with our family for over 12 years. She lost her battle with cancer Friday night. She was such a sweetheart who loved us and all our pets.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38158679@N0...

Message edited by its author, Nov 2, 2009, 10:36am.

That is sad. Love to your family.

#41 She was beautiful.
A recent loss...

***Shadow***

February 9, 1996 - November 16, 2009
Named Jessie's Shadow because he followed our other dog around like her shadow and later became her ears when she went deaf.

He was a Labrador Retriever/Springer Spaniel mix.

He was found to have a cancerous tumor more than 3 months ago and the vet gave him 3-4 weeks to live. He then had to be put down November 16 after becoming sick.
Here's to beating the odds!


Rest in Peace

Message edited by its author, Dec 2, 2009, 2:23am.

Chelsea....I am so sorry. He's the sweetie with the graying beard, right? and maybe corgi brothers? I remember falling for his picture on here from before.

Thank you. Yes, he is. And his corgi brothers are alive and well. :)

we had a dog for less than 24 hours once. He was a beautiful beagle cross with copper eyes and coat. his name was walter. we had friends over that night and he almost attacked our friends' 5 year old daughter. we returned him the next morning. it was sad but we knew it was the right thing to do.