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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsGoodbye, Kinsey.
We had to help our old dog across the bridge today. She was fourteen and a half. She was in pain and had doggie dementia. She was trembling with pain, hyperventilating and not walking straight any more. Last night, he became so disoriented during that nobody got much sleep.
She was a big, loopy, Lab mix. She had a great doggie smile. One ear had a bite out of it because she had tangled with a coon. That was some adventure for her!
She liked cats and people. She liked to run on the nature trail. She liked to ride in the pickup. Everybody here knew her.
Kinsey liked to chase squirrels and birds on the nature trail. One day, she saw a wild turkey. It went off the path, and spread its tail feathers. She just sat down in the middle of the trail. I think she was in as much awe as I was.
This will hurt for a long time. Good-bye, good dog.
targetpractice
(4,919 posts)A dog on her master...
As young as I look,
I am growing older faster than he,
seven to one
is the ratio they tend to say.
Whatever the number,
I will pass him one day
and take the lead
the way I do on our walks in the woods.
And if this ever happens
to cross his mind,
it would be the sweetest
shadow I have ever cast on snow or grass.
Billy Collins, poet
redstatebluegirl
(12,265 posts)We lost my favorite this past summer, I cried for days. Helping them cross the bridge is the last gift we can give them. Making sure they are no longer in pain. She will be waiting for you at the rainbow bridge, healthy and happy.
Polly Hennessey
(6,788 posts)I lost my Golden on April 5, 2017, after a valiant fight with kidney disease. We did not win. Caleigh was only ten. We adopted her as a rescue. It was devastating. I now have Scout and Alexander. Both rescues. Scout is a mix and looks like a street dog. Alex is a Great Pyrenees and looks like a huge snowball. They have made our loss tolerable. They bring us love, joy, challenges, and laughter each day. Caleigh would approve.
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)Niagara
(7,565 posts)R.I.P., Kinsey
mopinko
(70,022 posts)so sorry.
Tikki
(14,549 posts)Kinsey knew what you knew...lots of love.
They never leave our heart, just find a place to cuddle in our heart forever.
Tikki
Heartstrings
(7,349 posts)in2herbs
(2,944 posts)my life not a day goes by that I don't shed a tear for the animals who have enriched my life and crossed over the bridge. I can only hope that the enrichment was reciprocal. The bond never dies. Sorry for your loss.
irisblue
(32,932 posts)I know this grief. I am sorry for your great loss
Gothmog
(144,939 posts)It is hard to say goodbye to a family member
hermetic
(8,301 posts)demmiblue
(36,824 posts)Dogs never die. They dont know how to. They get tired, and very old, and their bones hurt. Of course they dont die. If they did they would not want to always go for a walk, even long after their old bones say: No, no, not a good idea. Lets not go for a walk. Nope, dogs always want to go for a walk. They might get one step before their aging tendons collapse them into a heap on the floor, but thats what dogs are. They walk.
Its not that they dislike your company. On the contrary, a walk with you is all there is. Their boss, and the cacaphonic symphony of odor that the world is. Cat poop, another dogs mark, a rotting chicken bone (exultation), and you. Thats what makes their world perfect, and in a perfect world death has no place.
However, dogs get very very sleepy. Thats the thing, you see. They dont teach you that at the fancy university where they explain about quarks, gluons, and Keynesian economics. They know so much they forget that dogs never die. Its a shame, really. Dogs have so much to offer and people just talk a lot.
When you think your dog has died, it has just fallen asleep in your heart. And by the way, it is wagging its tail madly, you see, and thats why your chest hurts so much and you cry all the time. Who would not cry with a happy dog wagging its tail in their chest. Ouch! Wap wap wap wap wap, that hurts. But they only wag when they wake up. Thats when they say: Thanks Boss! Thanks for a warm place to sleep and always next to your heart, the best place.
When they first fall asleep, they wake up all the time, and thats why, of course, you cry all the time. Wap, wap, wap. After a while they sleep more. (remember, a dog while is not a human while. You take your dog for walk, its a day full of adventure in an hour. Then you come home and its a week, well one of your days, but a week, really, before the dog gets another walk. No WONDER they love walks.)
Anyway, like I was saying, they fall asleep in your heart, and when they wake up, they wag their tail. After a few dog years, they sleep for longer naps, and you would too. They were a GOOD DOG all their life, and you both know it. It gets tiring being a good dog all the time, particularly when you get old and your bones hurt and you fall on your face and dont want to go outside to pee when it is raining but do anyway, because you are a good dog. So understand, after they have been sleeping in your heart, they will sleep longer and longer.
But dont get fooled. They are not dead. Theres no such thing, really. They are sleeping in your heart, and they will wake up, usually when youre not expecting it. Its just who they are.
I feel sorry for people who dont have dogs sleeping in their heart. Youve missed so much. Excuse me, I have to go cry now.
- Ernest Montague
Fla Dem
(23,591 posts)murielm99
(30,717 posts)Her spirit may stay there a long time, maybe forever.
MissMillie
(38,533 posts)Doggie heaven is one big kitchen where only the good stuff falls on the floor.
RIP Kinsey
Phentex
(16,330 posts)I know how much it hurts! So sorry.
brer cat
(24,524 posts)That's a lovely tribute to a well-loved family member. Pass peacefully, Kinsey.