The Dog Megathread

[jimmy olsen]

BB

[Eddie Teach]

 

[Barrister]

Talking with Mrs B I guess his death was a bit more gruesome - he came down the stairs, started peeing blood and shitting himself, then fell over.  Mrs B had the kids all bundled up to take Timmy to pre-school, so not knowing what else to do once she confirmed he was no more, she just left him and cleaned up when she got back.  I came home after a brief court appearance and was tasked with taking him to the vet in order to be cremated (he's too big to be buried in the back yard).

I spent some time thinking back on Roscoe's life.  Some of my favourite memories of Roscoe are of how fast he was, how much he enjoyed running and playing - and of course those days were well behind him now.  He just wanted to sleep most of the time and hobbled up and down the stairs.  It was his time.

But the sadder part of course is how his passing affects everyone else in the house.  My wife was quite sad - Roscoe was her pet.  He got her when she first graduated and had her first grown-up job.  Our other dog Lucy was just at loose ends.  Now howling at the moon in pain, but just "out of sorts", didn't seem to know what to do all day.

And Timmy - he was there when Roscoe passed away, could tell something was wrong.  Kept asking if Roscoe was okay.  When he came back from pre-school we sat him down and said that Roscoe was dead, but we'd always remember him.  He couldn't really process that - switched to wanting to read to a book, but then he periodically through the day would come back and ask questions - where was Roscoe, who took him away, would he come back.  He dug out an old brown stuffed dog he never showed any interest in before and was calling him Roscoe - of course half the time stuffed Roscoe was dead, or he was "broken".  I guess it's his way of processing this information.  I did have Timmy and Lucy down in the basement at one point, and Timmy was pretending to be a very much alive Roscoe, which was nice.

[Barrister]

The other shitty thing of course about your dog dieing of old age is how it reminds you of your own mortality.  Roscoe was in my life for 9 and a half years, and so much stuff has gone on during that time it's almost hard to wrap your head around how much of your own life is already gone.

And finally, I just wish we'd have known he was dieing.  He must have had an absolutely terrible last night on this earth - all alone and separated from his family (my wife and I, plus Lucy, sleeping soundly in the bedroom).  Timmy told me to keep him company, and I only sat beside him for 5 minutes before I went to bed.  WE could have at least been there for him, let him know how much he was loved.

[Caliga]

I'm sorry, man.  I will be devastated when my own dog Roscoe dies.  Watching my cat die was hard enough.... I'm so sorry for your loss. 

[jimmy olsen]

It's just terrible. I'm sorry I have nothing constructive to say. Just try not to beat yourself up about it. You didn't know.

[katmai]

Sorry to hear about Roscoe, he was the one i met iirc.

[Josquius]

Clearly the entire point of genetic engineering research is to give dogs the proper human scale life spans they should have.

[crazy canuck]

Sorry about that BB.


It took a while for us to get over the death of our dog.  For the last few weeks we have been visiting dog rescue and shelter facilities to find another dog.  We have found an organization called PADS that trains working dogs to assist disabled people - seeing eye dogs and that sort of thing.  Every so often they have dogs that flunk their training program and PADS needs to find homes for them.  However, it is a fairly pricey proposition as PADs uses adoption of their failed dogs as a revenue generator for their training progam.

Long story short in the next little while there is a possibility of adopting one of these dogs.

[Jacob]

Sorry to hear about your dog CC

[crazy canuck]

Thanks.  Its been a little over 3 months now but I still find myself going to let him out in the mornings.


Here is a picture of the dog we might be getting. 

[Caliga]

 

[Grey Fox]

I would love to get a dog but along with being allergic, I am not sure I can deal with that grief.

I'll already have to deal with one on a smaller scale when my in-laws dog dies.

[crazy canuck]

Thanks.  Its been a little over 3 months now but I still find myself going to let him out in the mornings.


Here is a picture of the dog we might be getting. 

So we didnt get that dog but we will probably be getting her sister.  The trainers are going to be by for a visit on Tuesday to make sure everything is good.   The two dogs look pretty much identical so I wont post another pic

[Queequeg]

I want a corgi.