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If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

The doghouse

my old boy has gone :(

24 replies

queenrollo · 01/12/2011 13:54

he's been with DH for 12 years, and i've had the pleasure of his company for the last 4. He saw me through one of the most emotionally difficult periods of my life, along with his companion who we lost last year.
After her death he became my shadow and we've been together nearly every day for the last 4 years.
He was a miracle dog, surviving several rounds of surgery and very nearly being paralysed in 2004. Hi temperament was great, he even did a stint as a PAT dog.

His mobility was always limited but just lately he started to slow down. Yesterday he was really not right and a mercy dash to the vet meant I brought him home doped up on pain relief to see if it was his joints unsettling him. This morning it was evident that this time there was no palliative care that would help and so we've said goodbye and let him go.

He had a good life, he was happy until the very end.

It still hurts like hell though. I'd give anything to be retrieving his stupid labrador face from my kitchen bin right now.

OP posts:

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recall · 01/12/2011 13:56

so so sorry x Sounds like you both gave him an amazing life.

OldLadyKnowsSantaClaus · 01/12/2011 14:00

I'm sorry for your loss. They leave such a big gap, don't they?

Abra1d · 01/12/2011 14:00

I've been through this three times now and it always really hurts.

The main comfort is knowing that you looked after him so well and he couldn't have had a nice family to live in.

I find that I have lots of very happy memories of the three of them that make me smile. I really don't think that love you share ever truly goes away.

queenrollo · 01/12/2011 14:24

we are veering here between laughter at some of the really stupid things he did and then sobbing because I just miss his prescence.

He was a 12 year old dog, who was not expected to live so long because of all his difficulties. He never really grew up, he kept his puppy like enthusiasm for the world right up until yesterday.

I know this raw feeling will go, I know that i'll always miss him and the old girl too, but I know that the one thing that will endure will be the happy memories.

If DH wasn't such a compassionate man the boy would have been pts in 2004 and the girl would have been killed by the farmer who said she wasn't good enough to work the farm.
We gave them both a great life and they repaid us by rolling in fox shit, emptying the kitchen bin all over the floor and producing gas that could have been used to clear riots

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horsemadmom · 01/12/2011 15:07

It will hurt terribly for a while and then it will get better. After the initial pain, we really missed the routine that comes with having a dog. Much sooner than we expected, we got our new pup. Now we can talk about our Goldie (who passed in September) and laugh rather than cry.
You were the best kind of dog owner and when you are ready, you will be again.

RedwingWinter · 01/12/2011 16:45

I'm so sorry for your loss. He sounds like a wonderful dog and you must really miss him.

bumpybecky · 01/12/2011 17:07

I'm so very sorry for your loss.

TarquinGyrfalcon · 01/12/2011 17:15

He sounds like an absolute star.

I'm so sorry

BehindLockNumberNine · 01/12/2011 17:52

I went through this 18 months ago and only last month thought I was losing the Pointy One so I can imagine how you feel.

Am so sorry. Thinking of you x

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 01/12/2011 19:08

Aw, so sorry for your loss. It sounds like he had a wonderful life.

Run free old boy

gothicangel · 01/12/2011 20:36

Im so sorry, :(

thinking of you and sending hugs
xxxx

louby86 · 02/12/2011 00:01

So sorry to hear your news, thinking of you xx

GrimmaTheNome · 02/12/2011 00:06

So sorry. (you and your DH sound lovely - I'm sure you'll find yourself with another dog who needs a home like yours. Not the same I know.)

SantasNutellaFairy · 02/12/2011 00:10

I'm sorry- hardest decision in the world..

Joolyjoolyjoo · 02/12/2011 00:14

So sorry for your loss I had to let my old boy go a few weeks ago, and it is so so hard. However, like you I still smile at all the wonderul memories, and I still talk about him all the time because thinking about him, and the dog he used to be, makes me smile.

PlasticFlamingo · 02/12/2011 02:50

I'm so sorry

Sounds like you have some wonderful memories

queenrollo · 02/12/2011 08:56

DH told me a great story yesterday that pre-dates us being together.

Old-boy had wonky back legs so any country walks involving stiles meant having to lift (a rather large for breed) labrador over the stile. They did this, and old-boy and old-girl ran around this field having a great time. Then DH realises they have both found a rather fresh pile of cow pats. Then he realises they have slathered themselves in it.
Old-girl can negotiate the stile no problem. Old-boy cannot. It is the only way out of the field. Yes.....DH has to lift a cow pat covered dog over the stile.

Two dogs and one human, all slathered in cow muck.

and they were on holiday, in a rented cottage......

This morning was tough, getting up and not being greeted by a labrador who thinks he hasn't eaten for a week. First time in my entire life I've had a home without a single pet in it. When we lost the old-girl I had the old-boy to console me. Now i've just got DH.......he doesn't smell of dog. It's not the same....

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Quodlibet · 02/12/2011 23:28

Really sorry for your loss. He sounds like a brilliant dog and you've certainly done the best by him.

ditavonteesed · 03/12/2011 08:14

really sorry.

queenrollo · 03/12/2011 08:52

collected DS from his dad's yesterday and so the afternoon was pretty tough (for me) because he's one of those kids who asks a million and one questions until he's satisifed he's figured things out.
We weren't going to tell him the dog was pts because we didn't really know how to broach it - but someone else had already set the seed of an idea about a special sleeping medicine. So we ran with that and he now knows that both dogs were 'helped' to fall asleep so they could die without suffering. He has actually taken this info on board really well.
He made me howl with tears when he said 'well old-boy will be happy now. His legs will work properly in the stars, and he's gone to have a good run around with old-girl'......

I've managed to get up this morning without descending into a sobbing heap at the view of the space where the dog-bed was. It was still so sad to follow the morning routine of making a cuppa and looking out over the garden without seeing my old-boy walking all over the freshly planted garlic bed having his morning pootle round the garden.

We buried old-girl in the garden (she was left in her bed overnight so old-boy would 'realise' she had died) but old-boy was too big and we have no help to do it this time. We've had him cremated and will be collecting his ashes next week. We're going to plant them next to old-girl in what will be our new fruit tree area.

DH said yesterday he hadn't realised how hard this was going to hit me. He had a special bond with old-girl, and I got over her loss much sooner than he did. This time it's me who's really struggling with it.

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Alouisee · 03/12/2011 08:57

So sorry and sad for you, don't know what to say except I'm already dreading the day it happens to us. Your ds sounds adorable and I love how he's made sense of everything.

Lulumama · 03/12/2011 09:00

I am very sorry , it is so difficult but definitely the right decision and you have so many happy memories to hold onto xxx

Joolyjoolyjoo · 03/12/2011 13:41

Love the story about the cowpat splattered crew The things we do for our dogs, huh?

NunTheWiser · 03/12/2011 14:35

I'm so sorry.

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