A 4 year old boy whose dying dog had just been put to sleep explained to his parents why he thought pets did not live as long as people. He said, "Everybody is born so they can learn to live a good life. Like loving everybody and being nice, right? Well, animals all ready know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long." - Pets: A Very Natural Story
A friend on mine had to put his dog to sleep earlier this month. I just found out about it and it made me think about pets. How these amazing creatures give us everything they have; a love and devotion so profound it is even now making me weepy, thinking about my pets. I miss the ones that are no longer with me. And it seems so unfair that we only get a decade (if we are lucky) to be with them. We want so badly to be selfish, to keep them with us forever. If only their bodies wouldn't give out so soon.
We had a Pomeranian named Zorro for almost 13 years. I remember the day he was put down. I was leaving for work and he was laying on one of my mother's coats by the front door. He loved my mom more than anyone, but I was definitely second. I knelt down and scratched his grey chin, and told him I loved him. And he looked at me with half closed eyes, enjoying the attention. That afternoon my mother took him to the vet. She and I cried that whole day.
A few years ago, I heard my dog Griffen (shepard/husky mix) barking in the back yard. I went to investigate what it was and found him cornering a very large raccoon against the chain link fence that surrounded the yard. I yelled at him to leave it alone, but he didn't listen. The raccoon attacked him, jumped on his chest and began to bite him, causing him to snarl and yelp....trying to dislodge it from his person. I don't remember consciously thinking about it, but I grabbed the pool vacuum pole that had been laying on the edge of the above ground pool. Then I began swinging it and stabbing at the raccoon, all while screaming for a) to get off my dog, and b) for someone inside my house to help me. The raccoon wasn't letting go, and I was about a second away from kicking it with my sh** kicker boots that I was wearing. It did drop off, before it came to that. I ushered my now limping dog away. At that point, my mom had come out of the house and is confronted with the sight of me crying (due to being scared) and her dog limping and bleeding. Then she starts crying when I tell her what happened. She tells me I shouldn't have done what I did, to get that close to raccoon (even though I was a pole length away). But that's the 'mom' in her. And I also know that had it been her, she would have done the exact same thing. Because all logic goes out the window when something you love is in danger.
We still have Griff. But he is getting on in years. His once mostly black coat is now tinged with grey. He's slower in getting up, but call him for dinner or a walk and you would swear he was 2 years old again.
After Z was gone, my mother said no more dogs. And that held true for almost a year until Kaylee the dachshund came into our lives. It's not that my mother didn't want any more dogs. She'd complain about the shedding and whatnot, but anyone can see that wasn't it. We love these creatures, and though great sometimes it seems only a fraction of how much they love us. The real question is how much can a heart take when we have to say goodbye over and over and over again?
Grief will not keep me from owning more pets throughout my life. I try to rejoice in the fact that I got to have them, if only for a little while. Even if I get a little sad walking through a pet store, or seeing another dog like one I used to have.
This is probably one of the longest posts I have ever written by myself. And I have made myself sad because of it. But my little dog Kira is behind me on the bed as I type this, curled up and resting, absolutely content just to be in the same room as me.
To Pets
Loved and Beloved
Perhaps the truest friends we will ever know
