Monday, March 13, 2006

How do I say goodbye?

This is going to be a long and hard week for my family. After 13 wonderful years with our Lab, Shadow, we have decided to put her to sleep t/m afternoon. We believe that she is in a lot of pain b/c of the way she keeps falling and breathing so hard. How am I supposed to say goodbye to my dog when she looks like shes happy? She looks at me with her big sad brown eyes and I can't say goodbye. I feel horrible for what we are doing t/m. She won't feel any pain, she'll just get sleepy, go to sleep, and never wake up. How am I supposed to rationalize putting her to sleep when she is still acting like a puppy one minute and falling over the next. What if she feels like we're abandoning her? She has no clue what we are going to do t/m. She doesn't know that tonight is the last night that she will sleep on my parents bed. That t/m is her last day with a family that loves her so much. I hope she understands that we love her and we are doing this so she won't be in any more pain. Silly dog doesn't have a clue why we are all so sad. Shadow has been with me since late elementry school, all through middle and high school. Almost all they way through my college years. I love my dog so much, she is family, and I don't want to lose her yet.

4 comments:

elizabeth said...

I sorry! Teddy, our puppy doggie, was the same way. He would be old dog one second and a playful pup the next. He died in his sleep last April. Me and Andrew where the last ones to play with him.

froggiegirl said...

:(

Pets are the best friends ever.

gimlet said...

It's hard losing a great dog. We had a golden retriever when I was a kid, and we still miss her. Froggie and I will be thinking of you & your family.

Merc Man said...

Taking our Golden to the vet when she was fading was the hardest thing I'd done in my life to that point. Still, it was my responsibility to see that she didn't suffer.
At first, it's really tough after losing your pet. Then, as time goes by, the hurt recedes and is replaced by all the good memories you and your family shared with its harriest member.
I rememeber as a kid watching Bishop Sheen on TV. One night, he spoke to a little boy who was very upset because his little dog had died recently, and at the time the Catholic Church taught that animals did not have immortal souls and couldn't go to heaven. Bishop Sheen asked the boy if it would make him happy if Christ had his dog waiting for him when he got to heaven. The little boy immediately said, "Yes!" Sheen replied, "Then God will have your friend waiting for you when you get to heaven!"
As Rudyard Kipling wrote:
"Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware/Of giving your heart to a dog to tear."