For us , they only share a small part of our lives. For them, they share with us a lifetime.
When our Mastiff had to be put down, we all took him to the vet - he had a stroke and could no longer stand at age 12. My sons came from their own homes to join us, but we had to wait a bit before the doctor could take us in the room. So as we were all sitting there, they boys were petting "bulldozer" ( not too many names one can give a 128 pound mastiff.) - and he was smiling a bit and happy to have them there with him. First time he'd been happy at all for about a week beforehand. The vet techs came over and took a picture of him lying down on a blanket at our feet, smiling, with his boys he grew up with petting him. When we put him down, the doctor, who had known him from an 8 week old puppy was tearing up with us. He had to stop and take a minute before finishing.
He went out and came back in with a bottle of Jack Daniels, and five shot glasses. He poured us all a shot and said, " Here's a toast to dog spelled backward."
Three days later - I get a call from the vet office. The tech said we need to come down right away. So we go that evening. They are all standing there with a large picture frame and the picture of our dog with us form that morning, happy at last. The picture frame read " Dogs Leave Paw Prints all Over Your Heart....."
Why I use that vet office. They care about the animal, and the owners, not when you are going to pay the bill.
They are worth their weight in gold. Because my wife used to help run a small rehoming charity, she knows the local vet intimately and has become almost a first staging point for any waifs or strays which reach the vet.
She took in a 13 year old Golden Retriever called Sandy about six months back. Owners had dropped her off. "We want her put down". No reason given. The Vet refused. But gave them the alternative of leaving the dog with the Vet to rehome it. They basically didn't give a ****. Just wanted rid of the dog. We fostered Sandy for about a month. She was then rehomed down in the Midlands with a family who live in the countryside. She's now having a great life. There was, and is, absolutely no reason why she should have put down. Great teamwork between vet and wider public to save a wonderful dog.
Same vet sends us condolence cards on the loss of our dogs over the years. And she refused to charge the charity when one of the dogs we'd taken from her had to be put to sleep a couple of years back. He came to us with some issues which turned out to be advanced Kidney failure so we kept him until his quality of life had reduced to such an extent that it was unfair to let him labour on (even though he lived life to the full still).
Your story was really uplifting. Reminded me of our Border Collie who we had to put to sleep last year. She'd struggled with vestibular syndrome for three or so years but managed to always recover well. Ultimately it took her. But my story is of the time six months before this. She had a really bad bout of it which floored her. She was also incontinent at the time. Fully incontinent, meaning it took a lot of managing (which we did. Difficult but whilst overall quality of life is good, worth the work). So she's lied down after this vestibular attack and after three days, unusually she was not improving. We both decided that it was more than like 'her time' and made the arrangements for the Vet to come around to our house.
That last evening, we invited family and friends around to say goodbye. It was all very teary and sad. But she'd had a great life. Fantastic in fact. Especially as she was a failed working dog whom the farmer was intending to shoot...bastard.
Next morning, an hour before Vet was due. Me and Ness are sat quietly in the living room with the dog lied in her basket where she'd lain for best part of a week. Up she jumps. Out the back door. Ablutions. A wander. A bit of a bark at next doors cat. Walks in, hangs around the bowl for some food. Me and wifey sat there gorping at each other. It was unbelievable. We asked the Vet to come round to take a look simply so that she didn't feel that we were being selfish. She took one look. Did some checks. Uttered "that's actually a miracle". And went off to work. We had some very odd phone calls to make and Facebook messages of condolence to address !
Belle was with us another six months. We enjoyed that six months despite the challenges. And we miss her like hell.
Dogs grrrrrrr
