08-08-2007, 02:55 AM
Well, it has taken me some time to post this, although the illness has been a long time coming and I have thought many times about doing so, but it remains difficult to write this out. This dog has been in our family for more than a dozen years and through some very traumatic times with me and with my parents. And, to be clear, the dog does not live with me - she lives at my parents' house (although I rescued her and brought her to my parents).
She is getting up in years now (13.5) and suffers from a myriad of problems, mostly that she has a bad heart and a bad hip. She is overweight, but I don't want to start a thread about the wisdom of feeding a dog too much food or other health-related issues that are now no longer relevant. It is what it is at this point in time (some of us are probably overweight, too).
This is a dog that has provided us with so many happy and funny memories over the years that seeing her leave this world will not be entirely sad. But, it will be incredibly hard.
My parents will not get another dog (she was the 2nd) in their remaining years and now my children will not get to grow up with her around, which is very sad for me. But the hardest thing of all is what to tell my two year old son about what is happening to the dog he sees at his grandparents' house on his weekly visits. I am really torn over this and looking into his eyes while he processes this information is inevitably going to make me cry - and I'm also not sure how to deal with showing my true emotions to him at this age, either. I don't want to upset him at such a young age.
Well, thanks for letting me write this out and if you all have any suggestions, I'm all ears. I think I may have to take time from work for this....
She is getting up in years now (13.5) and suffers from a myriad of problems, mostly that she has a bad heart and a bad hip. She is overweight, but I don't want to start a thread about the wisdom of feeding a dog too much food or other health-related issues that are now no longer relevant. It is what it is at this point in time (some of us are probably overweight, too).
This is a dog that has provided us with so many happy and funny memories over the years that seeing her leave this world will not be entirely sad. But, it will be incredibly hard.
My parents will not get another dog (she was the 2nd) in their remaining years and now my children will not get to grow up with her around, which is very sad for me. But the hardest thing of all is what to tell my two year old son about what is happening to the dog he sees at his grandparents' house on his weekly visits. I am really torn over this and looking into his eyes while he processes this information is inevitably going to make me cry - and I'm also not sure how to deal with showing my true emotions to him at this age, either. I don't want to upset him at such a young age.
Well, thanks for letting me write this out and if you all have any suggestions, I'm all ears. I think I may have to take time from work for this....