Old Friend gone away

[skyboltone]

I just put down my fifteen year old German Shepherd. He was chipper and alert as hell but he couldn't stand up or squat to go and he never knew when he was gonna go. Couldn't get on his feet by himself. Hurtin all the time. Takin' narcotics. No life for a dog.

Poor bastard. Oh, lord I loved that dog.

So anyway. FTW. Write that on the blackboard one hundred times. I'm gonna miss him bad.

His sister the Dobie is still with us, deaf as a stump, but stll tickin' at 14.

[Structo]

Man, so sorry Dan.
That is one of the hardest things in the world to do.

We love our dogs as well.
I had to put my 12 year old Italian Greyhound down last winter.


Good thoughts sent your way buddy.

[Cygnus X1]

Hard to take it, I feel for you and Mojo to the pup.

We have a God Only Knows what small shep mutt (pound puppy), and we love her to death (uh, bad joke, but literally...she ought to be spoiled rotten but she remains good as gold).

I have constantly reminded my wife that a star that bright will always burn short, but after 9 years she is as sharp as a tack and she doesn't show any of those negative shep traits (like hip dysplasia...<sp>).
Or being TOO territorial.
Or "expecting" things.

She is like a permanent 3 year old.

I'm hoping one day we just find her with all 4 legs up in the air in the middle of dogpatch, oblivious, but gone to us.

Bless you, and Doggy Heaven just got a great one.
Remember your pup well.

[Bear]

I might as well rip out a piece of my heart if I were to loose either of my two. And they're getting on in years so a bit of the heartbreak happens every time the thought crosses my mind.

Deepest condolences for your boy.

[Structo]

Unfortunately, we have had to put down 4 dogs in the last 10 years.

I wish they all could have gone peacefully in there sleep but, no we had to make the decision for them.
It's such a burden.
You know it's the right thing but it still hurts like hell.

[Zippy]

I'm still raw from our shepard mix, Kula, dying of kidney failure this past January - on the fourth anniversary of my father's death. Kula's last week was one of sharp decline yet, up to his last night, he pulled himself to his feet and dragged into the kid's room for story time before bed every night.

Whew...

For the first week after that, I vowed to never have another dog because losing him hurt so much. Now I value everything he taught me in his last weeks of life.

Let the healing begin, Sky.

Be well.

[Structo]

Yep, that is what happened to our last dog, kidney failure.
We had to give him IV fluids once a day for about 6 months.

The best way to get over the loss is a new puppy.

I know it's hard, I had to take pictures of my little buddy off of the walls for a while.

[skyboltone]

Kodiak:
Kody
Mister K
Buddy
"Your Dog"
"No that's YOUR dog"

He knew all his names. We took a little time to pray when we got back to the car last evening. We thanked God for giving us the opportunity to know one of his creatures so well. We're grateful for the things about unconditional love and commitment and loyalty that he taught us. We're grateful for the way he changed us.

Shepherds have this 6th sense, you know?. When there was trouble brewing in the family, he could feel it. He would insert himself into the midst of our discontent.

He was there for me during the protracted struggle of my father's death in August '07, He's been there during my wife and mother's seemingly endless illness's. He was a guy's dog. He wanted to be in the shop, if that's where I was. He liked making stuff. He puzzled at what in the hell I was doing. His footprints are in the concrete in three states. Just had to check this stuff out dad.

We've had two potentially very dangerous guard dog types. People would marvel to see them play with children. I remember a three year old girl playing horsey on his broad back. They are both registered AKC types. FTW if it pisses PITA off. We fostered and adopted several pound pups during his life too. He put up with it, but he knew who was Alpha. Putting them down when the time came was easy compared to this.

He didn't much care for living on the boat, but that was ok too, because that's where the pack lived. When we put on our shoes to go out, both dogs we're all over us; dog slobber. Yeah. Nothin' like it.

Anyway, enough of that. I know some of you know. Thanks for the comments all of you. Gotta struggle through these next few weeks a little. I'm determined to finish my shop. That's good distraction. The wife will be away next week, maybe I'll also get some boxes built for my Altec VOTT system too. I don't have room for A7s but I can do modified 816s with the horn on top, or just a big box and fiddle with the vent and crossover. I'm going to cross them at 1200 instead of 800. Warmer that way. Like Model 19s. The best speaker system ever made. Don't want them in the house. Won't be able to turn them up.

Y'all have a nice glass of whisky for me. Love your critters.

It's colder in Sparks today.

[Buschman]

I am sorry for your loss. The grief you have is a small price for to pay for the enjoyment of a loyal friend for 15 years. You did the right thing for your friend.

[Andy Le Blanc]

My mum had donkey named Pete, twenty some years, passed in the barn
middle of February a few years back. neighbor down the road had to come
with a bucket loader after he (Pete) got froze up, She was affected awful.

Gave up on pets my self, the wife has too many cats, and the kids are still young.
Take the bitter with sweet.

[Cygnus X1]

Thank you for the memorial.

It is necessary, and a great way to honor him.
Yes I can relate over many dogs.

This one is like that, whenever there is work to be done, she is "all over it"...wants to be involved.
She takes her time to patrol, like a watch.

She is wife's dog, if you ever can't find the wife around...look for the dog.
She either won't be far away or in a very strategic spot, just resting.

Great memories, and it's always a shame our best friend gets the shortest time to give.

[Jana]

Skyboltone,

I am sorry for your loss and feel your pain. I lost my best buddy in May of 2001 (kidney failure). I still haven't gotten over it. She was a German Shepherd too--got me through a lot of rough times, saved my life not once, but a couple of times, made every day an adventure. Love. That's all she knew was Love. Us human's could take a lesson from dogs.

[stoo]

Loosing a dear pet is tough I know! I know he lived a wonderful happy life with you.
Stew

[dartanion]

Sorry to hear about your loss Dan. It's never easy to lose a family member.

Back in 2008, we lost all 3 of our dogs within about 6 months. One to old age (almost 15), and 2 to cancer. Osteosarcoma in our 7 year old black lab and a throat tumor in our 17 year old Pyrenees mix. Sucked the big one losing them all so quickly.

All is good now since we have added 2 great danes to our family.

[skyboltone]

Sorry to hear about your loss Dan. It's never easy to lose a family member.

Back in 2008, we lost all 3 of our dogs within about 6 months. One to old age (almost 15), and 2 to cancer. Osteosarcoma in our 7 year old black lab and a throat tumor in our 17 year old Pyrenees mix. Sucked the big one losing them all so quickly.

All is good now since we have added 2 great danes to our family.

I can't remember which one I met. Seems like a flop eared Dane of some sort. Was that him? Cool dude.

Sorry about your loss to Darren, that's a lot. In the last 6 months it's been my brother and now the dog. Before that, as I'm sure you remember, it was my Dad in 8-07. My mother is in Stage 6 Alzheimer's. But you just never know with that killer.

Hope you're getting enough work. I retired just in time. Luckily your line of work should go on I'm thinking unless drug development goes offshore due to CA/US penalty taxes on wealth building. Still the code works for other things I imagine. How about Livermore nuke? Stanford Linear is all but shut down. Too many better instruments in the world. I have two close friends in the bread lines because of cutbacks over there. Data base designer and IT network type.

Yeah, I know, don't get me started.