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Post by fayth on Feb 18, 2014 4:34:32 GMT
Thanks! I had to go to the vet with a friend and it was so hard! I don't understand why animals leave so quickly why can't they live as long as us? There is not a day that goes by that I don't live her!
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Post by Pammy on Feb 18, 2014 5:08:29 GMT
Well, if the average dog or cat did live as long as a human's lifespan, just imagine how many homes a pet would bounce thru in its lifetime. Also, those of us who don't plan to ever rehome our animals would be very limited in choosing pets that are hopefully older than we are, so we wouldn't have to worry what would happen to them upon our deaths. Although awfully sad when we lose one, it's probably a good thing they don't live as long as we do. Now some pets do live a very long time, like some species of parrots. A person would need to have a reliable plan in place with a younger person who is committed to taking over on pet care (and love).
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Post by fayth on Feb 18, 2014 5:54:52 GMT
I know it is just so hard! When I am older I will always have a just incase plan for my pet! My grandpa had a just in case plan and then he died to cancer ? (if only cancer didn't exist both my grandparents would be here today? ?) so we took boo, she would have gone to the shelter I was her 7 th owner! Boo was the dog no one wanted, no one in our family when she was in the shelter it was a year before my grandpa adopted her! My grandpa always see's the best in dogs even if they aren't the prettiest or the friendliest! My grandpa and I were the only people boo loved completely! She was scared because she was abused and barked at anyone that would come near me! She was that special one, with out my grandpa boo would have been put down, I walked her every single day I saw my grandpa and that's where the bond started, Boos put down date was the next day, I am so happy we found her!Every night she would sleep with me and I miss her so much I feel so lonely and empty! I am sorry for getting so emotional! It's just to hard sometimes I wonder if I should even ever get another pet…
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Post by bree1818 on Feb 18, 2014 15:53:00 GMT
One of the things to remember fayth, is that another pet won't take the place of Boo. Boo will always have that special place in your heart, but it isn't the only place. Remember the good memories and give it some time, then measure whether you want another pet or not.
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Post by santinoandmondo on Feb 18, 2014 19:32:13 GMT
I had two special dogs when I first got married. One was "my" dog and he was a wonderful mixed breed we got from a shelter and he was so smart. We were his second family. We also got our second dog, another mixed breed, from a rescue shelter and we were his third family. The second dog died suddenly when I was at work and the dog walker had to take him to the vet. We were so sad that we weren't there when he passed. A couple of years later, we made the tough decision to put down our first dog as he had many problems associated with aging. My husband and I were both in the office when he slipped away. It was heartbreaking but our dog didn't have a good quality of life any more. You will mourn for your special furry friend Boo for a while and, with time, your pain will lessen and your fond memories will live on. It has been close to 10 years since we lost our last dog but we decided to not get more dog right now. Instead, we have our two feathered friends who we got from a friend's daughter who couldn't keep them and our quiet salamander who lives in his 10 gallon tank who never says "ack, ack, ack" .
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Post by Pammy on Feb 18, 2014 20:14:14 GMT
About 10 years ago, we adopted the sweetest old dog from an animal shelter. She was a red-colored lab mix of some kind. We named her Sandy, and she was such a sweet, gentle and good dog. So obedient. I never had to use a leash. She just plodded along with us. We lived out in the country then, in northern Michigan, and she stayed right up by the house when she was outside, although she lived inside the house with our family.
After just a couple of years, Sandy began to really slow down. She wanted to go for walks, but once we would get a short distance from home, she would plop down and struggle to get back up and make it home. She was much too big for me to carry. It was very sad. The vet determined that she was likely over 15 years at that time. She continued to be happy at home for another year or so, but then she started having seizures. When she wasn't seizing, she was still happy. She laid on my feet and just wanted to be petted. One day she didn't want to be petted or touched at all. We knew that was a bad sign. Then she stopped eating and drinking. The vet said she could live another couple of days, but we made the horrible decision to end her suffering.
Sandy was the dearest old doggie ever. I cannot for the life of me understand how she ended up in the dog pound. She never did one bad thing during her golden years while she was our dog, and she was incredibly gentle with four young kids. We lost her about 6 years ago. We've not had another dog since, and it doesn't look like we will anytime soon, because Natey is absolutely terrified of dogs.
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Post by dianapalmer on Feb 19, 2014 0:06:33 GMT
What a nice story about Sandy.
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Post by luvsanimals2 on Feb 19, 2014 1:19:31 GMT
aww, why is he terrified?
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Post by lisamarie on Feb 19, 2014 1:40:59 GMT
Pammy that was such a nice story. Very sad
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Post by Pammy on Feb 19, 2014 2:40:34 GMT
Thank you, ladies.
Luvs, Natey is terrified because in our neighborhood, several families allow their dogs to roam free. From the time Natey was tiny, and I would take him out in his stroller, dogs would come running up to us, excitedly barking and licking and carrying on the way unsupervised loose dogs will sometimes do. Once he started walking, and we would take him to our backyard to chase his ball or push his Tonka truck around or play in his baby pool, more dogs would come into our yard and accost our baby. None were ever vicious, but they were exuberant with lots of jumping and licking and knocking the baby down, etc. To this day, I cannot take my child into his own backyard to play on his swingset that his daddy built for him without neighborhood dogs and/or strays joining us in our yard. Natey is so sweet and precious. When he sees a dog coming, he will say, "Oh, that's a cute doggie. I think I like that doggie," but by the time it gets within 20 feet or so, he begins to shriek and cry and scramble up my legs to perch as high on my body as he can get. Natey is now 4 years old and his little body just trembles in fright no matter what I say about how "nice" the doggie is or how much I pet it. The dogs won't leave, and I ultimately end up having to take my little boy back into the house to get away from the loose dogs in our yard. Once we are safely inside, poor Natey will say, "That was a nice doggie. He was cute. I think I really liked that doggie. I'm starting to not be afraid of doggies." It's pitiful.
I feel as though there is nothing I can do about this problem, because I love animals too much to shout menacingly at any dog, commanding it to get out of here, so that's out. I also don't want to call animal control because I don't want these poor dogs to be put down. It's not their faults nobody's looking after them. Besides, by the time animal control would send somebody around, the dog will have long since wandered off. The obvious solution would be a fence, but that's just not in our budget.
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Post by lisamarie on Feb 19, 2014 4:47:13 GMT
Pammy, when he gets a little older you will definitely be able to work with him
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Post by dianapalmer on Feb 20, 2014 21:45:37 GMT
Oh, how sad about your yard :-(. When my daughter was a baby a teenager used to ride a dirt bike in undeveloped land behind our house. It made her afraid to play in the yard.
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Post by Pammy on Feb 21, 2014 1:20:17 GMT
I'm sorry, Diana. I can certainly sympathize.
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