4/4/09: Death of a Pet.
I was invited to some friends house last night for dinner and a movie. They had rented "Marley and Me" of all the movies out there... Naturally there wasn't a dry eye in the house when we finally turned it off. I had intended not to see this movie, having barely survived reading the book however, painful as it was I survived the movie as well. It made me realize that Dr. Sexson probably knows what he's talking about when he says that to write about it will get it out from the deep place where painful memories haunt.
Her name was "Denali". She was a six week old German Sheperd puppy when I got her. She grew up to be a big loveable girl. At the time I had a riding program for children with disabilities in S. Florida and she loved the kids and they loved her. Over the years she developed a lot of problems with her back and hind legs. When I brought her out here to Montana with me in 2000 shw was so happy. She loved the snow and the cooler temperatures. She loved to hike for as long as she could take it without getting painful. I was working as a veterinary technician at the time so Denali had the best medications that I could get for her. The vets kept telling me that this symptoms were normal for a 12 year old sheperd that was as big as she was. She gout to the point where she couldn't get up and down the stairs and I had a hard time carrying her so I moved into the living room downstairs. Then she stopped enjoying the hikes and finally she stopped enjoying food, even ice cream. I had to make the decision to put her to sleep. I was with her at the end. Sometimes I'm struck with the thought that I didn't do enough for her, maybe I should have got one of those doggy wheelchairs for her. I brought her ashes with me on a trip to my mother's place in Fla. last year and buried her under a boganvilla that blooms with bright purple flowers.