When I was a kid we had a dog named Sparky. My parents weren't big on indoor pets, so Sparky stayed outside. I remember when she passed my parents were on vacation, but she had a tumor that was keeping her from getting up in her house, my sister and I had to make the decision to take her in. Probably the most adult thing I had ever done up to that point in my life. Looking back after having Jovi, we really did a disservice to Sparky making her stay outside all the time. I feel kind of bad about that, but it was out of my hands as a kid. My wife and I were supposed to go on a day trip the morning we decided to take Jo in. I remember someone said after the fact that "they are ready when you are ready". I think that is really profound. We likely held onto her longer than we should have. We have some photos of her at the vet that day and I love them because she looks so peaceful, but man they tear me up too.
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Yeah, it's unfortunate that people used to do that but I think it was accepted back then. We had a next door neighbor who kept two boxers in a pen behind his garage in the city, summer and winter. We called the humane society several times when the temps dipped below freezing but nothing was ever done.
I think that statement "they're ready when they're ready" is true. I believe Amstel knew his time was coming. A few days before he passed my wife and son were in the living room watching TV and I was going to take him for his evening walk. He sat right in the middle of the room and stared at them, then started barking until they got up and came with us. That was the last "family walk" we went on with him and it wouldn't have happened if he wouldn't have done that (he'd never done it before). It's such a tough thing. We just bought a new house and will be moving out of the condo so we might consider getting another dog soon. Will you guys be ready soon?
We are probably lucky we didn't get called on. Like you said, it was just more accepted back then. I can't dwell on it too much though, it won't change anything. If you ask my wife we will probably never get another dog. If you ask me, I could see us maybe getting one a long time from now after most of our traveling is finished. Who knows though. I think it's more about the having to go through the loss again than the minor inconvenience of not being able to pick up and go when we want.
It was a different time back then. My mom said her father kept a dog outside too. Our original plan was to wait to get another dog until we were done traveling too but I think things have shifted a bit for us. It might be a while before we can travel like we were and we don't want to miss out on having a dog for that many years.
I hear you. I think ultimately we still need some more time. It's only been about six months for us and the pain is really raw. If we had kids it might be different knowing a new one might help them heal. I see a lot of people do that.
Oh crap, congrats on the house by the way. That is awesome and exciting! I didn't realize you were that close to pulling the trigger!
Thank you! I'm super stoked! We've been looking for a good part of the summer (I haven't mentioned it here on Hive). This one ticks all the boxes for us, we got so lucky with it. It's about twenty minutes south of St. Paul in an area with lots of mature trees and lakes but close to the freeway. It's a standalone house but the HOA takes care of the lawn care and snow removal so we'll be able to get away for the winter once we're able to do that again. The best part is it'll be 4x bigger than our little condo so we'll have our own spaces and I'll have an office to write in again. I expect a huge increase in the output of my writing once we get settled again.
That's awesome! I am so happy for you! Also very nice about the lawn care after seeing all the green space!