Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Goodbye Little Dog

My parents' dog had to be put down today. She was the third dog I remember my parents having (not counting yet another two - it's complicated). They got her at New Years many years ago, and she was very quickly a member of the family - though for the first few years she always got nervous at Christmas time - we believe her previous owners abandoned her at that time, and she obviously feared it might happen again. Eventually, of course, that fear faded, and she became resigned to wearing the festive tinsel.

Bonnie had become very old, and almost entirely deaf, but she refused to act her age - she would rush to greet whoever had arrived with a friendly bark, and inevitably want to play with the tug rope, at great length. She always won, usually by simple attrition. And that persisted until close to the end, but alas the last few months saw her becoming increasingly unwell as cancer ravaged her. There was no hope of recovery, so it was just a case of waiting until the inevitable day when she was actively suffering and the end had to come. Today was that day.

She lived a very long and very happy life, with suffering only towards the very end of it. That's as much as any of us can hope. Somehow, that doesn't make it hurt any less.

She was a good dog. She is missed, and will continue to be missed.

#34: "Canal Dreams", by Iain Banks
#35: "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes", by Wizards of the Coast

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