Goodbye Boots
Posting this here so I can link from Twitter without inviting the twitterverse to my Facebook page. I haven't posted to LJ regularly in so long that some folks who might read this might not have known that I had 2 dogs. Adopted/rescued them almost 4 years ago. Unfortunate that my LJ has basically been reduced to posting about death. Anyway, here's this:
Yesterday I euthanized my dog, Boots. She'd lived with Bevin and me for just shy of four years, but although I wasn't her original people, in that time she and I grew close. She was my girl, sticking close by me, especially towards the end when her vision and mobility were becoming so limited. In the mornings I'd find her patiently waiting in the hall outside the bathroom for me to be done with my shower. She curled her toes when I talked to her, she squealed with delight when I came home and it was walk time. She was my companion through this long, lonely, unemployed summer. I took her and her brother Buddy for countless walks at Point Pinole, Point Isabel, Cesar Chavez, Miller-Knox, Point Reyes, Fort Funston, our old Oakland neighborhood, and wherever else we found ourselves. And after walks, cozy naps or pointless TV. We went through Breaking Bad and Orange is the New Black together. She was passenger in my car for many adventures; she and Buddy accompanied Bevin and me to Lake Berryessa and Boots got to go for a bit of a swim, which she surely enjoyed.
With arthritis, kidney disease, cancer, muscle wasting, dregs of a broken leg, cataracts and who knows what else, she experienced a decline in the last year or so, but despite being a cranky old lady at times, I always welcomed her soothing company.
I'm glad I saved her from certain early demise, and frankly knew that this day would come sooner than later, but nevertheless I'm sad and lonely now.
Bevin made her steak and eggs for breakfast yesterday, which she eagerly gobbled up, food hound that she was. Then it was time for a couple hours of napping on the people-bed, something she appreciated muchly. She had a good last day.
I'm not sure how Buddy is going to take losing her. The two of them have spent their entire lives together, including a chaotic year of loss, foster homes, broken bones...but they always had each other.
Yesterday I euthanized my dog, Boots. She'd lived with Bevin and me for just shy of four years, but although I wasn't her original people, in that time she and I grew close. She was my girl, sticking close by me, especially towards the end when her vision and mobility were becoming so limited. In the mornings I'd find her patiently waiting in the hall outside the bathroom for me to be done with my shower. She curled her toes when I talked to her, she squealed with delight when I came home and it was walk time. She was my companion through this long, lonely, unemployed summer. I took her and her brother Buddy for countless walks at Point Pinole, Point Isabel, Cesar Chavez, Miller-Knox, Point Reyes, Fort Funston, our old Oakland neighborhood, and wherever else we found ourselves. And after walks, cozy naps or pointless TV. We went through Breaking Bad and Orange is the New Black together. She was passenger in my car for many adventures; she and Buddy accompanied Bevin and me to Lake Berryessa and Boots got to go for a bit of a swim, which she surely enjoyed.
With arthritis, kidney disease, cancer, muscle wasting, dregs of a broken leg, cataracts and who knows what else, she experienced a decline in the last year or so, but despite being a cranky old lady at times, I always welcomed her soothing company.
I'm glad I saved her from certain early demise, and frankly knew that this day would come sooner than later, but nevertheless I'm sad and lonely now.
Bevin made her steak and eggs for breakfast yesterday, which she eagerly gobbled up, food hound that she was. Then it was time for a couple hours of napping on the people-bed, something she appreciated muchly. She had a good last day.
I'm not sure how Buddy is going to take losing her. The two of them have spent their entire lives together, including a chaotic year of loss, foster homes, broken bones...but they always had each other.