Chester
Hey guys,
So as most of you guys know, we had to put Chester to sleep on Monday. He's gone a little senile - he had started walking into walls and things like that. He was nearly 17 years old, outlived every other dog from his litter. On Monday my mom woke up and noticed that Chester couldn't lift his head up. He tried to stand but fell right back down again. They decided to take him to the vet. The vet said that most likely, Chester had had a stroke during the night, causing his temperature to be low and him to have lost muscle control in some parts of his body. It could possibly have been an inner ear thing, but his temperature would have gone up - not down - and there was also something else, but I forget. So he said that since Chester was so old, he most likely wasn't going to get any better. So my mom, my Aunt Linda, and Michelle, who were all at the vet's office, decided it was just time to put him to sleep. Nobody wanted him to suffer.
But I really wish I'd been there for it. It was really hard to just wait here in CT to hear that he'd died. He was pretty much my dog - I picked him out, I named him. He was my aunt's dog but we ended up taking care of him for years so really, he was ours. It's just upsetting to think that I'm going to go home and he won't be there. My mom said it was so quiet there without him. Its strange, because he didn't take up a lot of space or time. He just kind of walked around, ate and stood by the back door to be let out. But even on the days I was home alone, I knew I had him there. It's not like Chester was some fighter dog that would defend me from robbers or anything, but he was there to keep me company. And I'd let him out and make his dinner and stuff. If I was upset, he always seemed to come to my door to make sure I was okay. My mom told me me that when me and Michelle were younger and took naps at Grandma's house, Chester would sleep outside my room, and when he heard us wake up he would go get my mom. When I was sick with mono, he did the same thing. I wasn't really supposed to get up and walk around. I knew he had slept outside my room because his snoring was horrible! I didn't know he went in to get my mom when I tried to walk around, but he did.
It's funny because the other day, my roommate Erin asked why I always sleep curled up in the fetal position. I couldn't remember for the life of me until it hit me - when I was much younger, and Chester was a little more agile, he would jump up and sleep at the foot of my bed. When my alarm went off in the morning, he would jump down and leave, but it cut a good foot or so off of my bed, so I always wound up sleeping curled up. He hadn't done that in years, but it just because such a routine for me even now.
There are so many other things that I keep thinking about. Sometimes it was such a pain in the butt, cleaning up the poop in the yard or having to walk him in the rain or the snow. But he was always there and I always kinda felt he was looking out for all of us.
I'm gonna miss him.