Rest well, my baby boy...
Funeral Blues
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
~W.H. Auden
In October of 1996, my father and I were walking though a mall in Maryland when we decided to take a peek into the pet shop. When we walked in, this Miniature Schnauzer puppy stood right up and started barking it's little head off at us. I knew right then that I had to have him. My father and I left the mall and on the way home I tried my best to convince him that we needed a dog. By time we got back to the house, all that was left to discuss was how we were going to get the money to actually buy the dog. I had a few hundred dollars saved up from babysitting, so I was prepared to use that. With that all squared away, my father and I rushed back to the mall before it closed to bring Max home.
Funny thing - humans do not choose their animals. Animals choose their humans. Max chose my mom. My mother wasn't ready for another dog. We had to put our old dog, Tipper, down three years earlier. Max seemed to sense the resistance from mom. He would butter up to her whenever he had the chance. Soon he started sleeping on my parents' bed, he'd only eat when my mom was watching, he'd go absolutely ape-shit when ever she came home... He became the son my mother never had.
As the years passed, Max started to have difficulty doing a lot of things. He couldn't climb the stairs because of arthritis. He gained a bunch of weight because he couldn't run anymore. His eye-sight started getting bad. His hearing went.
About a month ago, we brought Dexter home. Max has never been good about interacting with other dogs - he tried to tear Toby apart when I first got him four years ago. Naturally, I assumed we would have a slight issue bringing yet another dog into the house. When we walked in, Max simply sniffed him and walked away. I should have figured out then that there was a problem.
Two weeks later, Max started losing weight - rapidly. We figured that it was just because if the puppy. He made Max very nervous when it was time to eat, so I started feeding Max separately. The weight didn't come back. One day, the puppy nipped Max. The cut never healed. In fact, it seemed to become infected and started to spread. Last Thursday, I told my dad he had to take the dog to the Vet to have her check it out. I knew that the news wasn't going to be good.
There was a large tumor in his abdomen. Cancer. The tumor was putting pressure on his stomach, so he couldn't eat. That explains the weight-loss. He went from 28lbs to 21lbs in just 2 weeks. The cancer had caused his immune system to weaken, which is why the cut wouldn't heal. His eyes were starting to yellow because his liver was failing. The only way to end his suffering was to put him down.
Today, at 12:27pm, Maxwell Smart went to sleep. He did not fight it. He was tired. I held him and talked to him the whole time.
Rest well, my baby boy. You deserve it.
Maxwell Smart La Porte
June 8, 1996 - March 23, 2009
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
~W.H. Auden
In October of 1996, my father and I were walking though a mall in Maryland when we decided to take a peek into the pet shop. When we walked in, this Miniature Schnauzer puppy stood right up and started barking it's little head off at us. I knew right then that I had to have him. My father and I left the mall and on the way home I tried my best to convince him that we needed a dog. By time we got back to the house, all that was left to discuss was how we were going to get the money to actually buy the dog. I had a few hundred dollars saved up from babysitting, so I was prepared to use that. With that all squared away, my father and I rushed back to the mall before it closed to bring Max home.
Funny thing - humans do not choose their animals. Animals choose their humans. Max chose my mom. My mother wasn't ready for another dog. We had to put our old dog, Tipper, down three years earlier. Max seemed to sense the resistance from mom. He would butter up to her whenever he had the chance. Soon he started sleeping on my parents' bed, he'd only eat when my mom was watching, he'd go absolutely ape-shit when ever she came home... He became the son my mother never had.
As the years passed, Max started to have difficulty doing a lot of things. He couldn't climb the stairs because of arthritis. He gained a bunch of weight because he couldn't run anymore. His eye-sight started getting bad. His hearing went.
About a month ago, we brought Dexter home. Max has never been good about interacting with other dogs - he tried to tear Toby apart when I first got him four years ago. Naturally, I assumed we would have a slight issue bringing yet another dog into the house. When we walked in, Max simply sniffed him and walked away. I should have figured out then that there was a problem.
Two weeks later, Max started losing weight - rapidly. We figured that it was just because if the puppy. He made Max very nervous when it was time to eat, so I started feeding Max separately. The weight didn't come back. One day, the puppy nipped Max. The cut never healed. In fact, it seemed to become infected and started to spread. Last Thursday, I told my dad he had to take the dog to the Vet to have her check it out. I knew that the news wasn't going to be good.
There was a large tumor in his abdomen. Cancer. The tumor was putting pressure on his stomach, so he couldn't eat. That explains the weight-loss. He went from 28lbs to 21lbs in just 2 weeks. The cancer had caused his immune system to weaken, which is why the cut wouldn't heal. His eyes were starting to yellow because his liver was failing. The only way to end his suffering was to put him down.
Today, at 12:27pm, Maxwell Smart went to sleep. He did not fight it. He was tired. I held him and talked to him the whole time.
Rest well, my baby boy. You deserve it.
Maxwell Smart La Porte
June 8, 1996 - March 23, 2009