It's a zoo around here! And the hits keep coming...
Because I have so many dogs but only one really rascally one, I tend to pay him a lot of attention and write about him more or photograph him more but I still love all my dogs very much. Unfortunately I just don't pay enough attention to all of them which I really regret, especially at times like these.
This kindly gentleman is Hapa. He was the first puppy I officially picked myself and I got him when I started high school. His name means "the vessel which holds the breath of life" if you break down the Hawaiian esoterically. He's been retired from hunting for a couple of years now and life in general. His birthday is May 21 (12 years this year) and he has always been the best of dogs, even when he would jailbreak and run off down the street or chewed up all the slippers. He always came back, always listened, and was always enthusiastic about everything. His puppies were always beautiful and he was always full of joy and so active for an old dog. Sometimes he'd give me skeptical looks at the things I'd do to him but he never judged.
The first time I cried for him was when he was about 6 months old and I saw my dad playing with latex gloves and Hapa trying to take them away. Seeing how white his face was from the powder, I had a glimpse of what he would look like as an old man and it made me so sad.
The second time I cried was when a truck ran him down in someone's yard and I thought I'd have to put him down. Luckily the truck was big enough to roll him over but not drag him and his kneecap was sheared rather than his leg/hip being broken.
The last time I cried for him...
The last time I teared up for him...
Is now.
I had to have Hapa put down Monday morning. We were playing on Sunday and suddenly he wasn't doing well and then lay down and could barely move. Then he started to swell up. My vet thinks he might have had gastric torsion which is basically the stomach turning over which causes bloat and fatality. It can sometimes happen in large breed dogs during play or exercise. The pet hospital fees are too high and they were sending us to another one because their vet was leaving so my dad opted to just wait until morning to have him put down. Poor old boy suffered all night and was hiding in the bushes waiting to die and couldn't even move in the morning when we put him in the crate. He was alert until the end but so so weak. I feel so guilty for his pain.
I've been crying since Sunday night.