Comment

Comment by Tim Lum on February 22, 2012 at 7:26pm

Funny how this seems to work! There are days were I'm okay with the passing of Rugby and then that 'trigger' kicks in and I'm back to square one. My wife brought home a passage that she got from one of her customer. Basically it gave the ten commandment of owning a dog, Well the last commandment reads as follows: 10. Go with me on difficult journeys. Never say "I can't bear to watch", or Let it happen in my absence" Everything is easier for me if your there. Remember that I love you. Well that line was the 'trigger' that brought the tears back!

A little back ground on Rugby. He was found to a have an auto immune disease some five or six years back. We actually thought we were going to lose him then. He recovered some how and was doing well. Unfortunately right before we were to go on vacation Rugby had a relapse. I came home one day and he came to the door like he always did but collapsed right in front of me. I rushed him to the vet were they did tests only to find his blood levels had dropped to a critical level. We then rushed him to the emergency hospital. This was two days before we were scheduled to go see my daughter on vacation. She had just gotten a professorship at Penn State and had bought a home and moved there from Orlando, Florida. After talking to the vet he thought that Rugby would be okay and that we should go on the trip. So we did . Well Rugby never got better and  after two tranfusions his levels kept dropping. I knew it was time! They say that this would be the hardest decision to make but it really wasn't. I knew he was not going to get better and like you said before I had to let him go!

Every day I deal with the guilt of not being with him at the end, I think to myself that maybe if I were there with him he would have gotten better. How at the end he was there all alone wondering where we were and why we had abandoned him. He loved me so! I went to see him the day before we were to leave. I put him up on the bench with his head in my lap and just petted him for hours. How was I to know that this would be the last time that I would ever see him. It gets better as time passes but it still there and may always be there.

Thank you for your blogs they have helped with deal with the passing of Rugby

Comment by Kevan hudson on February 22, 2012 at 4:31pm

Hi, I have been following your blog,I am not going to say " I know exactly how you feel" because I do not.Having said that I will tell you that on Mar 19 2010,we lost our little Chuckie,it still ,at times, seems like yesterday.Chucky was such a big part of our lives,all of a sudden there was a missing part.We shared our lives for 13 fantastic years,he passed quietly,at home on his big pillow in front of the fireplace,he was such a good boy that he even made it so we didn't have to have him put to sleep.The next day I took our Abbie out for a walk and it just seemed out of place,not for just me, but abbie too.People we would see on everyday walks would ask me about Chucky,I found it very hard not to just break down on the spot.I decided to look for another corgi, and Abbie picked Benson,he really helped me get over the bad parts of grief,to this day I miss my Chucky,I still can see his but wiggle as he ran outside,can still feel his nose butt when I'm making myself a sandwich,a couple of months ago I had to move a large t.v. stand, and lo&behold there was one of chucky's favorite "cookies" underneath,he used to hide them from Abbie ,that brought more than a few tears,over time I have found that I remember my best friend Chucky, with smiles and fond memories, not so many tears,my heart slowly heals,I am sure yours will too,it will take time, but it will heal.

Comment by Jennifer Markley on February 22, 2012 at 11:18am

Remember that it's always OK to cry.  Always.  You never have to be ashamed of that.  I have cried harder at the loss of my animals then I have at most of my relatives.  I am glad that you know that he is always with you...I still feel Dillon sometimes.  Periodically I get little hints that he is in a happier place.  Just weird things that happen that can't be explained.  I have no doubt that there is a God, and there is a Rainbow Bridge, and we will all be together again.