On losing a dog

[Bill in Oregon]

I may have posted this here a few years ago, but just ran across Ben Hur Lampman's words again so forgive me. If you have ever loved a dog, it will stir your heart.

Where To Bury A Dog

There are various places within which a dog may be buried. We are thinking now of a setter, whose coat was flame in the sunshine, and who, so far as we are aware, never entertained a mean or an unworthy thought. This setter is buried beneath a cherry tree, under four feet of garden loam, and at its proper season the cherry strews petals on the green lawn of his grave. Beneath a cherry tree, or an apple, or any flowering shrub of the garden, is an excellent place to bury a good dog. Beneath such trees, such shrubs, he slept in the drowsy summer, or gnawed at a flavorous bone, or lifted head to challenge some strange intruder. These are good places, in life or in death. Yet it is a small matter, and it touches sentiment more than anything else.
For if the dog be well remembered, if sometimes he leaps through your dreams actual as in life, eyes kindling, questing, asking, laughing, begging, it matters not at all where that dog sleeps at long and at last. On a hill where the wind is unrebuked and the trees are roaring, or beside a stream he knew in puppyhood, or somewhere in the flatness of a pasture land, where most exhilarating cattle graze. It is all one to the dog, and all one to you, and nothing is gained, and nothing lost -- if memory lives. But there is one best place to bury a dog. One place that is best of all.
If you bury him in this spot, the secret of which you must already have, he will come to you when you call -- come to you over the grim, dim frontiers of death, and down the well-remembered path, and to your side again. And though you call a dozen living dogs to heel they should not growl at him, nor resent his coming, for he is yours and he belongs there.
People may scoff at you, who see no lightest blade of grass bent by his footfall, who hear no whimper pitched too fine for mere audition, people who may never really have had a dog. Smile at them then, for you shall know something that is hidden from them, and which is well worth the knowing.
The one best place to bury a good dog is in the heart of his master.

[M. M. Wright]

Well said Bill, well said. Just before reading your post I was remembering out Rott/Lab who died on the front porch. I'd get another if I could find the right puppy.

[piller]

We have a ChihWeenie and a couple of others. They have all been loved, but the one which was the best was a Boxer/German Shepherd mix we rescued. We took our son to the pound looking for a dog. She locked her eyes on him, and they bonded instantly. We still miss her. She was all we could ask a dog to be. She is the only one I buried in the back yard. She is permanently watching the back door to the house. All dogs can be wonderful, but some just stand out.

[Old No7]

This image says it all....................

Old No7

( Click on image to enlarge )

Most Difficult Part... (Large).jpg

[Grizz]

my springer is failing, i have to re-evaluate him every day. i keep HOPING he will just drop dead one day. i can handle that. maybe. after a while.

[AJMD429]

Heck, I'm just trying to figure out where to bury ME.....but many of the considerations are the same; unfortunately the rules are far more restrictive...

I told my wife I really just wanted to be buried without embalming or cremation, and in my favorite place on the farm where I grew up and we now live. Of course her response was....."do I have to wait until you're actually dead...?"

[marlinman93]

Bill, this really hits home around here right now. About 2 weeks ago our little dog suddenly, and without explanation became paralyzed in her back legs. One second she was trotting around, and the next she was crying and dragging her back legs. We took her to emergency vet, and they kept her a week, but after numerous tests they can't find the cause.
We have her back home, and she's regained use of one leg, but even it is weak. It's like having a newborn baby around now and she needs to be carried outside to go potty, and then pretty much caged in her kennel when we aren't holding her. Prognosis is basically "wait and watch" to see if she pulls out of it. She's 6 years old, so certainly not age related.
We're praying for a good outcome, but not sure.

[Bill in Oregon]

Vall, you have my every sympathy. I will pray that your little girl regains use of her hind legs. I don't know why our Creator gives us the love of such sweet little friends and then scares the heck out of us with their health issues.