A Sad Story

If you read this blog you already know my Mom is writing a little piece on each of the dogs she has owned. Today she is writing a sad story on which I have no comment except that I know my Mom has loved all her dogs and has always spared no expense to keep them happy and healthy.
I wasn't around when she had small children but from some of the stories I've heard she always did her best for them. Mom has two children, besides me and Skeeter. They are all grown up now. Maybe I can get her to write about them when she is done with her dog stories.

In my last story about Hans and Thor, I forgot to tell of in incident with Hans before we got Thor. I did mention that he was getting out of his kennel. It was happening more and more. We were at our wits end trying to find out how he was getting out. The kennel had a cement floor. It was fenced in with six foot fencing. There were no holes in the fence.
One day, when we were both off from work, we decided to put him in the kennel and ignore him. We took turns watching him. When he began to get restless and pace, we knew he was about to make his move. Sure enough he CLIMBED up the fence. He perched himself on the top until he got his balance and then jumped down into the yard. Now if you can just picture a 110 lb dog perched on top of a fence with four paws on one 2 x 4.
He looked like some kind of prehistoric vulture. We replaced the fencing with chain link and that was the end of his adventures. The funny thing was that he was not trying to run away and was often waiting for us on the front porch.
Hans and Thor got along real well. When he was little, Thor could not keep up with Hans so he used to hang on to Hans tail. They were real buddies and were seldom separated.
One Sunday, when Hans was nine years old, he had a stroke. We tried to get hold of our vet to no avail. He did not seem to be in any discomfort but he could not get up or stand alone. For the rest of the day we carried him in and out so he could go to the bathroom. We would take him to the vet first thing in the AM.
When I told my sister P we were going to put him to sleep the next day, she wanted to come say goodbye to him. When she got there we had him outside on the lawn. He loved to be outside. When he saw her he tried to drag himself to get a ball. She always played ball with him. We all cried.
The next day we took him to the vet. They asked us to pay up front so we could leave after the deed was done. We did. Our vet was not in that day but his partner was there. We asked him to put the dog to sleep because we did not want to see him suffer any more. He tried three times and either the needle broke, he couldn't find a vein etc. My husband called him an SOB for putting the dog through so much trauma. He picked up the dog and carried him back to the car. We had a station wagon and had put the seat down. Some of the medicine had been injected so the dog was half dead.
We finally located an emergency vet by phone. I was hysterical thinking the dog was suffering. They calmed me down and explained that the dog was not suffering. Since some of the medicine had been injected the dog was in no pain. The medicine is actually a strong dose of pain killer.
When we arrived at the emergency clinic, the staff could not have been kinder. They came out to the car with a stretcher and very gently loaded him on and carried him inside. We talked to the vet for a few minutes and then held the dog in our arms until the medicine did its deed.
Thor was devastated at the loss of his friend and brother. He would sit in the yard and howl. Now we always thought Thor was part wolf. He had the look and to hear him wail would curdle your blood.
The only solution was to get Thor a puppy.

My quote for today is from Agatha Christie.

"But surely for everything you love you have to pay some price."