I’m just going to put this here because I know you’re all pet lovers, and it should be said.
As I said above, we lost our dog a few months back. We knew the time was coming. He had lost his hearing and a good share of his eyesight. But he was an incredibly resilient dog and somehow managed. I had to fish him out of the pool a couple times when he ventured too close, and in the final days he had to be carried anywhere he needed to go.
It took 13.5 years, but he had become my dog. When we first got him, it was because a family member couldn’t keep him. I would not have picked him as my dog. He was barely 2, but he had been raised by someone else. There was friction between the other family member and us, and taking the dog in became the event that bridged the gap and brought us back together. Everything is good now, but it was taking that little dog in that made it possible.
The dog was smart, but stubborn and he and I did not see eye to eye. It took a couple of years before he and I came to terms with each other. But eventually he accepted me and I him.
It broke my heart to sit with him in his last moments. He trusted me completely.
Pets are family. But in this case he was a pet who helped bring a family together.
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