Wednesday, May 20, 2009

An Empty Space


It's been about a week and I haven't shared this yet, but . . . one of our dogs died last week. Baker had a dog (Summer) when we got married and she is now 12 years old and in perfect health. Hunter was 7 years old and he was our dog. We got him on July 4th about 5 months after we got married. He was the perfect dog. He was a collie, australian shephard mix and had one blue eye and one brown eye. He was mellow, gentle, loved to run, enjoyed his sleep (he snored like crazy), and he was my puppy. Why we called him puppy, probably because babies and puppies are totally separate. I know some folks call their dogs their babies but I couldn't do it. He was a dog not a person. But if we called him puppy then he was still my "baby puppy." Sounds silly, but we always called him puppy and referred to the dogs as the puppies. Anyhow, we left for the beach on Friday before Mother's Day weekend and on Thursday he was running around and playing with Baker & Luke. I asked my brother to watch our dogs for us and we left for the beach. Sunday afternoon we got some text messages and calls telling us Hunter didn't look good and could hardly walk. We shrugged it off as him missing us. But when we got home he could barely walk, his ears were back and he could hardly move. Something was definately wrong. He went to the vet on Monday afternoon and was given an antibiotic shot and two different types of meds to treat a bacterial infection. By Wednesday he was worse and not walking. Baker had to pick him up to take him outside. He went to the vet again on Thursday afternoon and when he got there he started vomiting and pooping blood. He got sent to emergency where they couldn't diagnose what was going on but decided he needed a blood transfusion because he was bleeding internally. Even with the blood transfusion the vet wasn't sure he would make it. So . . . he was put down. In one week he went from running and playing to not moving or eating. We weren't ready for this to happen. So this last weekend the house was bigger. The yard and garage more spacious. Summer found his harness sitting on top of the kennel and pulled it down, sniffed it and layed next to it. Luke asked, "where is he?" "Puppy, cum on!" As for Baker and I . . . we cried.

5 comments:

Taryn said...

Oh- I am so sorry. An Empty Space is a perfect way to describe that feeling. I lost "my puppy" when she was too young and it was pretty traumatic for me. I didn't know your pup- but from your words, I feel for you. I am so sorry.

Unknown said...

I'm sorry Jackie ... I know we were all here after he was put down, but after reading your post, I was sad all over again. :o( Very sweet tribute to him ... it's always hard losing someone you love.

Emily said...

I'm so sorry. I love doggies, and it's such a terrible loss to have them go....especially so young.
April's right, its a very sweet tribute.

Momma Jean said...

Oh... We will miss Hunter :(

Jennifer said...

Oh man I couldn't even imagine. Did they do any tests after he was put down to see if they knew why? Or could give you any answers? A friend of mine had a dog that got parvo and almost died and it sounded similar..? Awww Iam sorry for your loss! Even though their animals their still an awesome part of your family!

 
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