I resume my Memorial Monday’s posts tonight thanks Jason. Losing a dog is never easy, but during Covid, not being able to be there with them at the end makes it so much harder.
“So. Caroline came into our lives shortly after we moved to New Jersey. It was a crazy time in our lives having lost our dog. Max, the year before and then attempting to adopt a dog that wasn’t fully trained. That dog got jealous and nipped our son Jonathan above his eye. We were very lucky and we knew it wasn’t the dogs fault, but still after that, it would take some time for Jonathan to recover. After a few months and our move to New Jersey, two things happened. I suffered an ear infection that turned into a Bells Palsy, but I wasn’t aware of that and thought it was a stroke. During my recovery, I saw that North Shore Animal League, which was the place our previous dog Maximus originally was from (though we were his second owner) and my wife’s late dog, Jesse, who passed just before we got married, was from also. They were coming to the town over from us with their mobile unit. At the time my wife was with my son at a Chuck E. Cheese and I told her that she had to come, that I felt our best chance at finding a great dog would be now. We saw several dogs and I had liked one but realized one dog was too high strung. My wife then asked the helper to bring out their “sweetest dog”. They brought out a beautiful looking girl that was spotted like a Dalmatian and was already looking to snuggle and get belly rubs. She hit it off with all of us immediately. We had never had a girl dog before. Whether it was wanting more of a protector, we just always felt that male dogs would be the way to go. Little did I know I would be wrong. Caroline was as sweet as could be but could be a very good watchdog as well in her own way. She was so happy to see people that she would squeal with happiness. She would smile with a full “fangy” grin. She would sing and dance with me. She filled a great void in our hearts with incredible love. She would be possessive of her toys and treats and developed from a puppy that was skinny and played nippy games with me, to a mature dog who let everyone know that she was in charge. She had a great bark which belied her sweetness. She unfortunately passed away from some gastrointestinal disease. She was only 8. It was very tough because we couldn’t see her due to COVID and she suffered terribly and I don’t even know if she recognized us at the end or if she was mad at us for leaving her. I wish we never took her to the vet. I’m crying as I write this now. She was our baby. This was so hard and I couldn’t express everything. The pictures and videos say more. I have so much. I look at them often.”
Jason, I know this was tough to write but I hope you can take comfort in knowing you were trying to do the right thing by taking her to the vet and I feel sure Caroline knew you loved her right up until the end.
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