A Dog's Life
I'm glad I was part of it
I have always loved dogs. Since I was a little kid and our German Shepard named Cleo had a litter of puppies, I have lived with dogs. In the picture I’m in bed, sleeping with one puppy on my chest and two others on the floor nearby. It didn’t matter that my bed had no sheets, if I had a dog on me all was right with the world. I was a six-year-old kid, happy just to be with the dogs.
When pets get sick or when they’re near the end of their life it’s so sad. You had the animal for say 12, 15, maybe even 17 years. You’ve been through all sorts of things with your dog, you taught the dog how to sit and shake your hand, you and the dog did lots of things together and were best buddies. The dog was the only one that was ALWAYS happy to see you, knew the sound of your car and stood at the door to greet you as if you were the last human on earth. And now the dog can’t walk and breathing so shallow you keep looking just to make sure that her chest is rising and falling. There’s not much you could do because you don’t know how they feel. You don’t know if they’re in pain. You’re not sure if they even have any of their wits about them. Oh yeah, I can guess the end is near when my dog is standing in the corner just staring, when she doesn’t respond to me calling her name. I could tell when she doesn’t want to eat and she won’t drink anymore. And I guess all you can really do at this point is to make the dog as comfortable as possible and think back to the good times when the dog was well, when you were both always ready to go.
For about 10 months Ruby has been living here in New Mexico. My sister brought her back last June, told people that knew her that Ruby had retired and was now living in the Land of Enchantment. Every time I would say, “Ruby, you want to go for a ride?”, her ears would perk up, she’d jump off the couch and be ready to go. I took her camping several times, most recently to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. Ruby accompanied me on day outings to places like Abiquiu (Georgia O’Keefe’s hangout, where she painted all those landscape pictures) and historic sites such as Salinas Pueblo Missions. Just a week ago Ruby was walking great at Los Luceros Historic Site. I did carry her a bit, but she also walked and was doing great as we toured the property. Now today she can hardly stand up, won’t eat, and has been sleeping most of the day.
When she was younger, I’d walk her and my Westie Dexter every morning. Ruby and Dexter were great companions. This was evident one morning as I was walking the two of them when a neighborhood dog charged towards them. Ruby went after the dog that was trying to attack Dexter. If I and the other dog owner had not separated them, Ruby probably would’ve shredded the perpetrator. But that was Ruby - junkyard dog from the word go. My sister rescued from someone who didn’t want her because either she ate too much or she got too big. Over the years she developed diabetes and lost all her teeth. She lost some hair on different parts of her body. She really isn’t looking that great at this point, but that’s what
happens to all of us as we get old. We just start falling apart - our teeth fall out and our hair gets thinner. We lose our muscle tone and develop wrinkles. And even though we all want to stay young, we can’t. If we’ve enjoyed ourselves while we can, that’s all we can ask for.
So, I say thanks Ruby. I’ve known you for about 14 years and we’ve had a lot of fun. And when the end finally came today, all I could hope what that you get to see Dexter, Melania, and all the other dogs that are in heaven.
🥰💔