Dagnabit! One of the reasons that it is so difficult to love an animal fully is that odds are you’re probably going to outlive them.  I actually had a veterinarian ask me shortly after we put our Cairn Terrier, “Breakfast” to sleep if I thought that being a good mom meant that I should keep my animals alive. Forever. And I got to tell you that I did pause for a few seconds before I answered him because, yes, in part of my brain as a matter of fact I did believe that.

This afternoon my mom and step-dad made the hard decision to put their big beautiful Great Pyrenees (Shasta) to sleep today. She’d been having some problems with her back leg and wasn’t walking on it but was still happy. They decided to take her in to the vet for some x-rays anyway and found out that she had a fairly advanced case of Sarcoma.  Shasta lived with them on their hilltop home on ten acres just outside of Alpine, Texas. Mom and Dave adopted her from some friends of mine who were moving into a smaller property and couldn’t keep her. Shasta coming to live with them couldn’t have been a better fit since Mom and Dave had lost their wolf whom they were very close to a year or two previously.  I believe both of them would tell you that Shasta taught them just about as much as they taught her.  There had even been a lose bear on the prowl at some point last year and so I’m fairly certain that Shasta got to enjoy protecting her property as she had been bred to do—protect their home and master from bears.  The bear never came close to their home, but it had been seen criss crossing the land around them at various points.

This evening I went over to my little brother’s house to pay respects to his dog, “Bear” who is a Chow/Shepherd/Rottweiler mix and also has cancer. They are putting Bear down tomorrow.  We all sat in the back yard tonight with Bear, Hamilton and Lyndy while I stroked Bear’s fur and loved on their other dog (Bear’s mom) Baluka as well as the visiting neighbor dog, Tanner.  As I sat there listening to them reminiscing about Bear and telling him what a “good job” he’d done during his life, I was struck by the special bond that my brother and his dog have.  They are definitely connected and understand each other deeply.  When I hugged Hamilton goodbye I told him that I wish I had it in my power to pull all that pain he was feeling out of his heart but that if I could do that (pull the pain away) that then he wouldn’t be able to feel the love.  They seem to go hand-in-hand sometimes-feeling love and feeling pain.

Over the years we’ve had many pets that we’ve put to sleep and we always get the special letter that talks about the rainbow bridge that our pets will cross and meet us at when it is our time to cross over.  I love that thought. It’s always seemed so bizarre to me when people talk about heaven, often times you don’t hear about the animals being there with us too (for those of us that love and have loved animals).  I hope that when it is my time that when I cross over there is a whole pack of animals who I have known in my life there to greet me on the other side.  It’d probably be pretty loud come to think of it because there would be birds and cats and fish and horses and dogs, but what a lovely sound!

Sweet Shasta may you know peace and may you know how much love you have brought during your tenure here on planet Earth.  Big Bear Dog may you know peace and may you know how much love you brought during your time here on planet Earth.  A good job well done.

Thank you!