Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Coming Full Circle in Love

     Despite a childhood full of pets - everything from dogs, cats, ducks and rabbits, along with a pair of turtles I "boiled" to death by mistake while trying to clean them - I have always been known as the person who did not want a dog!  Not ever.  But throw in a couple of children who made a strong case for having one and a sudden moment of weakness in October 2001 and there I was writing a check to the Atlanta Humane Society for $82 and the honor of taking home a cute black one year old dog!  Bailey got her name before we even got home probably because my daughter was so shocked that Mom said yes that she wanted to claim her before I changed my mind.  I noted on the drive home that "This dog will probably be living at our house after the children leave home."  Famous last words...

     In the ensuing 11 years, Bailey became a full fledged member of the family.  She is the sweetest dog - never barked at anyone, did whatever you told her and added joy to our everyday life - if you can discount all the times she chewed through the fence, chewed the outside of the house trying to get in, ate some Christmas gifts under the tree or jumped THROUGH the screened porch screen to get inside during a storm.  Thunder and fireworks were not her thing!  In the beginning it was so bad that we hired a dog psychologist to work with her!  Did not help a bit.

     Despite her idiosyncrasies, our children loved her beyond words.  Their delight made all the other things worth it.  Seeing her in the basement playroom with her nose on the steps, watching her go wild with excitement when they came home from college, seeing her joy when someone got the leash that meant walk time, just always having her greet you when you came home was worth alot more than the $82.  Of course the bill did not include the thousands we later spent to repair a broken pelvis from a run in with a car, thousands more for surgery in 2010 to save her life when she had a tumor, several bouts of vestibular disease and a few awful bites from a copperhead in our yard!

     For the past few months Bailey has struggled with a rear leg that just did not want to work.  No more walks around the block; it was hard to even get up.  But two weeks ago suddenly neither rear leg would work.  The heartbreak of it all.  So we are at the crossroads of being good pet lovers and owners and need to make the decision to let her go.  The "children" who are no longer children are heartbroken, my husband who works from home and spends time with her as his office mate is already lonely and I, who have always seen Bailey as my last link to the time of having children at home can  hardly bear to think of it.  But we owe her one last thing - to make the end as easy as possible.  As my daughter said, "We cannot keep her alive just because WE are too sad to let her go." There was a great beginning and now the end is almost here.  Wish us luck...

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