Put my dog down

[Warrior Poet]

Here's to Guster, and all the great canines that have gone before, and will follow. My sympathies on your loss. I'm convinced dogs are the only creature on earth that give truly unconditional love, or as close to it as we're able to perceive.

I don't know the source of the following, but it's beautiful. Someone posted it on the Cormac McCarthy website years ago, attributed to "anonymous." Powerful (it always gets me, anyway). Again, sorry for your loss.

"God summoned a beast from the field and he said, Behold Man, created in my image. Therefore, adore him. You shall protect him in the wilderness, shepherd his flocks, watch over his children, accompany him wherever he may go . . . even into civilization. You shall be his companion, his ally, his slave. To do these things, God said, I endow you with these instincts uncommon to other beasts. Faithfulness, Devotion and Understanding surpassing those of man himself. Lest it impair your courage, you shall never foresee your death. Lest it impair your loyalty, you shall be blind to the faults of man. Lest it impair your understanding you are denied the power of words. Let no fault of language cleave an accord beyond that of man with any other beast or even man with man. Speak to your master only with your mind and through your honest eyes. Walk by his side, sleep in his doorway, forage for him, ward off his enemies, carry his burdens, share his affections, love him and comfort him. And in return for this, man will fulfill your needs and wants which shall only be food, shelter and affection. So be silent and be a friend to man. Guide him through the perils along the way to the land that I have promised him. This shall be your destiny and your immortality. So sayeth the Lord and the dog heard and was content."

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I'm going to spoiler this one, because it is so sad, but it is beautifully sad.

Spoiler

DOG'S DEATH
by John Updike

She must have been kicked unseen or brushed by a car.
Too young to know much, she was beginning to learn
To use the newspapers spread on the kitchen floor
And to win, wetting there, the words, "Good dog! Good dog!"

We thought her shy malaise was a shot reaction.
The autopsy disclosed a rupture in her liver.
As we teased her with play, blood was filling her skin
And her heart was learning to lie down forever.

Monday morning, as the children were noisily fed
And sent to school, she crawled beneath the youngest's bed.
We found her twisted and limp but still alive.
In the car to the vet's, on my lap, she tried

To bite my hand and died. I stroked her warm fur
And my wife called in a voice imperious with tears.
Though surrounded by love that would have upheld her,
Nevertheless she sank and, stiffening, disappeared.

Back home, we found that in the night her frame,
Drawing near to dissolution, had endured the shame
Of diarrhea and had dragged across the floor
To a newspaper carelessly left there. Good dog.

I've had two dogs in my life and both were killed by a car-- my own pup, when I was less than five, my father ran over in the driveway. I used to sit in the garage with Humphrey and eat his dog food with him. (I remember it tasting good, too.)

When I was a teenager our dog was run over by a police car. He said, "Bring me a shovel and a garbage bag." I ran into the house and didn't go back, but my sister told me afterwards he yelled at them for letting the dog run loose. She didn't know any better. She loved to run. Our back yard was a half-acre to its own, and were right next to the high school, up against their baseball and football fields. Our front yard was just too close to the street.

Dogs are amazing. Pure goodness, through and through. I have to remember that when my current dog is knawing at my fingers or pulling my sleeve or holding his toy and pawing incessantly at me, or just flat out humping my arm, desperate to wrestle and play, even though I'm trying to get some writing done.

I'm sorry you lost your dog, Stone Angel. I hope you have happy memories.

 

[Warrior Poet]

Wulf Ratbane, thanks for posting that poem. Wow, that's powerful, as are the memories you told.

Warrior Poet

 

[Stone Angel]

Thank you all for your condolances. You know I was doing great untill I read you poems then they brought a tear to my eye.

A little about Guster. He was part Golden Retriever part Husky he was humongous. We weighed in at 98 lbs. He once dragged a deer carcass out of a field, and into the yard, whether he actually hunted it down I no not. He loved the water. He once rescued a drowing girl and recieved a medal of honor and service from the town council. He would sit, speak roll over and dance all for a piece of jerky, or if he felt like it. Guster detested beer, but loves water and scotch. He loved to listen to me play my guitar. He was most pleased when he was riding in the bag of my truck with the wind in his tongue.

He had some sort of severe skin allergy/rash we took him to the vet, they took sking grafts and did a biopsy and sent it to Purdue's Vet school but alas they could not find the source of the problem. It was eventually so bad that he was gnawing on his back and bleeding and whimpering when he was laying down. So we took him out to the farm and put him down.



Thank you all once again.


The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[JIMBOTHEBLACK]

I love my doggy

And I'm sorry about the loss of yours.

 

[Warrior Poet]

Thank you all for your condolances. You know I was doing great untill I read you poems then they brought a tear to my eye.

Sorry, Stone Angel.

A little about Guster. He was . . . .

Sounds like he had a great life. Can't ask for more than that for a dog. You gave him a great home, and a great friend.

Right now he's in the dog heaven imagined by Neal Stephenson in Snowcrash: trees that grow top sirloin steaks hanging low to the ground, and frisbees permanently frozen in the air at just the right jumping height. Letter carriers and cats that are always just a little too slow.

Be well.

Warrior Poet