Life. Ugh.

digitalscream

So...I've been a bit more absent than usual lately. As most of you probably know, my mother-in-law passed away a couple of months ago, and then a month later we lost one of our dogs to a similar heart problem (if you can believe that).

Well...we'd been looking after her dog since she went into hospital before Christmas, who - you guessed it - suffered from heart problems. He was doing brilliantly with us - much more active, he'd lost 25% of his body weight (he was seriously overweight), and overall was a much happier dog living with all of ours.

The past tense is intentional...he passed away on Friday after a couple of days struggling with the heat despite our best efforts.

It's going to get worse, too, because another of ours is 15 and it's starting to look like he's not going to see the year out...he's not ill, just old.

This year's been pretty shit, to be honest. 

Moominpapa

Really sorry to hear that - the bad news must seem never ending. Any plans to balance all the loss with a new dog, maybe in the new year?

digitalscream

Moominpapa said:

Really sorry to hear that - the bad news must seem never ending. Any plans to balance all the loss with a new dog, maybe in the new year?

We went up to Louth on Saturday to look at a young Akita who needed rehoming - we took Coco (Akita) and Peanut (Chihuahua) to see if they got along. The young lad was perfectly well-behaved - he was curious and excited, but backed off when Coco told him he was getting a bit too much, he was totally polite and gentle with us, and just wanted to play. Unfortunately, Peanut got scared - she and Coco are very much a bonded pair, and she's still coming out of her shell  after a pretty torrid first year of her life (she's two and a half now, but still scared of a lot of things...and we suspect she's got brain damage after a fall down the stairs at her original home).

Peanut got scared of him, and Coco immediately went into protection mode...and that was pretty much the end of that. 

Then Coco got really panicky on the way home in the wife's car and started ripping it up and trying to escape - something she's never done before, it was just stress.

So yeah...that didn't go well. Such a shame, because that young Akita was absolutely the perfect dog, and if he was closer to us we could've introduced them more slowly so Peanut got used to him; unfortunately, a four hour round-trip is too much for them.

With that said...I'd have felt bad taking him. The couple who own him were rehoming because their cat doesn't like him much - the wife's cat, the husband's dog. He clearly didn't want to let him go - they'd brought him up since he was a pup, and I got the impression that all concerned (except the wife) would've been gutted if he was rehomed. She seemed to think that he was somehow badly-behaved with other animals, pointing out things he was doing as wrong (eg approaching a bit too enthusiastically), so I made a very strong point of saying that his reactions were all perfect - which they were. He was paying attention to signals, gauging his behaviour just right against Coco's warnings to slow down, he backed off as soon as Peanut got jumpy, and he was just right with us too.

PolarityMan

Sad news dude

Bridgehouse

Yeah. Condolences mate. I know how it feels. 

We are on the lookout for a new one too. Work is so busy at the moment that finding the time is the difficult bit. 

The right one will show up - you’ll know it when he/she does. They have a canny way of doing that, do dogs.

jellyroll

Sorry to hear that. Dogs are the best.

DB1

Sincere condolences. There's not much to say that makes it better, but as above, the right one will turn up and take over you life soon. The mad mutt in my photo is celebrating his 12th birthday today (even more pampered than usual, if that was possible) and on Friday, it will be 4 years since he turned up and became lord of the manor.

He was a 'rescue dog' that had had a crap life and had spent two years in rescue kennels. No-one wanted him, and he came to my attention within six weeks of us losing our fantastic collie cross at the age of 17. Did I think we were going to get another dog? Well, not at that time? Was I devastated at the loss of Murray? You bet - I still miss him every day.

But this daft furry thing that has turned up and taken over my life is just wonderful - it's been fantastic for him (which is the main thing), and has been fantastic for us all. Out of darkness, etc.....

It will happen for you and for your companion-to-be. He or she is out there, you just haven't found each other yet.