Losing Your Dog 

Losing your dog

When you lose any animal through old age or ill health you will  probably go through a very traumatic period in your life, I know I did and would like to share my experiences with you.

I had three dogs, Beau, Bonnie and Chancer. The were all of the Heinz 57 mongrel variety, Bonnie and Chancer we rescued from an animal sanctuary and Beau was adopted privately.  

Beau was the first to leave us at about 10 years of age. He was such a pretty dog a cross between a Jack Russell terrier and a sheep dog, the father being the Jack Russell. We often wondered just how this was possible, only to conclude that daddy must have had a stool.

We nicknamed Beau "Beau The Bold" the reason being that although he was small in stature he always thought of himself as an Alsatian of the 'guard dog variety', and on the end of a lead was a force to be reckoned with. 

On the Monday all was going well when We noticed that our little dog appeared a bit off color and his stomach was beginning to swell. 

We took him to the Vets, the Vet took a blood sample for analysis and asked if we would return on the Wednesday. When we went back she concluded that the dog may have a tumor in his spleen and an exploratory operation was arranged for the Saturday morning.

On Friday night Beau was so bad that he was trying to fall asleep standing up with his head in my wife's lap. I phoned the Vet at midnight and she agreed to open the surgery. 

When we arrived I was told that the tumor was so aggressive that it was now the size of a football and was taking every ounce of his blood to feed it. We agreed that it could not wait until the following day and Beau was put to sleep with a small injection in his leg. 

I find it very difficult to describe how I felt at that time, it was if I had just lost my best friend and I was in floods of tears and yet I knew somehow that I had done the best thing because he was now out of pain.  Beau will always be in our prayers and will never be far from mind.

Several years have passed and up till now both of our other dogs have up to now been fine. 

Chancer however, now 15 years old, had a lot of the associated problems that accompany old age. He had lost his hearing  and had cataracts in both eyes. He then started to lose his hair and worried that he may have mange or something similar, I took him to see the Vet.

The Vet examined Chancer and concluded that the hair loss was down to a tumor in one of his testicles, his teeth were not at their best and he had arthritis in his back legs.  The Vet said that due to his age she would not recommend an operation as she did not think he would recover from the anesthetic.

Because Chancer was our oldest dog and that the whole family including our 5 year old granddaughter had grown up with him, we got some pain killers for the arthritis and soldiered on, keeping a close eye on him.

Another 3 months went by but his back legs had become much worse. He was becoming incontinent and had started to wander around aimlessly. He seemed to have developed a senility similar to Alzheimer's disease, where he would wander off into the garden, forget why he had gone, wander back in again and keep repeating the whole process over an over again.

On the day after boxing day my wife and I decided enough was enough and we contacted the vet. She supplied us with a couple of tranquilizers to give him for the journey and My Daughter and I took him to the surgery to be put to sleep.

Chancer never seemed to be in any pain and had plenty of wag left in his tail for everyone. Even though I knew he had cataracts, deafness, testicular cancer, hair loss, incontinence, no memory, back legs collapsing etc. etc., I still felt bad that I was putting an end to his life.

My whole family cried buckets that day, especially my granddaughter who cried herself to sleep. Chancer will never be far from our thoughts in the years to come he was such a wonderful dog.

Looking on the bright side we still have our third dog.  

Bonnie is a happy go lucky collie cross who is 10 years old.  At the moment (touch wood), she seems to be in good health. 

Bonnie is missing Chancers company a lot and as a consequence is very quiet.

Even if she did moan at him occasionally for pinching her biscuit I have a sneaky suspicion that she loved him a lot.  

Oh well lets see what the year 2006 has to bring for us and hope it's a little better.

The author of Losing Your Dog is Anthony George

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