Today is one of the saddest days in my life for our beloved dog "Boy" died yesterday at the age of thirteen. Grieving an animal can be as painful as losing a close family member. I lost my mom eighteen years ago and my dad five years ago and what I'm going through today is very similar. I had also lost a dog when I was 15 and I remember how empty it had left me.
I had already written a blog entry about Boy (whose original name was Freud but became Boy with time). He had been fighting a terrible form of cancer known as myeloma for the last three years. He put all his energy into this fight and I can only have the utmost respect and admiration for the courage he showed during his fight. When, three years ago, we thought he was gonna die in a matter of days, we were all devastated. It seems that our prayers were answered as Boy got to live another three years and we cherished every single day that we got to spend with him since then. Though taking multiple medicines including chemotherapy, he continued to live happy and for the most part pain free.
Despite multiple eye surgeries and being blind in the end, he never ceased to play and to show us unconditional love. This is a lesson that all human beings should learn from him: to be compassionate, dedicated and to love unconditionally. His seven pounds of flesh and blood showed that no matter the size, living beings can do spectacular things. He made me firmly believe that dogs are man's best friends.
I want to pay tribute to his existence by posting some pictures of him and a video.
We will miss Boy terribly. All his naughty habits and special kindness. We will never forget his special way of playing with a ball as he would always go run for it but never bring it back. We thought it was the cutest thing. We will never forget his favorite toy Charlie:
We will never forget how he used to play with his basket or any rug. This was his special way of playing by himself:
I can only believe that Boy is now watching upon us from Dogs' Heaven where he definitely deserves to be:
Dear Boy,
We will always love you. I hope you understand that we had to put an end to your suffering yesterday. You never deserved to suffer the way you did in your last days. We couldn't let you keep on being in pain for us. We know you struggled until the end to stay with us, to stay for us. But now the pain is gone and you can enjoy your after life.
4 comments:
My favorite story about "boy" was the care and love shown by the comment.
"We know he is blind...but we leave the light on for him when we leave"
Thank you for this kind comment :-)
I came to your blog to read your posting on unlocking the iPhone, but this sweet and touching entry immediately caught my eye. I'm very sorry for your loss last year. I lost a dog in late 2005 and can still vividly remember the pain (that was my first experience as I did not grow up with dogs, and what made it worse was that it happened very suddenly, not giving us time to have a proper farewell).
I'm guessing Boy was a purebred Shih-tzu? One of my two dogs is a Shih-tzu (probably purebred, probably not) and has a similar color pattern as Boy, but the brown spots are a darker shade. I've had him since he was a few months old. He has just turned 11, so I realize he's reaching the early "elderly" zone for small dogs. I'm really hoping he will remain in good health for many more years, as he is my very first dog. Anyway, sorry for the rambling comment but my wife and I have always found it funny why our Shih-tzu is a 21.5-pounder! (his frame is definitely larger than most Shih-tzus). I see that yours was 7 lbs, which is in the normal range.
Thanks for the reminder to cherish every minute I can still spend with him. I know the inevitable farewell is coming sooner or later, but I still can't help but wish dogs could live as long as humans. :-(
Thank you for your comment and for visiting my blog! I wish your dog the longest life :-)
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