Air Gun Home :: View topic - i was his "skipper" and he was my "gilligan&a

sniper · Silver Status Member

i gotta get this off my chest. it is killing me.
the love of 1 dog.......

as i reference a lot, my wife and i are involved in animal rescue. in 2005 we came upon a homeless dog in our area. he started out as a foster. after 2 weeks we decided to keep him. we named him "dasher" because looked like a deer. shortly after making him ours we discovered he had aggression issues. many. he is an italian greyhound mix.

through trying to help his issues we tried training, pet psychic and ended up landing on the dog whisperer. the show helped nothing. shortly after the filming we found out he had a host of health problems. a fatty liver,enlarged heart and a bulging disc in his neck.
this was the root of his aggression.

over the next couple years we spent the better part of $10000 on vet bills and later turned to homeopathy (which my wife will soon be back in school for).
throughout very intensive drug treatments he ended up with several rounds of pneumonia and came up with congestive heart failure.

all of 2009 was spent on homeopathy as we refused all conventional medicine. he was getting better. way better. he had the most awesome summer. we took him to mt. whitney camping and he showed very little signs of any health problems.

until 3 weeks ago. Crying or Very sad

he started coughing a lot. panting, not eating. none of the homeopathy seemed to be working. Crying or Very sad

2 weeks ago he started having heart attacks. falling over and peeing himself.

this past friday my wife took him to work with her. he had another heart attack in the car. she called me and i left work and met her at the ER.
the vets proposed another $1500 in testing (been there done that, more than once) to tell us what we already knew... we declined. we brought him home and sat vigel.

he made it through the night and saturday seemed to be a little better. at 3:30 my wife got home. she held him and we gave him some more supplements. his favorite thing was to greet us at the door when we got home. he did this for the last time.

at 4 pm pst my wife called for me to come outside to see if his poop had blood in it. he had been expelling blood for a couple days.

as i walked outside it looked like a lightning bolt struck him. he had another heart attack. he didn't make it out this time. Crying or Very sad

my wife picked him up and held him and as we stood there holding him he jumped over the rainbow. Sad/Cry

the kicker. friday night i had the fore sight to go to staples and buy an ink pad to get his paw print. after he made his exit i got an awesome print of his front right paw. us being us, we went to the tattoo parlor today and we have him forever with us. Sad/Cry

yup, sobbing like a little kid. Sad/Cry

we had him for 4 years, 8 months and 8 days.

i feel like i am broken. Sad/Cry

thanks for reading this. Crying or Very sad

fishmasterdan · Member

Sorry to hear of your loss. My condolences.

I lost my best friend 2 years ago now.

kanyon · Silver Status Member

Sorry..
I wasn't able to read it all the way though...
I started crying when I read the "10,000 on vet bills".. Rolling Eyes

Pete

scroller99 · Veteran Member

Sniper you have my deepest sympathy and prayers, my Italian Greyhound Buddy is my best friend,When he goes they might as well shoot me too. I don't know what I'll ever do without him. Just know that he'll be waiting for you at the rainbow bridge. Howard

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

My sincerest condolences Sniper. I know how hard it is to lose a beloved pet. Some people will say it's just a dog, but we know better don't we? They become our children after a few years.

I am going to have to put my great pyrenees put down soon. He has hip displasia and the meds are starting to quit working for the pain. I don't want him to suffer, but losing him will break my heart.

Again I am so sorry.

sniper · Silver Status Member

thanks guys for your thoughts.

first day home after work and my little buddy wasn't waiting for me. Crying or Very sad

kanyon, if i had to explain it you wouldn't get it anyway. Evil or Very Mad

packrat · Senior Member

Let me offer my condolences as well...I too have lost a pet(s) and it IS just like losing your best friend...I do understand how you feel and I'm glad you posted about it..we other dog lovers can understand ,and talking about it always helped me..

sniper · Silver Status Member

yeah. here's the thing. the only dogs i ever had before my wife -died
by the time i was 10. these 3 (now 2) are my first as an adult.

mom always said dogs were harder than cats to let go. i put down my childhood cat earlier this year. he was almost 20 Shocked

.

that was way easy to accept by comparison..

this is killing me.

DeadEye · Member

I feel your pain. I have had a few good dogs in my time.

sniper · Silver Status Member

kanyon · Silver Status Member

sniper · Silver Status Member

sorry eric. i had to say that. Neutral

Mark5043 · Silver Status Member

Hey Sniper, so sorry to hear of your loss.It's even worse around the holiday's I think. It is like losing a family member.I've had mostly cats,but have had a couple of dogs.I had a Dalmatian that passed in 02',along with both of my Grand parents,all in the same month.That kind of blow left me feeling numb for most of the year.

In 99' I lost my favorite cat...got her when I was just 6,and she passed when I was 28! She was already a year old when I got her,so she lived over 24 years... Shocked

I was tore up for a while.Some people just said,"Its just a cat"They must not have had much love as children I guess. Rolling Eyes

Anyway buddy,I thought the tattoo idea was a cool way to remember a beloved pet.

sniper · Silver Status Member

my tears are drying.

the morning "of" this came on the radio. it fit's beyond belief.

this is my dog talking to "mom".

she was holding him as he was gasping...

dogs have people souls...

Crying or Very sad

don't know how many times this week i've listened to this masterpiece...
i stopped counting....

feeling "raw" is cleansing....

if you don't like it.... Faq-U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv-EOc_74bY