I am taking a brief hiatus the remainder of this week because my beloved dog, Dakota, passed away last week and my heart is still not fully recovered from the loss of my oldest fur baby. He was 16 years old.
Death, no matter if it is human or animal, is hard. I cried when Dakota passed away, simply because he was not only a family pet, but he was my baby, my little man, my Koter-boat. He lost the love of his life, C.T., our German Shepherd, several years ago. And even though we adopted another dog to help Dakota with the grieving process, he was still shy and still a mamma’s boy.
Dogs, or pets in general, bring a level of peace to their owner’s life. They can calm an anxious child or brighten the day of an elderly patient in a nursing home. They make us laugh, cry, and sometimes yell because they either ate their poop, pooped in the house, ate our homework, or pulled the Thanksgiving turkey off the table and consumed half of it before we could run around the table to catch it.
They keep us healthy, mentally sane (at times), and make us proud when they learn a new trick. They take walks with us. They lay on the couch and nap with us. They bark at the offending vaccum as we clean the house. They protect us from known and unknown threats.
We laugh at them as we watch them chase their tails. We yell at them when the scooch their arses across our freshly vaccumed carpet. We dress them up in silly costumes and funny outfits. We buy them fancy doggie beds, buy them every treat and toy known to man, groom them, send them to obedience school, and pay hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to ensure that they stay healthy.
All of that and they still have such short lives. Sixteen years is a long time, yes… but I wanted my beloved Dakota for much longer than I had him. He loved his 2 p.m. naps on Sunday. He loved to curl up in C.T.’s tail and nap. He was anti-social and hated little kids and most adults, probably because he was a small Chi-Pom and thought he should be a big dog. But regardless of all of that, he was still my little man, my sweet baby.
If you’ve lost a beloved dog, cat, or pet, then you know what my husband and I are going through. They become a part of the family, and sometimes, they are more important to you than some family members. My husband annd I didn’t have human kids, but we have four-legged kids. C.T., our first, and Dakota, our second, were like Mutt & Jeff. Big and Little. Two peas in a pod. They are both gone now.
Here is a picture of my fur babies, past and present. Top left is C.T., and Dakota is pictured next to her. Bottom left is Daisy, our precocious little girl, and Doc, our newest fur baby, may be a pitbull mix, but he is a sweetie.
I’m not looking forward to either Daisy or Doc passing away and I will most likely take their deaths hard too, but I believe that all dogs go to heaven and I hope to see all of my fur babies there.
Have you lost a beloved pet? I’d love for you to share a funny or sweet story about them in the comment section below.
I’ll be back to blogging regularly Sunday, November 22nd.
In the meantime, have a great day!