Last night, about 10:30, went outside to find our old Lab unable to stand up properly, let alone walk.
Rang the 24hr vet, and took her straight down. Thankfully, it is only about 10 mins from here.
When we got there, she actually showed some slight signs of improvement, being able to stand, and walk a short distance.
Vet took us in, and then took Holly off the leash, and let her roam. That’s when we saw it. She was walking around, and around in tight, left hand circles. The vet confirmed my suspicions. She has had a right side stroke.
The vet gave us the options, and when we asked what she would do, we basically agreed. Give the old girl 24hrs, and lets see how she does. They kept her in overnight, sedated, so she didn't hurt herself.
When we rang this morning, there was no change, and left it until lunch-time. There was still no improvement. Her time had come.
The kids came with us to see her one last time, but Holly had no idea who was who. I think she had lost her sight & hearing as well.
The vet was really good. Gave us all the time we needed.
Gonna miss that girl.
But, the story of her arrival with us is a bit out of the ordinary. I still remember, it was a cold September morning, in 2006. I was on holidays, and was painting the gutters around the house. Did the first coat, but it was too cold for the paint to dry for a second coat.
So, I figured I would take the kids to the playground. Not the one around the corner, but one about half hour away, that I used to go to as a kid.
Well, the kids were playing, and as I was just sitting there, a guy comes up to me with a dog on a lead. All he said was, "dont suppose you want a dog?"
We already had 1 Lab, and really wasn't looking for a second one, so I said, "no thanks". As he walked away, he had tears in his eyes. This guy was maybe in his 30's, fairly buff sorta bloke. And he was in a park, with his dog, crying.
I caught up to him, and asked him if he was serious. He said yep, they couldn't afford to keep her anymore, and he was on his way to the vet.
A quick phone call to SWMBO, go & swap cars, (no way was I putting a dog in the new XR6!!!), and we brought her home.
Well, what a character. She chewed anything made of paper, including a couple of packets of smokes, and was always looking for something else to eat. But, she could talk. And talk, and talk. We would come home, and find a new mess in the back yard. Ask the dogs who made the mess, and Holly would go into a full on explanation on how it was the cats fault. Not sure about that, but she always looked innocent.
She picked up habits from the kids too, I am sure. Our 10yo, after going to bed, would always get up about half hour later, and "just get a drink". If we went outside after the dogs had gone to bed, Holly would always get up, walk past us & look up, get a drink, and then go back to bed. It became a running joke.
But, as always with these things, you tend to forget all the bad stuff, and focus on the good. We gave her, and she gave us, 6 years of happiness that she wouldn't have had.
Now, we have to keep an eye on our other dog, a white Canadian Lab named Sam. He is missing her, and is moping around. No energy, and is still crying occasionally. He was like this when we lost one of the cats too. He is spending more time than usual with me & the kids. Just needs to be with people at the moment. I am sure he will move on, as we will. It will just take some time.
So, there you have it. The comings & goings of Holly.
sorry to hear about the loss of your dog. We lost one of our dog mates last year to a black snake bite so know how you feel. She was just 3 years old but had given us a lot of love and fun in that short time. We have 2 other Tenterfields and are wary of snakes in the yard - the dogs go after them and its incredible to watch - our old man Charlie waits til they are flat on the ground, jumps in and grabs and shakes (to break their back and kill them) then drops it and jumps back - the snake rears and looks for something to bite but the dog hangs back - soon as the snake lowers to the ground to move off, in the dog jumps again, picks up, shakes, drops and jumps back again. You have to make sure you call the dog off after he drops the snake and jumps back or you can distract him and he will get bit. Charlie has survived 2 snake bites so far and young Missy, the one we lost, had survived one other. The dogs travel with us in the Fender and we have had some great rips. We took Missy all around Tassie when she was just 12 weeks old - heres a pic or 2, one on the Fender bonnet and one out on a lake in Tassie.
I know exactly how you must feel, I have lost several good friends over the years, They become very much part of the family, Mates with almost no conditions.
The worst so far was my first German Shepherd, Jade. She was my constant companion for 13 years. She hopped the fence one night at the beach house and chased off a bloke trying to break into my brand new car. Came back with a large very bloody bit of denim.
The second , another shepherd, Jake who was just a big clown, Saved my youngest from a dog attack He just came from nowhere and stopped a very nasty cocker spaniel from biting her. This required 70 odd stitches to fix, the owner of the spaniel witnessed the whole event and was fine.
Neither of these dogs had other than basic training, they were just looking after us!
The timing is the hard bit, in the first case I left it a bit too long, hoping She would last just a bit longer, Getting the courage up for the last trip to the vets was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.
I take some consolation that all of my dogs have led good happy lives, and realize that the lifespan is short. But the pleasure and friendship is worth the grief.
We now have Ava, another Shepherd as well as a Lab/Golden retriever X & a grumpy pug who is the boss of the other dogs & my Girlfriend.
Ava is my assistance dog, She comes to my aid whenever I'm getting yelled at or in trouble for some minor offense & sits next to me with a sad face and ears back.( She also comes to the aid of anyone else in the family in trouble).
We are totally convinced it would not be a good idea to threaten any of us. She loves people and regularly attends family get to gethers and some times goes to school to meet the primary kids the Girlfriends daughter teaches. But I can tell she would not take a threat to us lightly.
When the time is right try to find another companion & provide a good home in return for one of the best experiances you can ever have.
Very sad Basil... I admit to shedding a tear or two when I read Holly's story.. pets bring so much to our lives and it's terribly painful when it is time for them to go..
I was reading a story the other day about the singer Fiona Apple who has just cancelled her tour to be with her ageing dog.. and she had written a letter to her fans that I think just about sums it all up..
She wrote:
It's 6pm on Friday,and I'm writing to a few thousand friends I have not met yet.
I am writing to ask them to change our plans and meet a little while later.
Here's the thing.
I have a dog Janet, and she's been ill for almost two years now, as a tumor has been idling in her chest, growing ever so slowly. She's almost 14 years old now.I got her when she was 4 months old. I was 21 then ,an adult officially - and she was my child.
She is a pitbull, and was found in Echo Park, with a rope around her neck, and bites all over her ears and face.
She was the one the dogfighters use to puff up the confidence of the contenders.
She's almost 14 and I've never seen her start a fight ,or bite, or even growl, so I can understand why they chose her for that awful role. She's a pacifist.
Janet has been the most consistent relationship of my adult life, and that is just a fact.
We've lived in numerous houses, and jumped a few make shift families, but it's always really been the two of us.
She slept in bed with me, her head on the pillow, and she accepted my hysterical, tearful face into her chest, with her paws around me, every time I was heartbroken, or spirit-broken, or just lost, and as years went by, she let me take the role of her child, as I fell asleep, with her chin resting above my head.
She was under the piano when I wrote songs, barked any time I tried to record anything, and she was in the studio with me all the time we recorded the last album.
The last time I came back from tour, she was spry as ever, and she's used to me being gone for a few weeks every 6 or 7 years.
She has Addison's Disease, which makes it dangerous for her to travel since she needs regular injections of Cortisol, because she reacts to stress and to excitement without the physiological tools which keep most of us from literally panicking to death.
Despite all of this, she’s effortlessly joyful and playful, and only stopped acting like a puppy about 3 years ago.
She's my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor, and she's the one who taught me what love is.
I can't come to South America. Not now.
When I got back from the last leg of the US tour, there was a big, big difference.
She doesn't even want to go for walks anymore.
I know that she's not sad about aging or dying. Animals have a survival instinct, but a sense of mortality and vanity, they do not. That’s why they are so much more present than people.
But I know that she is coming close to point where she will stop being a dog, and instead, be part of everything. She’ll be in the wind, and in the soil, and the snow, and in me, wherever I go.
I just can't leave her now, please understand.
If I go away again, I’m afraid she'll die and I won't have the honor of singing her to sleep, of escorting her out.
Sometimes it takes me 20 minutes to pick which socks to wear to bed.
But this decision is instant.
These are the choices we make, which define us.
I will not be the woman who puts her career ahead of love and friendship.
I am the woman who stays home and bakes Tilapia for my dearest, oldest friend.
And helps her be comfortable, and comforted, and safe, and important.
Many of us these days, we dread the death of a loved one. It is the ugly truth of Life, that keeps us feeling terrified and alone.
I wish we could also appreciate the time that lies right beside the end of time.
I know that I will feel the most overwhelming knowledge of her, and of her life and of my love for her, in the last moments.
I need to do my damnedest to be there for that.
Because it will be the most beautiful, the most intense, the most enriching experience of life I've ever known.
When she dies.
So I am staying home, and I am listening to her snore and wheeze, and reveling in the swampiest, most awful breath that ever emanated from an angel.
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