re: Dog about to die

After lurking for years, your thread made me sign up. Sorry to hear about your loss. I had to put down two dogs a couple of years ago. One was a 13 year old basset hound that I picked out with my first wife soon after we got married. She died three years after that so my basset was the last living link to her. The other dog was a mutt dog that looked like a white German Shepherd. He was 8 and his kidneys failed quickly. He was a stray that my current wife and I found as a probably 6 week old puppy on the side of the road soon after we started dating. It was hard to put them both down.

I don’t say this though to add more grief to the thread or to simply commiserate. Instead, I want to give you hope. We got a new Australian Shepherd last year and I’m looking for a new basset hound puppy now, best breed ever but that’s a discussion for another time. Just realize that no matter how much this sucks, which it does, and how much you can’t imagine getting another one, you’ll find you want another dog in the future. That’s why dogs are so great. We go into the relationship with them knowing that we will almost definitely outlive them. We also know how much their death will suck. Why do we do it then? We do it because we know the years of companionship and happiness they provide are worth the hurt at the end. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

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LSU2ALA

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Dam good first post

Welcome to the OT. Not sure if that a good thing or a bad thing

Not sure I would have ave let her suffer. So sorry.

People ask when is the right time to put an animal down. To me, it’s like the old Supreme Court obscenity quote. You know it when you see it. For both of mine, I had mentally prepared myself that it was coming. My wife was in agreement that it was going to have to be done. Both times though, I woke up one morning looked at them and said it’s time. Had anything demonstratively changed since the previous evening? Probably not. Instead, I just knew by looking at them it was time. I heard it said one time that when you look in their eyes and see they have lost the spark of who they are the. It’s time. Does that make sense? To a dog owner who knows their dog, it does. To someone else, it probably doesn’t. The only other thought I have is I’d rather do it a hair early rather than a hair late. It’s the same thoughts Branch Rickey had when it came to trading players.

I’m really sorry Poncho

Tough - very tough loss

My 13-year-old basset has started to slow down this year. I'm not looking forward to the day.

So sorry poncho

Very sorry for your loss! Went through this with our 13 year old shih tzu about 1 1/2 years ago and we still talk about him regularly when something reminds us of him or an old pic pops up on FB.

We’ve got three other dogs in the house now, but he was everyone’s favorite of the 6 we’ve had as a family over the past 27 years. Amazing how attached we become to them.

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Yeah, they are great dogs though. People think they are lazy and never move, but I have had two different ones that were absolute dynamos when they were young.

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They can definitely be energetic in certain instances but are just as content to be couch potatoes, which has suited our laidback lifestyle just fine. I love bassets, but I don't think I'll own another one again sadly. Just too stubborn, messy, and smelly.