We are dogless now

[Danimal16]

Spock, my Springer has been gone for 25 years now. He was the first being that I was bonded with so intensely.

His death left a "cacophony of silence" in my house. It was devastating. It is amazing the, level of soul, their spirit, and being can penetrate. They scar us for eternity. I miss them both so much.

WD, I am truly sorry for your loss. Beyond words.

[gsxrken]

We got another dog “to keep our first dog company”, but it was really b/c for whatever reason our first dog decided to pick me as her #1 human. If I sit, she taps me to put her on my lap. I’m at my computer desk right now and she’s curled up on the blanket in her spot next to me. If I wander down to the kitchen, I need to be sure not to step on her b/c she’ll be wondering what “we’re” doing now. She generally likes to be within 5ft of me and I like it when she’s there too. The other dog is as nice as could be, maybe nicer, but we don’t share much of a bond.
I completely understand your Maddie relationship and I dread the future without mine. She’s 12 now. God bless.

[matthewb0051]

Sorry to hear this.

On the positive side, it inspires me to work harder at bonding with our new golden doodle. She was a momma at a puppy mill for the last 8 years and is having difficulty adjusting to human interaction. Tomorrow begins week 4 with her.

[Seahawk]

Since the day I got married, every cat/dog/horse/goat/chicken has attached themselves to Mrs. Doctor Doolittle, my wife.

30 plus years of being Dash Two in the formation. Annoying

When she is gone for the day the herd basks in their emptiness...when she gets back it is like a Second Line Parade in New Orleans.

Until Dottie.

I am still the Wingman, but she lets me pretend to be in charge.

My point to the above is, Patrick, you did your best, dog sense it but they generally bond with one...don't wait too long.

[HobieMarty]

Ah, man, I am so sorry for your loss. Our four-legged friends become family, and it is difficult to say goodbye. Yeah, I'd have to keep the gates up and closed also. My condolences to you and your wife.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[wdfifteen]

Thank you to everyone who has responded. It's nice to be among a group of friends.

Vicki and I had a get-away planned for Sunday - Tuesday. Had a house/dog sitter all lined up and reservations at a cabin in the hills of SE Ohio and a day of horseback riding. We planned to cancel, but changed our minds. It was good to get away. We had time to talk a lot about our future - you pay more attention to the future when you don't have so much of it left. We talked at length about pets and our options with them.
One comment Vicki made that really sums up the life of Owen was, "Poor Ows, he was never comfortable in this world."

1. Let one of the cats move into the house - pretty quickly vetoed by unanimous consent.

2. Get a pound puppy - She thinks it's an OK idea, but I'm not so sure. We have birthdays coming up. She'll be 70 and I'll be 74. Our dogs have lived to be 13, 10, and 10 and all died prematurely. If a puppy lived to be 13 I would be 84 if I live that long. I don't like the numbers.

3. Rescue a mature dog - we both have had very bad experiences rescuing grown dogs. It's still a possibility, but we would have to have guarantees that if the dog had behavior problems it could go back.

4. Get a Springer Spaniel puppy. Vic had a Springer when I first met her. It was a wonderful dog, smart, calm, and beautiful (like her!). I could live with a dog like that, and I like the idea of raising a puppy of some sort IF WE GET ANOTHER DOG.

5. We agreed to sit on it through the summer and see how we feel about another dog then.

[targa911S]

so sorry my friend. I've had to put down 6 dogs now. It never gets any easier. I just adopted a senior Airedale. He's 10. they live 12 years at best. But he's gonna have the best 2 years of his life now. Consider rescue..

Sorry man

[wdfifteen]

What a beautiful dog Dave. We are considering a rescue. It would have to be a special dog. We've both had very bad experiences with rescue dogs.

[Rikao4]

sorry for the loss...
as for rescues..
give them a chance..
some big/ little paws are hard to fill..

Rika

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

What a beautiful dog Dave. We are considering a rescue. It would have to be a special dog. We've both had very bad experiences with rescue dogs.

Thanks! Yeah rescues can be a crap shoot. We had one the was aggressive to humans. Tried to kill my wife. Sometimes they slip through the cracks. I had him put down. If he went back into the system somebody was gonna get hurt. Broke my heart but saved a little kid from a life of disfigurement..

[wdfifteen]

We were on autoship with Chewy.co for Owen's food. I sent them an email asking to cancel the autoship because, well ...

I got a nice condolence email back and at least the first couple of lines were personalized. They called us by name etc. I thought that was nice.

Thursday we picked up the little box with his ashes.

Friday I got a FedEx delivery of flowers.

It was from Chewy.com! The card was very nice, very personal, and gave me the impression that Chewy.com really does care about their customers.

[rfuerst911sc]

^^^ That's a nice gesture by Chewy .