Our dogs aren\u2019t our kids.\u00a0 Maybe if you\u2019ve never had kids they can act as replacements for that relationship.\u00a0 But it\u2019s still a mistaken idea.\u00a0 Our dogs are not our children.\u00a0 They\u2019re our dogs.\u00a0 But that is not a trivial relationship.<\/p>\n
Dogs are intelligent, empathetic and loyal creatures that mistake us for family.\u00a0 And so, we have lived with them for possibly hundreds of thousands of years until it\u2019s become true.\u00a0 We\u2019ve formed a symbiotic relationship that is full of satisfactions and frustrations, misunderstandings and camaraderie.\u00a0 In short, they become a part of our families and our lives.<\/p>\n
But they don\u2019t live long enough.\u00a0 About every ten years, give or take, we have to say goodbye.\u00a0 And that is truly terrible.\u00a0 Three times before I\u2019ve had to bring one of our dogs to the vet to be put down and three times, I\u2019ve had to dig a grave.\u00a0 I won\u2019t say those days were the saddest of my life because losing a parent or a sibling or a child is incomparably worse.\u00a0 It\u2019s worse but it\u2019s akin to the same feeling.\u00a0 It\u2019s terribly sad.\u00a0 It takes the heart right out of you and leaves an empty feeling that hurts.<\/p>\n
Next week it will happen again.\u00a0 Camera Girl walks around the house crying and I feel pretty rotten too.\u00a0 She\u2019s planning what treats; ice cream and cake; to give her.\u00a0 I\u2019m picking a spot for the grave and figuring out how to arrange everything.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been talking about all the funny memories we have of Kaylee over the years.\u00a0 It\u2019s unanimous that she is the most lovable and loyal of all the dogs we\u2019ve owned.\u00a0 She will be missed.<\/p>\n
Maybe having animals that don\u2019t live as long as we do provides a foreshadowing of what we all must eventually experience; death and loss.\u00a0 Maybe there\u2019s some good that comes from it.\u00a0 But it still feels pretty awful when it\u2019s happening.\u00a0 It feels like cruelty and betrayal and that you\u2019re at fault.\u00a0 It seems like they should live longer, maybe twenty years.\u00a0 But I guess it would come to the same thing; maybe worse.<\/p>\n
So, this post is a part of the grieving process.\u00a0 Keeping dogs is a fraught experience.\u00a0 We put a lot in, we get a lot out.\u00a0 But the ending is an emptying of our hearts that makes you wonder if you should bring another dog into your house and life.\u00a0 We still have a younger dog.\u00a0 For the last twenty plus years we\u2019ve kept two dogs.\u00a0 But now we think about whether we should get a puppy.\u00a0 Right now, we\u2019ve said no, we won\u2019t.\u00a0 But I wonder.\u00a0 Camera Girl is a hopeless dog lover and I know she\u2019s always thinking about a puppy.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have to let time pass before we think about those things but I won\u2019t be surprised if she changes her mind.\u00a0 Old habits.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t imagine what it is like losing a child.\u00a0 When I hear about children dying, I\u2019m horrified.\u00a0 I was lucky in that my children were robustly healthy and never experienced any terrible accidents.\u00a0 So, I have an enormous amount to be thankful for.<\/p>\n
But having to bury a dog is a loss in the family and a thing to note in sadness.\u00a0 Goodbye Kaylee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our dogs aren\u2019t our kids.\u00a0 Maybe if you\u2019ve never had kids they can act as replacements for that relationship.\u00a0 But it\u2019s still a mistaken idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,818,1263],"tags":[835],"class_list":["post-23098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-dogs"],"yoast_head":"\n