A year ago come March my best friend, my pal, my pet, Lou; my Australian Shepperd, passed away. He wasn't an old dog, he was only five, so what killed him, I have no way of knowing. Heart attack, stroke, poison, hit by a car? I don't think it was hit by a car, there were no injuries of any kind. Anyway, I buried him out in the back yard under a tree a short distance from the house.
A week ago my neighbor's dog who was 16, had to be put to sleep, so we dug another hole and buried Buddy near Lou. Her son made a cross for his Mother's dog and he made one for Lou's grave also. I went out today to put up the marker and noticed that something had been digging near Lou's grave. So I got my grub hoe and spent the next two hours digging up rocks and placing them over the grave. Now if something decides to dig, they are going to have to dig through 100 pounds of Georgia rock. And we got some really heavy rocks.
I placed Lou's leash and dog dish next to his grave and then sat down and had a good long cry. Can't say that I felt better afterwards, but when you gotta cry, you gotta cry. I had never really owned a dog for any length of time in the past, I was always a cat person, but after having Lou I certainly understand the love between a dog and his person. I don't think there was ever a time that Lou didn't come running for a pat on the head and to give me that look that said, "I love you." Dogs always make time, they are never too busy! That is the main difference between a dog and a cat.......cat's don't do what cats don't wanna.
Off The Beaten Path
- Neoma
- Georgia, United States
- Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same.
Tuesday, February 5
Never To Busy
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23 comments:
Nea, I cannot believe that your beloved Lou died almost a year ago!! just goes to show how time flies, it's uncanny!!!!!!
Even though I love all animals to distruction, dogs are the closest creatures to human beings - NEVER MIND THE APES!!!!!
My dog "talks" to me( Girl, I'm not losing it!) I always know what she's saying to me - we have this eye contact thing!
I have OFTEN wished that my dog could speak out loudly, but when I mentioned this to another dog owner on the street one day, she told me to be careful what I wish for, she said, your dog could be as cheeky as sin if she could do the human lingo! Perhaps she has a point, nevertheless, we love them all the same!!!! LOL!
Good gracious I can't believe it's almost a year since you lost Lou! I remember it well how devastated you were, with good reason. I know it doesn't get any easier Nea. xx
HI Ginco, yes, it did go by fast didn't it, it seemed like I had him forever, and it seems like he has been gone forever. I still talk to him, I guess when you are older and stay at home as much as I do, and have few close friends, a pet becomes more close than normal. I had the same eye contact thing with Lou, he just seemed to know, if you know what I mean.
HI akela, yes, I hadn't been out to his grave in a month or so. It does me no good to go out there, I just stress, and stress does a job on my other problems, but imagine my horror when I found that something had been digging.
I think some people get over things easier than others......and move one....wish I could.
awwww, nea, thanks for putting this picture up! i've been thinking about lou ever since i had the 'raccoon fiasco' on the deck. can i ask, what's the puppy (dog, by now!) up to? dont wanna be nosey, i'm just curious, you can ignore me...
Libby, Lou died March of last year. He was seven months old when this picture was taken, I had just got him, or should I say, someone dumped him off in front of my house. It was to become a wonderful "coincidence" that someone should decide that I needed a dog, and I should let him move in. Anyway, I had him five years, and then one day he was fine, and the next he was dead. I wrote about back March of last year. I think he was poisoned by someone who didn't like dogs. I used to let him loose at night, and maybe he found some trouble. I was with him when he passes away and from the time I found him until he was gone was no more than ten minutes. but he managed to get back home and find me. I was so glad he didn't die alone.
I remember when you lost Lou, Nea....I still think of my Toby at times, he was the most loyal and lovable dog you could ever have. he was so devoted to me....I wish I could give you a hug, because I know just how you feel.
nea, yeah, i remember a lot about that time...actually, it was right when the china pet foods were coming here poisoned too! no, didnt you later find out that lou had a puppy with the neighbor's dog?
Nea- it's hard to believe that it's been a year, but in many ways it probably feels like an eon. We still have our old Smokey, he'll be 16 next month and he just kind of keeps hanging on, to what I don't know. I should take him to the vet and get it over with but I keep hoping he'll just go peacefully in his sleep and not have to make that stressful trip to the vet. He seems happy enough, even though he has bad arthritis. And faithful old dog that he is, he still follows John all the way to the woods and back whenever he goes to cut wood. It takes him forever but he'd never let John go off alone to the woods.
I hope that someday you can have another dog and that you will grow to love that one as you loved Lou.
Memories are good even if they bring tears to our eyes.
Hi Catch, dog lovers who have ever lost a dog, know, don't they.....I went through it all again with my neighbors dog. He was such a sweetie, but he was having convulsions, so she had to put him to sleep. They were effecting his brain, and he was trying to climb the walls. She isn't going to get another dog either. Not sure why we feel this way, just do.
HI LIbby, yes you are right, just about the week before Lou passed away, he took me to the neighbors when we were walking and they have six puppies that looked just like him, it was if he was saying, "look what I did!" I wasn't close with that neighbors, after Lou died I took over a couple bags of dog food to the man. He offered me a puppy, but Lou had just died.......I wasn't in the right frame of mind for a new puppy.
Hi cindy, Pat's dog was also 16 and she felt the same as you, she planned to just let him live out his life. He was happy for the most part, he had alittle artritis in his hips, but for the most part he was a very happy dog. But for some reason he started having convulsions. At first just one a day, but after a week he was having one an hour, and they did something to his brain, he started trying to climb the walls, and seemed to be in pain. So even though it killed her she took him to the vet and had him put to sleep. But if he hadn't of gotten the convulsions she was just going to let him live out his days. The vet told her 16 was a tremedously old dog......so I guess yours has been really well taken care of us to live that long.
As long as he is plodding along, even if he is slow, I think unless his situation should change, I don't see any good reason to put them to sleep. As you say, he will just go quietly in his sleep some night. Won't be any less painful. Imagine 16 years. That is as long as I have had Ana.......they feel like your children when you have them that long. Dogs are such faithful companions, I can see him going out to the woods.....he won't stop until he just can't make it anymore, and even then he will no doubt try. :)
Hi Dr. John, Lou is a happy memory, but it still always brings tears to my eyes, because of the way he died. And so soon, I expected to have him another 10 years. He was in the best of health, that is why I know that something happened, like poison. I hope the person who did it, doesn't sleep well at night, although I think a person who would poison an animal has to be some kind of a lunatic.
Almost a whole year, gosh Nea it flies in some ways but I know its 5yrs since I lost Tess, I have my two new boys, but yes I still miss my German Shepard. Nea this isn't a bad thing, I hope that you know that.
So glad to find you. My link to your old blog didn't work. I used one of your photos on my blog today--the Hardin Bridge--credited you, but thought you had disappeared. I found you through Ginco.
Sorry about your dog--I know you miss him. He's really beautiful.
Hi Queenie, the only bad part is, I can't seem to get past it, and just get another pet. I have this feeling that deep inside I will always wish that the new pet was Lou. I have never had dogs before, didn't know how much I would love him, and am not sure I would ever love another one in the same way. So I just procrastinate getting another dog. It wouldn't be fair to it, if I was always wishing it were Lou.
Hi Norma, so good to see you again, yeh, I lost my old blog to spammers, so I started a new one, but lost all of my old links. I came over to your blog, but for some reason I couldn't find any posts. the post part was blank. I found a lot of clickable links to past posts, but no actual posts came up. Strange huh. Maybe I just don't know how your blog works. Or maybe I am on the wrong blog. It said main blog, and I clicked it, and it showed a lot of archived posts, but when I clicked on them, nothing came up.... ao now....am I confused or what. haha
Nea -- there is no better friend or truer companion than a dog. I mourn Lou with you.
Nea ~ I mourn for you with the loss of Lou, I still feel the loss for my Roxy. It is hard to admit but she was the one who kept me going when I thought I was at the end of the line. I had her from a kitten and she saw many firsts for me, I miss my little friend. I cannot see a Grey and White cat and not think of her.
I will ask God to come and ease the pain you are feeling Nea,
God Bless
HI Quilly....he was a dear dog.....sometimes I just can't believe he is gone, even yet....
Hi Bill...I know how you feel about Roxy. Even though there will always be another pet in our life, some pets are just hard to replace, you just never do. They will always stand out as being unique. Often people can't understand how personable an animal can be. I hear all the time how stupid dogs and cats are, but by people who have never owned one. They may not be able to form words but they speak and talk in many other forms, and they understand. I remember how Lou would come and lay his head on my leg, and just look at me quietly when he knew I was upset. He knew how I was feeling and he knew how to help. Far more intuitive than some humans......I will always miss him.
"Brothers and sisters I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear."
(as usual Kipling had a poem and words for it.)
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