The Value of Pets within our Lives

Recently, I had to put down my dog Jake. Jake has had arthritis within his back legs and has developed glaucoma. He's had multiple seizures and has been biting me several times. After another seizure or silent stroke, he snapped at a non family member during a party. Due to liability reasons and quality of life issues, I felt I had to put him down after 14 years of life.

Until the pet is gone, a person does not realize the companionship and love that flows between the animal and said person or family. My dog would meet me at door when I came home! He loved to go on walks and sit in the car when I had errands to run. He was great for the family and was protector of the family. I miss him everyday!

The first or second week of January 2015, my mom found a beagle running loose at the country club. We were calling the numbers on the tags when he escaped the body harness and he was off into the woods. At this point, I was determined to catch and see him reunited with his family in the memory of my dog Jake. I kept imaging a little boy or girl crying their hearts out due to their lost dog. I tried using bread and doggy treats to get the beagle back but the beagle would let me almost get with hands reach and he dart away. I think that the puppy thought the process was game of catch me if you can you stupid or slow human! After an hour with the help of my sister, we finally caught the beagle puppy and put the puppy back in the body harness. The owner arrived in the next hour and reclaimed her family pet! Yes her family has small children that loves that puppy to death! That one small act of kindness is dedicated in Jake's loving memory!

How do your pets or animals enrich your life?

PS- First time I ever saw a beagle jump into a tree and also climb the tree. Sorry about the error in the subject line.

When my wife first started suffering from depression we bought a Chinese Crested. A reject as his crest was the wrong shape or something but still $500 odd.
Not only did he turn out to be more effective that the psyciatrist, but a hell of a lot cheaper too.

Kipling said it well.


There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But...you've given your heart for a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart for the dog to tear.
We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long--
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

Wow! I will be printing this out when I go home!

Daryl wrote:Kipling said it well.


There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But...you've given your heart for a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart for the dog to tear.
We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long--
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

SMR:
Came across this, your topic today.
My Queensland Heeler, Razor, had a brain seizer two years ago and never fully recovered. After a recurrence last week, I had him euthanized. I got him from the pound over 14 years ago. Tore me up. Both the decision and the passing.

During my life I've had six dogs and two cats. Most of the dogs came from the pound or were strays. Two I took in when a friend was transfered overseas and couldn't take them.
The cats showed up on their own (one was a kitten).
Each one's death has hurt. Possibly because they all lived with me over 10 years.
I now have Java, a Black Lab/Tosa(??) mix. He's been here since March 2005. That's almost 10 years ago, and he was over a year when I adopted him. He also misses Razor.
I'm 64 and think he'll be my last pet. Unless a stray shows up. I have friends who will watch Java if anything happens to me, but I worry. Perhaps I'll foster pets in the future?

On the runaway pup. If he (or she) is playing Catch me if you can; try laying on your back (weather and ground permitting). They usually investigate and try to reativate the playtoy (you).

For over 12 years Goldie was my best friend. She was about 2 when we found her lost, lonely and hungry on a lady friends remote acreage in SW OR USA. About 44N, 122W. Kinda. I relunctantly adopted her and took her home to my 50 a.c. off grid remote homestead about 10 miles SE of Cave Junction Oregon, USA.

Yellow Lab mix. Very gun shy at first but that quickly changed. Oh the good times we had! She would get one squirrel, I got two. Barking up the wrong tree was significant. About once a month we would drive to town together and each get an ice cream cone. Yumm yumm. About every 3 months she and I had a barbacued T Bone steak. If the market had none, we had Porterhouses.

One of her favorite quickly learned tricks was when I would over sleep. Upon hearing my loud voice saying "I do not want to get up", she would tear through the doggie doors and run into the bedroom and pull all the bedding off my bed and run through the cabin with it. Much fun. 60 pound dog. We had a beaver pond about one mile from the cabin. She loved to swim. Grand times.

Goldie loved all other dogs and especially young people. The distant neighbor kids would come up the dirt road to my place and politely ask if Goldie could join them for a creek swim. Goldie did NOT like skunks or ferral kitty cats. Other than that, she had few bad habits. She got very old and I gave her that final injection. Difficult. Shooting people easier. Now over 10 years. HB of CJ (old coot)

What dedication of man's best friend!

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/02/24/faithful-dog-waited-weeks-for-his-murdered-owner-to-return-home/

Thank you Daryl for this posting. I had to print this out for myself before I went looking for a new dog because I wanted a dog that was the same breed as my previous dog. Basically, I turned down some great rescue dogs because they were not Jake (previous dog).

Daryl wrote:Kipling said it well.


There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But...you've given your heart for a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart for the dog to tear.
We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long--
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

In the end, the only question that matters is: did you give the critters a good life? All my cats have been rescued, so I can be fairly sure their lives are better now.

smr wrote:
How do your pets or animals enrich your life?

I would make a rather observational post: The fewer pets an adult or child has, the more real friends they have.

By human nature we want to "give/receive" love to/from others. In many adults/children, the pet is the recipient of said love or need of being "loved". In all cases it is inferior to the real thing. Also, human nature needs responsibility in our lives even if we claim we do not. Pets instead of children or friends provide a shallow responsibility in lieu of the real thing.

All one has to do is observe the supporters of PETA. Nearly all single lonely people or folks who went through a nasty divorce or grew up as a single child. Lonely people who ascribe human characteristics onto their pets.

So: How do pets enrich our lives? They don't. They are a stand-in for real relationships.