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captainsblogThis post would not be here if I hadn't been touched by the serendipity of me dragging out our garbage and recycling totes at the same moment as our across-the-street neighbor, Ellen. She, and her older sister, bought that house from its original owner around two years ago, and we've become at least lower-case friends with them- among other things, appreciating our mutual love of rescue animals. They had a pair of basset hounds (not littermates, but both obtained from the same rescue group), and we, and our grrls, heard their plaintive a-woooooo's many a time over the past couple of years. "They" would be Bernie-Bob (the black-and-white one) and Jethro (the brown-and-white one).
In recent days, we've heard less of them, and tonight, we learned why. Jethro, the older one, all of five, had to be put down after a boarding when Ellen and her sister were visiting faraway rels. The boy had pancreatitis, which is aggravated by stress. His brother Bernie, even younger at three, had a similar bout of the same affliction after they got back; the emergency vet was ready to release him, but he clearly wasn't himself, and Ellen insisted that they keep him until he was. Now, apparently, he is (and I heard the a-woooo's from inside their house to prove it). Plus, they had to put down another doggie member of the family (a poodle named Fifi) a few weeks earlier, so the stress on the remaining boy has got to be immense.
We shared hugs, and stories of our own recent dog experiences, and promised each other that we'd do anything we can to help each other out to prevent stressful situations (even if it means feeding and walking and cleaning up after Bernie) or to help with end times if those efforts don't work out. Ellen donated a ramp to lay over our back steps for the days when Tasha can no longer climb them. We all se habla dog- and that friendship gained a capital-F tonight, for as long as it takes until these rescues of ours are all safely across Rainbow Bridge.
In a mostly unrelated note, coming home the night before, I saw a kid in a yard three houses down from our corner, playing with his seemingly new puppy- a Dalmatian. That circled us back to our original neighbor Sally's rescue dog of that breed, and to my sister's adopted cousin of the same spots, and I smiled, knowing that the circle of life is in constant motion.
In recent days, we've heard less of them, and tonight, we learned why. Jethro, the older one, all of five, had to be put down after a boarding when Ellen and her sister were visiting faraway rels. The boy had pancreatitis, which is aggravated by stress. His brother Bernie, even younger at three, had a similar bout of the same affliction after they got back; the emergency vet was ready to release him, but he clearly wasn't himself, and Ellen insisted that they keep him until he was. Now, apparently, he is (and I heard the a-woooo's from inside their house to prove it). Plus, they had to put down another doggie member of the family (a poodle named Fifi) a few weeks earlier, so the stress on the remaining boy has got to be immense.
We shared hugs, and stories of our own recent dog experiences, and promised each other that we'd do anything we can to help each other out to prevent stressful situations (even if it means feeding and walking and cleaning up after Bernie) or to help with end times if those efforts don't work out. Ellen donated a ramp to lay over our back steps for the days when Tasha can no longer climb them. We all se habla dog- and that friendship gained a capital-F tonight, for as long as it takes until these rescues of ours are all safely across Rainbow Bridge.
In a mostly unrelated note, coming home the night before, I saw a kid in a yard three houses down from our corner, playing with his seemingly new puppy- a Dalmatian. That circled us back to our original neighbor Sally's rescue dog of that breed, and to my sister's adopted cousin of the same spots, and I smiled, knowing that the circle of life is in constant motion.
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Date: 2013-07-25 02:21 am (UTC)I am also A Hound Person, as you probably know. Basset hounds have a special place in my heart. Please give my best to your neighbors from me and the small little burrow hounds here in Boston.