Today has been a long day. We had to put down our oldest dog Cassie today at the age of almost 8 years. We got her before we knew our middle son was in utero as a 4 month old puppy. She was the wife's baby before she had babies and held a special place in our hearts. She grew up with our then 4 year old and he will miss her terribly.
Cassie was a great dog. She was a cattle dog mix and we were her pack. She was there for the kids in ways they'll never understand. She knew when the wife was pregnant and used to always watch over her through the days. Then when they were born she considered them hers, sometimes even challenging the wifes patience. She and our oldest had the classic bond a boy and dog develop from younger ages. One time our St Bernard thought the daughter was going for her food and snapped in her general direction and Cassie LAID into her.
Cassie was my camping buddy. Every trip she went with me and I always felt comfortable about her sleeping with the kids and keeping them safe. She never barked at random things so you knew that if she did bark it was for a reason. She was a great member of this family and we did everything short of spending thousands of dollars to keep the cancer from taking over. She had a fast growing tumor in her nasal passages and we attacked it with meds but to no avail. She stopped eating days ago and could not sleep well since she could not breathe through her nose. She was in pain but never let on. We had to do right by her so we made the tough decision to put her down.
She seemed to know we made this decision. She got out of bed to tell the kids goodbye for the first time in weeks. She wagged her tail when the wife took the daughter to her cousins then came inside with me and immediately laid down exhausted. She went into the drs office wagging and went with the dr to get a catheter placed in her leg. She knew! Just like she always had. She had a mothers intuition and it was always right!
It is hard to teach responsibility to kids. About how we have to do things that are very hard to do as adults because it is the right thing to do. Even when we don't want to. The wife held her as she went. I looked in her eyes as they injected the fatal cocktail. She deserved no less from us. She will be missed tremendously.
I got a run in tonight. I was dragging at first but by the end felt great. It was another 15 min walk run where I ran for 2 minutes and walked for 1. Total distance was 1.4 miles. As I said I felt great and think I could have easily done another round of 15, but I am taking it slow. Plus I am technically on the clock. Yay for me.. here's the route I ran. It is almost the exact route Cassie and I walked with the daughter last week. It felt right!
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