Never Easy.

[eskemp]

Sundance died this morning. Aileen sat up with him all night, and although he was very weak, he insisted on going out into the rain on the deck one final time. He was mercifully unconscious for the last of it. The other two dogs, the girls, wound up almost as affected by it as we were when they suddenly realized that he wasn't just sick, he was

Comments

[eskemp]

Thanks, man. We're now in the really weird stage of conspicuous absence: apresence that was around us every day, defining our daily routine, is gone. We were grateful his suffering is over, and we're not really grieving per se, but... well, something very good that was here isn't.

[eskemp]

Is Puck your first dog? I was around dogs all my childhood, and had to deal with losing them indirectly, but Sundance was my first to go that was mine, and certainly the first to die while I was right there. So I was kind of prepared. Sort of.

It ain't easy, like I say. But neither is it crippling, if they had a good life.

[eskemp]

Ouch. Yeah, it'll be rough: not to be mean or anything. But at the same time, treat a puppy right and you'll be totally glad you did it even when you're having to come to grips with things.

For us, it really helped that we were able to bury him ourselves (with mattock-help from my brother). It gave us an excuse to quote or paraphrase Hamlet a lot.

[rickj]

My condolences. Best to you and Aileen.

[eskemp]

Thank you, sir. We appreciate it.

[innocent_man]

I'm so sorry. I'm glad I got to meet him. :(

[eskemp]

He was a good feller. His Christmas stocking had "Delmar" embroidered on it because "Sundance" was too many characters.

Yes, we bought Christmas stockings for our dogs, so what?

[eskemp]

Thanks, man. We tried, and I think we succeeded pretty good.