Two days ago I lost a friend. A really good friend. I knew she was slowing down this summer and I was watching her become an old lady. It became apparent that we needed to call the vet. She started bumping into things in the yard and I was pretty sure she had gone blind. Being the last of the Great Rottweilers of My Life, the last of the Dogs of Ward, I resigned myself to the fact she would not be with us for long. The night before the vet I woke up at 2 am and stayed awake, crying for her and for myself.
Some people will say, Oh, it's just a dog so get over it. Buffy was so much more. She was brilliant and trained for everything from basic obedience to handicapped assistance, seizure detection and protection training. I took a fancy-pants agility class with her and she kicked ass. I trained her for French Ring and she kicked ass. The bitch did everything I threw at her. When I got certified in dog training she attended the school with me and was the belle of the ball. Everyone loved her and the instructors dubbed her Buffy the Wonder Dog. She was an inspiration. Oh, and she was pretty... for a Rottweiler.
What I didn't expect was for Alan to take it so hard. Buff was always a "guy's dog" and she preferred the company of men. She adored Alan and since we lost her mate Buster 2 years ago (to cancer as well) she clung to Al. Our first night without her Alan said to me that he was so mad that he was powerless to do anything to save her that had he been a younger man he would have gone out and gotten into a fight just to feel better. I assured him we had done the right thing and that she had gone on to Buster. I would have traded a number of things to have her health and whole again and felt fairly powerless and useless as well. Mostly I told him that time and tide wait for no man or dog. My grandfather used to say that. I guess our lives are changing. Our family is certainly changed and the energy around our home is changed. It's sad but we'll ride it out. And we will miss our old girl.
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