Losing Man's Best Friend

I remember watching the movie “Marley and Me” and relating to some of the events. Owen Wilson played the part of an aspiring writer and columnist fresh to the Florida community.

It is a little bit familiar.

Having a dog that immediately attaches to the family. Again, it is a little bit familiar.

Fortunately, our canine family members have never eaten jewelry intended for my lovely wife. I’m not sure she would be too excited about an amethyst necklace having traveled the insides of a rambunctious pooch. I don’t remember having to hold one of our dogs beside the car while idling down the street; thankfully.

I can, however, relate to making hard decisions when the four-legged family member has more struggles than the body can bear. I can tell you of the one and only time I accepted a “free puppy” outside of a discount store. The weeks-old lab mix went from whining because he was unsure of his new home to sleeping in the headboard of our bed, and later losing a battle with parvo.

After that we had the perfect blend of shepherd, probably retriever and who knows what else. What we do know is nothing got between Foxy and her girl Jill. Even when we had to be parental with Jill, Foxy would try to intervene like a mediator telling us to calm down. Jill always said she wanted to take Foxy to college with her. That opportunity didn’t happen. Foxy outlived Jill. But the great equalizer returned. Foxy could not defeat the cancer developing inside of her.

Later came Cooper, a rescue dog in an informal sense. A friend’s daughter found him and put out a call for anyone who might be interested. Cooper crossed the driveway and attached to my wife’s ankle and seldom left after that. He was our pug mix with a Napoleon complex, guarding the house as long as something scary doesn’t enter. Then he cowers behind one of us. From across the fence, he has a bark that would compete with most any other yard.

That was then. The proper verbiage now is he “had” the most vicious bark. We had to close Cooper’s chapter recently. He went from the “easiest dog in the neighborhood,” rolling over with the first stroke of his ribs, to battling a list of physical issues. Medical professionals who watch the end of life in people will say some know the end is coming. This time I wonder if it can also occur in animals.

We need to remember dogs have a different lifespan than humans and often battle infections and diseases in unique ways. No matter how hard we try, how much the dog is part of the family, goodbye can happen at any time. Dogs are an example of valuing what time you have with the relationship. It is a living reference to Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plan and a time to uproot, a time to ill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…” Ecclesiastes is complicated in that one of the richest men in history spends time questioning the worth of all of the stuff he has.

Rarely will a dog outlive a human in natural conditions. However, brought up right, they will increase quality of life. Life is not designed to “go it alone.” It is by design a team sport. The parallel to a human partner, however, is the feeling of loss or heartbreak that comes with sudden loss of a relationship, one that lives only in memories after a point. Dogs, pets, can add to quality of life.