What a great thread and thank you all for sharing. I'm more of a reader here but 3 ago weeks had to put down my 10 year old black lab Suzie, this is the trubute to her I put on some other boards.
Tribute
You know in your heart the day you bring them home at 8 weeks and look into those small eyes there will come this day, still when it comes it is difficult to take, there time is to short, every second with them seems so much more valuable and you look back hoping, praying and wondering if you made the most of it all.
A few weeks ago Suzie started acting different, lethargic and just not herself. She had her moments of her old self and then last week she began to not want to eat all her food. At the same time I felt what I thought was something on her right side at the end of her ribs, was I imagining things? I made a vet appointment and Tuesday night my worst fears were realized. It was a very large tumor that in a week had become even more pronounced. Options were an ultrasound to find out the extent of the tumor and what and how many other organs were involved, surgery was the only option, no pill would make this go away.
No decision needed to be made right them so I took her back down to Debbies to be with her as I knew in my heart this was it. At 10 years old I could not see her going through an operation of this magnitude. She stayed with her until wed night when she told me to take her home where she was comfortable. She had stopped eating on Thursday almost completely and by Friday was fading fast and getting weak and in my eyes was getting uncomfortable. I took the day off and spent it with her yesterday knowing it would be our final hours together. Today at 1:00 I hugged her and kissed her head and cried my eyes out as I am right now typing this as the first of 2 needles entered her leg. I wrapped her in her favorite blanket and laid her on the the seat and took her to say goodbye to Debbie at the SPCA where she will be cremated. I would be a liar if I didn't say this was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life.
She was such a good dog, there are better gundogs out there but in my mind she was the greatest. She was a veteran of many campaigns with me always by my side in every weather you could imagine, in every circumstance to. From the Penobscot River and sloughs of Maine, to the untold areas of New York and the wetlands sloughs and rivers of Iowa to the nasty stick ponds here at home she was well traveled and well liked by all who met her. She only carried one title and that was the title to my heart, she never had to prove anything to anyone, she just loved her work, from the first pair of woodrows she retrieved in her first year to the big crippled canadas that she relished more than anything. She was a good dog and always will be. Now in peace she can have nonstop retrieves and birds all day everyday.
Her ashes will be placed in two woodie decoys that I will carve so she can still hunt with me at least once a year, the rest of her ashes will sit in an urn flanked by the decoys the rest of the time. She will never be forgotten, every snot hole I step in, every farm I walk, every where I hunt she's been there and I know will still be with me.
Years ago on another site I posted this poem I wrote for her for when this dreaded day comes, a good friend helped me retrieve it from there and it will grace my wall with a favorite picture of her as well.
"Paw prints in the ashes"
She was born at night, in the late winters cold,
Which she came to ignore, almost seemingly bold,
She was black as night, in her thick laden fur,
Which defined her breed, her lineage, it defined her,
For the water she loved, and was so at peace,
Chasing bumpers, rising trout, ducks even geese,
The states we crossed, the fields we traced,
I'm glad to have known her, for I have been graced,
She was my companion, she was my friend,
My best hunting pal, until the end,
As I allow the dust, to blow into the wind,
My lonely hearts tears, soon to begin,
Now in her favorite place, in her brilliant flashes,
To leave her telltale pawprints, in the ashes.
When I wrote this years ago I never dreamed how hard it would be to write them at this time. To all who have gave encouraging words lately and all the good thoughts, thank you, more than you know.
I could not do this without including just a few of my favorite images of her, if I have but one regret it is the fact I have 100s of pictures of her and less then maybe 6 of her and I.
God bless ya Suzie and thank you for enriching my life.