Loss of Beloved Dog Leaves Fond Memories

Monroe, LA, News-Star ^ | 01-02-04 | Dunn, J.B.

[Theodore R.]

Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried when Old-Yeller died. Reading that book as a kid was almost more than I could handle.

As a boy running along the shores of Catahoula Lake in central Louisiana, I always had dogs as hunting companions, best friends and guardians.

[steelwheels]

My parents agreed to let me bury him under the dogwood trees, up the hill from a small creek on their property. I bought a large thick-plastic container with locking handles instead of building a wooden box. After lining the interior with a velvet blanket, I carefully laid him inside. I arranged some pictures, stuffed animals, flowers and a note inside, and lowered the container into the shoulder-high hole.

Sick

[Sunshine Sister]

It is hard to lose pets.

[steelwheels]

It is hard to lose pets.

It shouldn't be this hard.

[Independentamerican]

Yes it is hard to lose a pet but this borders a little on the extreme side.

[Lazamataz]

This is really sad. What a way to start the day, with a cry. :o(

[Lazamataz]

For those of us without children, pets become our children.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I still miss our old Golden Retriever, Prior Lake Jake, who developed a fast-growing cancer on his jaw at age eight. We had to put him down at the vet's.

[Sunshine Sister]

Laz has it exactly right. The unconditional love dogs give is really missed when they pass on. It is not as hard to lose a pet as it is a human, but it still hurts.

[OldPossum]

What gives you the right to pass judgment on other peoples' feelings? I would use stronger language but this is FR.

[KantianBurke]

"Lighten up Francis"

[DumpsterDiver]

Old Shep
Music & lyrics by
Foley - Westpar

When I was a lad
And old Shep was a pup
Over hills and meadows we'd stray
Just a boy and his dog
We were both full of fun
We grew up together that way

I remember the time at the old swimmin' hole
When I would have drowned beyond doubt
Shep was right there
To the rescue he came
He jumped in and then pulled me out

As the years fast did roll
Old Shep he grew old
His eyes were fast growing dim
And one day the doctor looked at me and said
I can do no more for him, Jim

With hands that were trembling
I picked up my gun
And aimed it at Shep's faithful head
I just couldn't do it
I wanted to run
I wish they would shoot me instead

He came to my side
And looked up at me
And laid his old head on my knee
I stroked the best friend
that a man ever had
I cried so I scarcely could see

Old Shep he knew he was going to go
For he reached out and licked at my hand
He looked up at me just as much as to say
We're parting, but you understand

Old Shep he has gone
Where the good doggies go
And no more with old Shep will I roam
But if dogs have a heaven
There's one thing I know
Old Shep has a wonderful home

[Capriole]

Well, this writer may have taken it just a little far. I have some of the same reactions of pity and compassion on reading this that I have for people who find comfort in burying beloved humans with photos, stuffed animals, and other gear, as though those items could really bring comfort to the dead, instead of to those who mourn them. I understand the gesture.

In our society we do not acknowledge that grief can be due to other causes than the loss of a beloved human. We can love animals as much as humans, especially if we are elderly or lonely and don't have enough human companionship. Pity the old person whose human loved ones have predeceased her! The only kind touch she may receive could come from a dog's tongue.

[libstripper]

You have obviously never had a beloved animal companion die. I pity you.

[Chapita]

I had a German Sheperd that I loved! I found it shot dead in the yard. I knew who had done it and went and shot three of his dogs and would, probably, have shot him had he been at home.

Fritz was absolutely loyal! Much beyond anything one can expect from a human.

[steelwheels]

In our society we do not acknowledge that grief can be due to other causes than the loss of a beloved human. We can love animals as much as humans

"WE" can do just about anything we want to do, but that doesn't make it right. Elevating dogs to the human level is wrong because you cheapen human life in my opinion. Remember animals react from response and instinct and they have no sense of the universe.

[orlop9]

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
--Mark Twain

[steelwheels]

You have obviously never had a beloved animal companion die. I pity you

Thank you for the pity...I think?

[freeeee]

Elevating dogs to the human level is wrong

Most dogs are finer individuals than the seemingly endless scum that sully the name of the human race.

Tribute to a Dog
George Vest

The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his worst enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith.

The money that man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.

The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous... is his dog.

A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince.

When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.

Epitaph To a Dog

Near this spot
Are deposited the Remains
Of one
Who possessed Beauty
Without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
And all the Virtues of Man
Without his Vices.

The Price, which would be unmeaning flattery
If inscribed over Human Ashes,
Is but a just tribute to the Memory of
"Boatswain," a Dog
Who was born at Newfoundland,
May, 1803,
And died in Newstead Abbey,
Nov. 18, 1808.

When some proud son of man returns to earth,
Unknown by glory, but upheld by birth,
The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe,
And stories urns record that rests below.
When all is done, upon the tomb is seen,
Not what he was, but what he should have been.
But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master's own,
Who labors, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonored falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth -
While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.

Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power -
Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,
Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit!
By nature vile, ennoble but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.
Ye, who perchance behold this simple urn,
Pass on - it honors none you wish to mourn.
To mark a friend's remains these stones arise;
I never knew but one - and here he lies.

Lord Byron's tribute to "Boatswain," on a monument in the garden of Newstead Abbey.

[steelwheels]

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man." --Mark Twain

Thanks, but can you say "rottweiler"?