MUSINGS FROM THE MIND OF AMANDA

I wrote this a couple years ago. We’d had to euthanize my son’s sweet dog because she had untreatable tumors in her lungs. It was a very hard thing to do, but it was for the best. We couldn’t stand to see her suffer. I wrote this about her.

Tonight, our sweet girl left us. We adopted her from the animal shelter seven or eight years ago. My son was crazy about German Shepherds, but they were too expensive to buy. We stopped by a downtown event and saw her. She was maybe a year and a half old, in a cage, and she only had one eye. She was at least part German Shepherd. And my son fell in love.

The shelter people told us she didn’t have much time left. Nobody wanted a one-eyed dog. But my son did. He begged, and we agreed. For fifty bucks, she came home with us. That was the price of love.

Tundra was devoted to my son. She followed him everywhere she could. She slept in his room every chance she got. She moved in front of him if another dog got too close. The obedience trainer even told us she was maybe too attached, but he was HER boy. And he felt the same about her. A little dog food and water…that was the price of love.

Tundra began to age. She slowed down. We got more dogs, all of them rescues and most of them from the same shelter. But Tundra remained his favorite. She was really the goodest girl. Well-mannered, patient, and the undisputed pack leader of our little backyard pack.

And then she got sick. Just a little nagging cough. The vet said it was tumors. He tried antibiotics and steroids. They didn’t help. Her lungs began to fill with fluid. The fluid pills didn’t help. She began to pant, a little at first, then all the time. We couldn’t decide…we didn’t want her to suffer but we wanted all the time we could get. And then today, we knew.

We took her to the vet one last time. She was almost too weak to walk outside. She was alert and enjoyed one last ride. And then Hunter and I said what we needed to, and the vet took her for an iv. They brought her back, and we spoke with her and loved on her and told her what a good girl she was, and how we were sorry, but it was for the best, and we’d make the hurting stop for her, at least. And then the vet pushed the meds…and our sweet girl left us.

I watched my son cry and hug his dog, and tell her goodnight, and that he loved her. And then we walked away. He gave her a wonderful life, and we gave her the best death we could. And we sobbed.

That was the price of love.