I'm writing this post with a heavy heart on the night before we take Lady to the vet to have her put down. I have to do this now because I know I won't be able to do it tomorrow, or probably the rest of the week. Lady has been with me for 15 years. We got her while I was still in Florida and I was 14 years old living with my Dad and Stepmom Marsi. these old pictures are of me with Lady when she was a puppy.
She was such a good puppy. I still remember the day we went to the ASPCA and found her. She was sitting all alone in the corner by herself in a cage full of other black puppies. She was unique from the beginning and very independent. She was always my girl from the beginning and she always used to lay on my bed when it was time to go to sleep.
When it was time to move to Utah she came all the way with me flying in the airplane in a crate by herself. She's always had to be able to get along with other dogs. She's been in numerous dog fights in her life, none of her own causing. Her first incident that I recall was when Marsi was walking her in the neighborhood in Florida when she was about 6 months old. They came upon a house in which the owner opened their front door and a big golden retriever (or something) came flying out and attacked Lady. She was able to wriggle free from her collar and ran straight home! She pushed open our front door (it was the kind that just pushed open) and she came and jumped on my bed. I was doing my homework and thought nothing of it until I heard Marsi outside yelling "Lady! Lady!". I ran outside to meet her and told her Lady was on my bed. We realized that Lady had known her way home and into my room for safety.
After moving back to Utah she had to live with Quita, a pretty ferocious Chow and Akita mix that was owned by my stepsister. That dog was very mean and had killed more than 1 neighborhood cat. Somehow they learned to live with each other. It wasn't until one Christmas when I gave Chris a new telescope that things went south. He took it outside that night to use it. Apparently Lady got too close for comfort and Quita attacked. Poor Chris got his hand in the way while trying to break them apart and Lady chomped down on him. We had to go to the emergency room for that one.
The next incident was when I was still living with my mom and we had adopted Bambi (Weiner) from my mom's friend Laurie. Weiner is very protective of her toys and one fine day Lady got too close to one of Weiner's toys and they went at it. I happened to be the one to witness this and as I pulled Bambi away from Lady my finger went right into her mouth. I had to go to the emergency room for that one as well and now I have a lovely scar on my left ring finger. Poor Lady.
And finally we come to the situation we have now. When we first got Belle there were some major incidents but nothing too serious because Ramin was able to maintain control over Belle. But we quickly realized that toys were the center of all arguments so we decided it was best to keep Lady's rope away from her so it wouldn't cause any more issues. I still wish we would have done something differently because I know Lady loves her toys :-/ After those initial confrontations Belle and Lady learned to love each other. Even during the last vet visit Belle would cry for Lady because she was gone. They really do love each other as is evident from the pictures below.
Lady has lived a good and full life. I used to regularly take her for walks when she was still able to walk without tripping or falling. She's been through a few health issues including a few benign tumors and surgeries, one of which was on her jugular that had to be done by a specialist. She always had all of her regular yearly health check-ups by Banfield and yearly teeth cleanings. She's just been one of the easiest dogs to take care of because she is so good and loyal. When she could hear me she would listen and she would never wander far.
It wasn't until just 6 months ago that things started to get worse. At her last vet visit in October we learned that she has a heart murmur. She's also been very incontinent and we have to constantly clean up messes. These things I don't mind so much. It's very hard to see her struggling to walk or stand sometimes. We've recently had some incidents of her falling down the stairs. These things scare me and I don't want something worse happening to her. I already do what I can to try and control her pain - I give her dog aspirin every night.
I just know its time right now. The last few weeks have been extremely difficult for all of us to deal with. I don't want her to be in pain and I don't want something worse happening. It is weird to think that we've been planning this for a few days now (we made the decision Sunday night). Ramin has been so good to me throughout all of it because he knows how hard this is for me. He's arranged for everything.
We're taking her at 8:45 am tomorrow morning. I'm taking the day off work because I don't know how this will affect me but I want to be prepared.
I love Lady with all my heart. I always have and I always will. This is what needs to be done and she will be in a better place free from pain.
I love you Lady!
