Sad dying dog story, beware

My friend Jenn and I had to go out on a call to pick up a dog from an old lady who'd said the dog had a stroke. Her grandsons told us that we were to examine the dog and treat it. But when we got there, she told us differently.

As she sat on her little back porch rockign chair with her walking stick by her side, she described what instead sounded like a series of seizures. The dog had collapsed three times in a day, foaming at the mouth and, inher words, "soiling all over the floor. Well, I live alone," she said, "and I cleaned it up by myself." The the dog had gotten confused and walked off her property too quick for her to catch and stop him. Her grandsons had found it lying in a ditch th enext block over and brought it back, putting it in he rbarn with some water before they had to return to work.

She showed us to the barn where we found her dog already almost half dead. I picked up the dog and started walking out, then the lady's frail little leg got stuck in some fishing line and she almost tripped.

Outside, she took some time to pet the dog and say goodbye while I held him, and she started talking. She said that she had recently lost her daughter, and now she was losing her dog too, so she knew she was going to be lonely, with her grandsons all grown and everything. She pet the dog and thanked him for his seventeen years of friendship. (Seventeen years!) She said, "You were my best friend the whole time." Then she told us that in the days leading up to the "strokes," his eyes had gotten really big and really bright. "Like yours," she said, looking at me. (She also added that "It looked like there was no one at home there," which honestly I laughed about later, because was she still comparing him to me? O_O )

Jenn and I were all right up until we got the dog in the car and started backing out of her driveway. We both looked back at her and that's when she started crying. She stood there in her little driveway, leaning with one hand on her walking stick, and then she just started sobbing and wiping her eyes with her free hand. What really got us both going though was that right before we turned, she waved goodbye. That little gesture of farewell was it for both of us.

The two of us are always very jokey and light-hearted and snarky together but we didn't even know what to say. I just wanted to go to the shelter and bring the lady a new dog, like that second.

Honestly, I've seen some gruesome, sad, nasty, gross, alarming, terrible things there, but in terms of sheer pathos, this was the worst.

Sad dying dog story, beware

My friend Jenn and I had to go out on a call to pick up a dog from an old lady who'd said the dog had a stroke. Her grandsons told us that we were to examine the dog and treat it. But when we got there, she told us differently.

As she sat on her little back porch rockign chair with her walking stick by her side, she described what instead sounded like a series of seizures. The dog had collapsed three times in a day, foaming at the mouth and, inher words, "soiling all over the floor. Well, I live alone," she said, "and I cleaned it up by myself." The the dog had gotten confused and walked off her property too quick for her to catch and stop him. Her grandsons had found it lying in a ditch th enext block over and brought it back, putting it in he rbarn with some water before they had to return to work.

She showed us to the barn where we found her dog already almost half dead. I picked up the dog and started walking out, then the lady's frail little leg got stuck in some fishing line and she almost tripped.

Outside, she took some time to pet the dog and say goodbye while I held him, and she started talking. She said that she had recently lost her daughter, and now she was losing her dog too, so she knew she was going to be lonely, with her grandsons all grown and everything. She pet the dog and thanked him for his seventeen years of friendship. (Seventeen years!) She said, "You were my best friend the whole time." Then she told us that in the days leading up to the "strokes," his eyes had gotten really big and really bright. "Like yours," she said, looking at me. (She also added that "It looked like there was no one at home there," which honestly I laughed about later, because was she still comparing him to me? O_O )

Jenn and I were all right up until we got the dog in the car and started backing out of her driveway. We both looked back at her and that's when she started crying. She stood there in her little driveway, leaning with one hand on her walking stick, and then she just started sobbing and wiping her eyes with her free hand. What really got us both going though was that right before we turned, she waved goodbye. That little gesture of farewell was it for both of us.

The two of us are always very jokey and light-hearted and snarky together but we didn't even know what to say. I just wanted to go to the shelter and bring the lady a new dog, like that second.

Honestly, I've seen some gruesome, sad, nasty, gross, alarming, terrible things there, but in terms of sheer pathos, this was the worst.