Thursday, June 28, 2007

My dog Sunny

Well, one of the first posts on my blog was about my dog Sunny, so it's fitting that I put a remembrance post up about her also since she's passed away.

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Today when my little brother went to feed the dogs, he found Sunny in the back yard in kind of a low spot in the grass. He could see that she couldn't get up and was in obvious pain. When he tried to lift her out of the dip, she started trying to move but just seemed to thrash around. I was at work in Orem, so I went over to my dad's house to see what was up. When I saw her, I could see that there was something wrong. I first thought that her hip was broken because it has been giving her lots of problems lately anyway and she's had a hard time walking. When I tried to lift her, I could see that it didn't seem like her hip, but I didn't know what it was. We took her to the vet and he determined that she'd had a stroke. After he said that, everything clicked because her face looked droopy on one side and she couldn't move one side of her body. Strokes are hard to recover from for a human, and we just couldn't imagine Sunny living as a vegetable in my dad's back yard, so the decision was made to put her down. My dad came to the vet and me, Russ, Michelle, and my dad were there when they put her down. It was sad and those of you that have had a 14 year old pet die that you are very close to will understand. We all cried and we're still mourning the loss, she will be missed.

Here she is guarding the tent on a campout:
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Here she is guarding the camp spot:
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She definitely won't be a dog that can be replaced easily, she was perfect in every way and never caused any problems. She was friendly to all and just her being there has given the rest of us comfort many times over. She's a sweetheart. She was in so much pain near the end and her sight and hearing were going also, so it was for the better. We were lucky in a way that something major happened, like this stroke, because that made the decision to put her down easier. Sunny, we love you, you were such a big part of our lives growing up!

2 comments:

Peter Ingebrigtsen said...

Oh man, I'm sorry to read about Sunny. Whenever I tell Ruth we are going to get a dog I always tell her, "one like Brad's". She was so good around our kids I couldn't imagine finding a better dog than Sunny for my family.

I had a dog for 15 years, Midnight, and eventually she too had be put down. We had discussed doing it for a while but couldn't find the courage. She was old and had a skin disease that made her life miserable. But still, I couldn't take my dog of 15 years and have her put down. One day I came home to a brochure on the mantle that read, "coping with the loss of a pet". I walked apprehensively to the garage to confirm my suspicion. It was for the best. And in the end, I'm glad my dad and sister had the courage to do the right thing.

I'm sorry for your family's loss.

Sincere Regards,
Peter, Ruth, Lilly & Isak

Two Wheeler said...

Thanks guys, that's so nice! I'm emailing you now Peter :-)