Saying Bye To Red

So this is going to be a really long and hard blog for me to write. Today was the saddest day I've had in a long long time. Mitch and I had to say goodbye to a member of our little family.... our puppy previously mentioned in other blogs as "that other dog". Tuesday was an ordinary day with the dogs.... we usually let them out in the evening while we water our garden and sometimes read. We let them run around and play with us. Well Tuesday was the last time we saw our puppy happy, playing with us and Andy. Mitch noticed the next afternoon that the puppy was being a little weird. He was just standing around and staring at things.... not laying down or sleeping or playing, but we didn't think much of it. A few hours later we decided to take the dogs on a walk.... but when we went to let them out, the puppy would hardly come out of the dogpen. We finally got him out, but he didn't want to be near us, be touched, or play with Andy. About 20 minutes later he started throwing up. We were thinkin that maybe he was just sick with somethig and he'd be better the next day. So yesterday we went to check on him in the morning and he didn't seem any better. Mitch called the vet and they said to give him some pepto-bismol in his water and that should help. We tried, but he wouldn't drink much and anything he drank came right back up as soon as it hit his stomach. He would still wag his tail when we were around though, so we thought that was a good sign. I guess we were still hoping that it was something that'd go away, so we went to bed hoping for him to be better today. When I woke up today, Mitch had already taken him out of the pen to seperate him from Andy and had given him his pepto-bismol water again. Mitch said that the dog walked out by himself and Mitch really thought that he was doing better. But by the time I left for work, he looked pretty bad. He wouldn't stand, walk, look at me, drink, or anything. I picked him up and moved him to some shade hoping it would help. When I came home from work I was pretty freaked out by what I saw. He hadn't moved all day.... he was covered in flies, he didn't wag his tail or look at me when I'd whistle for him to come, his face was all wet, his head was shaking and he was breathing REALLY fast. I told Mitch to start calling Vets, cuz I couldn't stand to see him like this. Mitch carried him to the truck (he just layed there limp and honestly looked dead). We took him to the Vet and they immediately tested him for Parvo. They said it would take 8 minutes for the results. Let me just tell you that we waited for about 20 minutes and they were the longest minutes ever! Me and Mitch basically just sat there silently listening to our dog breathing really fast.... but every now and then he'd take a deep hollow sounding breath that sounded like it was going to be his last. It was in that 20 minutes that we finally gave him a name.... Red.... because that's how I always thought of him because of his collar. Anyways, the vet finally came in and told us that the Parvo test came back just moderate... so they weren't sure if he had it or not. But either way, he was really hyperthermic, dehydrated, and was almost comatosed. I'm not sure what his temperature was, but I know that the vet was shocked by how hot it was. He told us that we had two choices. Either they could get him an IV, get him into a bath to try to lower his temperature, and get bloodwork (which would cost $800 plus) or we could help him "go". Obviously there was no choice for us. We told him our decision and he left the room to go get the shot. Mitch and I both kinda fell apart. I guess I was in denial about the dog because I was so heartbroken. And seeing Mitch so upset didn't help anything. While the doctor was out of the room and we were sitting there crying, the dog started whimpering in pain along with his fast breathing, and I knew it was good that we were doing this now instead of letting him suffer any more. Mitch and I told the vet that we couldn't watch, so we looked at our big puppy one last time and left the room. It was all I could do to not have a complete come-apart, but I knew that I had to talk to people in the office so I should probably refrain. After about 20 minutes they came out and asked what we wanted to do with him. We asked to take him home to bury him. So we paid, and took him home. By the way, everyone that came in was staring at us because I'm sure we looked crazy just sitting there crying. And one lady came up to us and said "sorry" before she left. It was pretty sad. Anyways, I called our moms to let them know. After only about 15 minutes of being home, my parents and sister showed up at our house. My dad immediately went down to where Mitch was digging and took over. I'm sure that is one of the hardest holes a man ever has to dig. About 5 minutes later my oldest brother showed up to help too. Apparently nobody wanted to put Mitch through the pain of doing it himself. They finished up and after a little pep-talk from my mom, they all headed home. Since then Mitch and I have been trying to keep busy so we don't have to think about it. That's pretty impossible though. There is definately an empty spot in our little family and we'll always remember our incredibly happy little Red.

I don't know why I'm gonna write all this because I'm already balling like a baby, but I just wanted to list some things we'll miss about you Red...

You were always happy... no matter if you were gettin yelled at or in the blazing hot sun or whatever the situation was... just were just excited to be there. I often referred to you as "wiggles" because whenever we walked up to you, you would wag your tail so hard that you were literally wiggling back and forth and back and forth. We always knew you loved us, even if you couldn't say it. Even if we were just walking by... Andy would simply raise her head to see us, but you'd jump right up and literally try to climb the fence with all 4 legs to get to us! The evenings outside just won't be the same when I sit down on the hammock and don't have you trying to get your big butt up on my lap so you can lick me! You always wanted to give loves... even though they gave me hives :) I'll especially loved your eyes... they were sorta orangey-yellow and always reminded me of a little lion. We didn't even have you for half a year, but you definately left your big paw print in our family. We love you and we'll miss you Red!!

While he was still a little puppy...

Out on a walk right after we got Red...

Doing what he loved to do most.... dig and eat our grass!!