Today we had to say good-bye to a very dear friend . . . our male Bichon Frise dog, Harpo. Harpo Alexander joined us when he was 1.5 years old, and tonight we had to say our final words of thanks to a wonderful dog who brought us much laughter and joy. He was a very unique dog with a lot of quirks and oddities, but that's what made him so special to us and we will miss him so much. I can barely type this post, as I'm trying to type through my tears.
For the past couple of weeks, Harpo wasn't doing well physically or mentally, and this weekend we had to make the very difficult decision to "let him go", knowing that we did the right thing because he isn't suffering anymore. He hadn't eaten for over a week; he was "chewing" himself to the bone due to arthritic pain, and over the weekend he actually chewed half of his tail right off. He was bleeding and was weak. He was not his normal self this weekend, spending all Friday evening, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday sleeping in his dog house. I was hoping that he'd get better and perk-up a bit over the weekend, but he didn't. I literally had to drag him out of his house so that we could all give him hugs, pets and say our goodbyes. If it is possible for a dog to have a mental/nervous breakdown, I think that's what happened to him. He was just beside-himself with so much pain and I think he was just "giving up" on life.
We are all taking it pretty hard. Tonight all four of us sat on the couch and cried. And then we shared funny stories about Harpo and laughed. He was such a good dog. And his life lives on through the 37 surviving puppies he fathered over the last 8 years.
The following are some favourite photos of Harpo:
Alaska and Harpo - Best Friends:)
Smile for the camera, Harpo!
Harpo is one of the few dogs I know that would actually "smile":)
Today I am thankful for the following:
574. The gift of Pets, especially our dog, Harpo Alexander. He lived for exactly 9.5 years, and we got to enjoy 8 of those years with him as our pet.
575. The gift of Impromptu Visits from our Church Friends.
576. The gift of Ten-Pin Bowling. Today was my first attempt, and it was so much fun!
577. The gift of My Sister, Connie. It's her birthday today, so I had to give her a special shout-out!
2 comments:
So terribly sad and I am so sorry friend!
Oh Kim! I'm so sorry for your loss. We have an aging cat at our house, who still seems to be doing well, but at 15 years of age, we know we don't have a whole lot longer with her. She has been Matthew's cat since he was about 3 years old and now Isaac has "adopted" her since Matthew has been in college.
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