Happy Pet Blog

My Benny, sneaking on my bed

Here I am again, with a new post including my Benny. I still have such a very difficult time to write about my Benny. Of course I am sitting here crying. The joys and sadness of owning a pet.

In case you didn’t read it before; Benny is my wonderful Black Lab, 7 years old, that I had to put to sleep.

That was just about the most difficult, and yet the most unselfish act I had to do. I am just so thankful that with my last dog, Katie, a Golden, my vet was able to persuade me to stay with my dog till it was over.

It hurts me more to do that, but, I feel that staying with my dog, holding it’s paw and stroking his head, is the last act of kindness I can do in return for the many acts of love my dog gave me throughout it’s life.

Now, the problem in my household is this.

- I have a 14 year old Black Lab, Dukie, that has been blind almost all his life. He senses the sadness. And, I have to prepare myself for my last act of kindness to him also, which I have to face, is not long down the road. His age is slowly taking it’s toll on my Duke. His hind end is getting weak…it cannot bear his weight all the time anymore.

- I have my 3 1/2 year old Golden, Nikki, who so terribly misses her play friend. She is soooo moping and so sad.

- My husband, with fairly advanced MS…the stress of losing his friend is giving his MS a good run for it’s money, so to speak.

So, my husband decided that, before we will ever have to lose Duke, and, to give our Nikki a play friend, and maybe put a stop to the MS onslaught, we will adopt a dog from the Humane Society.

We have our eye on a 7 year old black lab. And, if the Humane society agrees that he will fit into our family, we will bring him home this weekend.

I will keep you updated. It feels good to get a little older dog that needs adoption.

And please, do not get a dog as a Christmas Present for anyone unless you, or they, are in it for the long haul! If you do buy a puppy, or if you do go the adoption road also get a home course for dog obedience. It will be worth your money and time.

photo credit: wsh1266

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Ruth’s passions are people and pet health. She is very active with dog therapy visiting. She first became involved in this work when visiting a friend in the hospital. A beautiful Golden Retriever silently walked into the room and instantly brought comfort to Ruth’s friend. That was Tasha. Tasha and her owner became Ruth’s mentor.

What is dog therapy visiting? A team consists of a handler, and a happy, excited dog ready to go visiting. Although these special canine therapists are all shapes and sizes, pure breeds and those wonderful mutts, they share a single purpose: to bring happiness and comfort to the sick or disabled or lonely. These wonderful serviceanimals make every person they visit feel special. I know that my own dog Benny, a black lab, loved visiting. I mean his tail went into “propeller” mode as soon as we pulled into the parking lot of our “home”.
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