Today was a sad day for my entire family. Hurk, our thirteen year old male border collie, a truly special dog, had to be put to sleep. He was struggling from cancer. The cancer was between his heart and his lungs. The tumor was pressing on his tracia. Lately, because of the cancer, he had developed congestive heart failure.
We took him to U.C. Davis about five months ago. When we left Davis, we pretty much knew the prognosis. They felt he had a matter of weeks to live. He lasted five months. We had him on medication to keep him comfortable, and for a while he seemed fairly normal. Over the past two weeks though, he began a serious decline.
Today, seeing him struggle on my living room floor for breath, I just could not allow him to suffer so much, gasping for air. Our vet met us after hours. She was so caring and kind. I held Hurk's muzzle in the palm of my hand as he struggled to breath. My wife Nikki was with me, helping me to get through the ordeal. Tina wanted to be there too, and she would have been if I had not had my cell phone turned off (stupidly). I feel so bad that my phone was off. Hurk was barely able to walk into the veterinary office. He was completely physically spent. All of his energy was being conserved for his next breath. He was looking into my eyes when his body went limp. I told him repeatedly, before and after he died, "good boy - good boy - good boy."
Hurk was a wonderful dog, full of spirit, a real pistol at times. He was very competitive, loved chasing frisbees, but really loved patrolling our back yard swiming pool. In his younger days, he would patrol the pool for hours. He was part of the family. Between my other border collie and him, he was the alpha male.
Hurk was my ex-wife Tina's dog after our divorce. But, my wife Nikki really loved him too. So did my kids. They spent part of their life growing up with him. We all loved him. I feel better now, knowing that we did the right thing. My whole family knows we did the right thing. And Tina forgives me for missing her phone call. But, she also felt that maybe it would have been too sad for her to be there.
Good bye Hurk! We will always love you. We will never forget you. Promise.
John, Nikki, Tina, Sheila, Karen, Steve, and Kaylee
(The little ones, Layla and Tina Marie, may be too young to understand)
We took him to U.C. Davis about five months ago. When we left Davis, we pretty much knew the prognosis. They felt he had a matter of weeks to live. He lasted five months. We had him on medication to keep him comfortable, and for a while he seemed fairly normal. Over the past two weeks though, he began a serious decline.
Today, seeing him struggle on my living room floor for breath, I just could not allow him to suffer so much, gasping for air. Our vet met us after hours. She was so caring and kind. I held Hurk's muzzle in the palm of my hand as he struggled to breath. My wife Nikki was with me, helping me to get through the ordeal. Tina wanted to be there too, and she would have been if I had not had my cell phone turned off (stupidly). I feel so bad that my phone was off. Hurk was barely able to walk into the veterinary office. He was completely physically spent. All of his energy was being conserved for his next breath. He was looking into my eyes when his body went limp. I told him repeatedly, before and after he died, "good boy - good boy - good boy."
Hurk was a wonderful dog, full of spirit, a real pistol at times. He was very competitive, loved chasing frisbees, but really loved patrolling our back yard swiming pool. In his younger days, he would patrol the pool for hours. He was part of the family. Between my other border collie and him, he was the alpha male.
Hurk was my ex-wife Tina's dog after our divorce. But, my wife Nikki really loved him too. So did my kids. They spent part of their life growing up with him. We all loved him. I feel better now, knowing that we did the right thing. My whole family knows we did the right thing. And Tina forgives me for missing her phone call. But, she also felt that maybe it would have been too sad for her to be there.
Good bye Hurk! We will always love you. We will never forget you. Promise.
John, Nikki, Tina, Sheila, Karen, Steve, and Kaylee
(The little ones, Layla and Tina Marie, may be too young to understand)
posted by j. Charles Dill @ 7:39 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Hi John, this is Karen's friend Lauren. Karen told me about Hurk the other day and my heart just sank for all of you. I am so sorry for this loss and can only imagine the heartache you all must be feeling. There are so many memories I have when I was younger playing at the house with Karen. It makes me smile just picturing her and I playing in the pool with Hurkey swimming around like an Olympic swimmer. No matter what he was doing he never failed to make me chuckle. I was always amazed at how Hurk could catch those frisbees no matter how far you threw them!! I can honestly say that I have never met a dog like Hercules Magna Eli Clouse. He was one of the most vivacious, mischievous dogs with one of the biggest personalities any dog or person could have. My heart goes out to you and the whole Dill family, Hurk was one special pup.
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