Pets (Part 1 of 3)

For decades, my family had a pet dog, one at a time. While I loved each, I cannot anymore remember their names as much as my daughter and good household companion, Merly. They remember well the characteristics and antics of each dog. One died in an accident in front of our house. How my daughter and Merly cried out loud in anguish. I thought it was a person hurt. Each dog is buried in the garden and the grave marked well.

I remember quite well the last dog we had. He died at the age of 14 years. He was loved also by many of our neighbors, relatives and friends. Even after a visit to the veterinarian, he became increasingly weak. So loved by the three of us, we diminished his whimpering by our gentle touch. At night, we took turn watching him so that he will be distracted from the pain by massaging him gently. We do not want him to wail out loud as to disturb the sleep of our neighbors. He is such a big dog, hence has a voluminous voice. This care-giving lasted three weeks until he died so gently a bit quivering without noise. The pain of losing him made us decide not to have another dog again.

If we love dogs that much, we should be reminded to love persons more. I suppose the difficulty relating with persons is the pain of rejection. Dogs may reject us sometimes but not to a menacing extent. This is something to reflect on.