It’s a day you hoped would never come, but you always knew would come. Your companion, hunting partner, confidant and faithful friend has reached the end of the trail and you have to say “goodbye”.
You see the pain and you have to make the toughest call of your partnership. Dogs can block out pain when doing what they love to do, but when the day is ended and the energy gives way to pain, it becomes clear that the time is drawing near.
You can make your friend comfortable with medication, but eventually they lose their effectiveness and the pain takes control. It’s time to say goodbye. We all deal with this loss in different ways and they are very personal and private.
Some try to replace the loss with a new pup only to find that they cannot replace what was loss. Each one is unique and has their own personalities, quirks and attitudes. Part of saying goodbye is to remember them but to turn the page to allow a new friend to be themselves and make their own mark on your life.
Some add a new pup to their lives when their partner is still young enough to be a mentor and in time, may make the loss more bearable by tempering the pain with the ongoing companionship of the younger partner. This allows a younger partner to develop their own unique personalities without the pressure of having to be their mentor’s duplicate.
We bear the pain of saying goodbye, but they bear the pain in not saying goodbye.