Forever dog

When Abbie was fourteen years old, she was beset by three serious but unrelated health issues. By chance rather than design, these were being treated by three separate vets at three different practices. It seemed like every day we were going to a different vet, and Abbie wasn't getting better.

It was a lot.

During a visit with my regular vet, I had a meltdown and asked, "What are we doing? Is this fair to Abbie? She's fourteen years old. Are we torturing her?"

I halfway expected to be ushered to the euthanasia room right then and there, but Dr. Grillo said no. We weren't there yet. Despite everything, Abbie was basically a healthy dog. Her issues were fixable, and with any luck, she could still have another good couple of years.

Dr. Grillo was right. It took awhile, but eventually Abbie was doing all the things again: Hanging out with her family,

going to the dog park,

running and jumping.

She even got in the pool during Doggie Swim.

Best Dog Ever.

The only physical evidence of her ordeals was a missing bit of lower eyelid on the left side. A small price to pay.

We celebrated her fifteenth birthday with a party...

and her sixteenth birthday with homemade dog cake.

She was doing okay, but also, I could see that she was winding down.

People say, "They'll tell you when they're ready, " and I waited for that to happen. 

I waited and waited.

One day, I realized it was never going to happen. For more than sixteen years, Abbie's number one job was taking care of me. She took that very seriously. She was never going to abandon her post.

Now it was my turn to take care of her.

Dr. Grillo cried with me as she administered the drugs. "I learned a lot from Abbie," she said. "I still refer back to her file whenever I have a dog with chronic anal gland infections that aren't responding to normal treatment."

Everyone is remembered for something, I guess.

In July, it will be sixteen years since I said goodbye to Abbie. I don't cry over her anymore, but I still think about her every day. I talk about her, too.

In a recent conversation with Angelo, he said, "Dogs die twice, first when they take their last breath and second when we stop talking about them." By that measure, Abbie is immortal. I will never stop talking about her.

Best Dog Ever.

Best dog forever.