Choosing to look at the less than wonderful things that happen in your life can be hard, heartbreaking even (or that’s what it feels like). But actually, writing about things is a way your mind can begin to come to turns with the bad things, and understand how you can cope with it.
So the dog in that photograph, Missy, died recently. She was 14 years old, and had collapsed at home. We took her to the vet, but despite their work, we were left with having to make the decision on whether or not to let her go. We decided the time had come. And so MIssy is gone.
She was a good dog, and after living with her for those 14 years, the final years with her as our only dog, we learnt to love this girl more and more. Missy had suffered for much of her life with a disease – Canine Dry Eye, that required having gel-type medication in her eyes at least twice a day, morning and evening.
Missy put up with my at first clumsy efforts with this, and I gradually got better at doing it. Missy understood what she had to do – I’d tell her, “Eye time, Missy,” and she’d get up on her favourite, comfortable seat, (the one in the photo) where I would do my needed task.
Missy was compliant, which made me feel the gel medication must have felt soothing for her. I hope it did. She was so much more that just a dog with an eye disease though. Missy was a hunter, and when she was outside, would be looking for things to hunt, kill, and eat.
Pharaoh Hounds, which was Missy’s breed, are actually the National Breed of Malta, where they are called ‘Kelb tal-Fenek’ which means ‘hunter of rabbits. And Missy certainly had a keen hunter’s instinct. She would look for things to hunt (and kill if she could), whenever she was out in the back yard.
We almost lost Missy many years before her eventual death, because of that need to hunt. There was a Brown Snake in our back yard. Missy caught it, and almost killed it. But it bit her, and she would have died then, if we hadn’t rushed her to the vet … Missy received the appropriate treatment, and we were able to pick her up from the vet the next day.
And as soon as Missy was out in the back yard again, she was hunting for things again. Hunting is the driving force for most, if not all, of the breeds of dog in the ‘Hound’ group. If a hound is on the hunt, they stop listening to their humans, because their instinctual need to hunt is so strong.
We had been talking about getting another dog, as a companion for Missy, over the past few years, but never did much about actually getting such a dog. We knew what breed we would get, another from the hound group – a Greyhound. Our son has his own greyhound who he loves, and has convinced us that is what we have to get.
And having been owners and breeders of Pharaoh Hounds, which are similar to Greyhounds in many ways, I feel the move to that breed of dog will come easily to us. We just need to find the right one … A girl, or a boy, what age, colour, size? It will take some time, more time than usual, given the current Covid times we’re living in.
As I write these words, I can feel the tears are there, behind my eyes, waiting, but I don’t think those tears will come. I’ve been preparing myself for the ultimate death of Missy, because at her age and how things were going for her, well, we knew she was on her way out.
When you have a formerly active dog, that has begun spending more and more time fast asleep, well that’s a sign. People will often say, about their dog – but he’s still eating, so I know he’s going OK. But from my lengthy times with dogs, I know they will hold onto their appetite well up until they die …
So that’s how things were for Missy – she ate all of her lunch with relish. But some time later she collapsed, and couldn’t get up again. This happened yesterday (Sunday), and we rushed to find an emergency vet not too face away. Once found, we got there as quickly as we legally cound.
The people at the vet clinic did all they could, but Missy’s heart had stopped, got going again after CPR, but only just. Missy didn’t regain consciousness. When they asked, we made the best decision, to let Missy go to her peaceful death. There would have been no point in extending her suffering, at that stage.
Thank you for reading this. I feel better for having shared this story. Missy was a great dog, and I am glad we had her in our lives.
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 