We had Kelly put to sleep at 3:30 pm today. Chris, Paul Jr. and Patrick (traveling up from Tucson) stopped by to give her a sad pet-pet earlier in the day, and Patrick and Paul Jr. came to the animal hospital with us (along with Pat and Nedda). Nicole and Kerry were making plans to fly in next weekend, but it wasn’t clear that the little dog could make it that long; and it definitely would have been a miserable, painful week for her if she had. Patricia and I thought it was very dear how all five were willing to make the effort.
Kelly had been slowing down pretty dramatically over the last few months, but was done in by her diet (and no, I don’t mean Nicole’s ProPlan): for some reason, she had started ingesting the little rocks in the back yard landscaping. The X-rays showed over 100 rocks in her stomach and nearly a dozen in her small intestine. Apparently it’s not terribly uncommon for dogs to ingest strange things, including rocks. Anyway, this circumstance was causing all of the bad consequences that you might imagine. At a slowed-down age 14, there really was no decision to make.
But enough on that. I mostly wanted to write that we feel very fortunate to have had such an excellent dog for the family during the years that the kids were growing up. Funny, we never planned on owning a dog. We got the idea because some of the kids in their early years were afraid of dogs, and we thought they might get over the fear by living with a dog. We got that benefit, and much much more.
Patricia had lived with an Airedale terrier in her childhood, and came up with the idea that a Welsh terrier might have the same positive characteristics in a much smaller package. She was right. Clean, quiet, no shedding, great car traveler. Warm, lively personality; easy temperament. Cute; mostly looked and acted like a puppy until the last few months. Excellent health, easy to take care of. Always up for walks, rides, biscuits, the biscuit game, having her nuggets thrown to her, being tennis doggy, chasing “the cat,” wearing the wizard bandana, hiking Lockett’s Meadow, jumping into an impossibly small space and curling up right next to (or on top of) you on the couch or chair, taking her doggie treats and enjoying them in the privacy of the piano area of the living room. Never up for bath, haircut, vacuum cleaner. Couch, chair, beanbag chair, mattress, whatever human furniture: yes; dog bedding: an insult, no way. Nurse Kelly sat by whichever kid had a cut or bruise or just felt down; the musical doggy sat by the piano bench whenever anyone played; the study buddy sat for hours with Patricia as she did her nursing program homework.
And Kelly loved nothing better than to curl up with the five members of her pack (and however many friends were around) for a Kelly sleepover in the back room.
No replacement plans whatever.
Goodbye, Kelly.
