Baby Girl

Trigger Warning: SAAAAAAAD

This isn’t the post I wanted to write this week.

I wanted to write a fun post about all the cool days we have in a row this weekend. A Friday the 13th, Pi Day (3.14) and the Ides of March (Beware the 15th, ya’ll!) But my heart just wasn’t in it. 

See, this week we had to say goodbye to my older dog, who I will refer to here on out as Baby Girl.

Baby Girl was an, almost, 11 year old puggle, loved to eat, and had a snore that could wake up the neighborhood (which I miss already.)

She started having back leg problems a few months ago. but over the last two weeks, her legs suddenly just didn’t want to work. She was really wobbly when she did walk, couldn’t really do the steps, and kept dragging her legs and getting cut up. 

We took her to the vet to get some pain meds, researched laser treatments, leg supports, and doggie wheelchairs but in the end we realized none of those things were going to help her walk again so we had to make the difficult decision to put her down. That way she could go with a little dignity left…as weird as that may sound for an animal who was not above licking herself in public. 

If you’ve ever had an animal or a pet you love, I’m sure you’ve been put into a similar position and I do not exaggerate at all when I say it fucking sucks the life out of you. Everything hurts. Your heart, your head, your eyes from crying. The worst part is honestly how quiet the house feels now that she’s gone. 

But with all that being said, I’ve been able to reflect on some of the best memories I had of her. Like her first car ride home when my friend and I came up with the most absurd names we could for her (Iron Chef Cat Cora, the second, Jr. was always a favorite,) or how she was totally confused by grass the first time she walked on it.

She wasn’t much of a barker but had the best howl when she was impatient for a treat and turned into a grumpy old lady when we brought a new puppy into the house a couple of years ago. Baby Girl was the most chill dog and would let you take things out of her mouth or dress her up in a stupid dog wig just long enough to get one picture. She wasn’t my first pet, but she was the first one I was grown enough to appreciate and fully take care of from the jump. 

While I’m sad, and more than once through this whole thing I’ve said how I think human beings are the dumbest species for adopting pets we know we’ll outlive, my husband is right when he says the trade off is worth it. We get years of unconditional love, snuggles, laughs, and sometimes even smiles from our pets and even if that means we have to make hard decisions in the end for them or cry every day for a week because they’re gone, I’m not sure I’d never have a dog again just to trade in on that bit of sadness. 

So this weekend, give your furry friends and other pets an extra treat and some extra love for me. Let them do something they love that you’d normally get irritated at them for doing cause it’s those things we end up missing in the end.