Dakota
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12 years ago, Karla quit her job as a PA for an engineering company and decided she would take a job with a friend’s company pet sitting until she figured out what she wanted to do next. She decided that taking care of animals was what she really wanted to do and has continued since then…
One of Karla’s first clients was to come walk Dakota 2-3 times a day. Dakota was a young Border Collie Mix that belonged to her client, Mr. Paul, that lived in a nursing home.
9 years ago, Mr. Paul went into the hospital for a routine treatment. Karla offered to bring Dakota to our house while Mr. Paul was in the hospital. Mr, Paul never left the hospital and Dakota joined our family.
It was rough for Dakota at first as the family had bonded 18 months earlier with an absolutely insane Golden/Irish that had the mindset of a Tasmanian Devil, but the dog still won us over. By comparison, Dakota was the very antithesis of the dog we had come to love. Dakota was a working dog and a shepherd by nature. She instinctively reined Blaze in. At the same time, Dakota worked her way into our hearts. She was absolutely wonderful at the parks and helped reign the insane Blaze in a little. At the same time, Dakota would also lose her shit any time she was at a river or lake, resulting in one memorable moment where I had to strip to my underwear and walk out into the middle of the Coosa River to pick up a 50 lb dog and carry it to shore…. Over time, against our expectations, Dakota worked her way into our lives and hearts.
Dakota’s been sick the last three weeks. We’ve discovered she has a tumor that may or not be cancerous. If it is cancerous,the possible treatments are pretty unlikely to be effective. If the tumor isn’t cancerous, the possible treatments are still likely to be ineffective…
This is going to be a sucky couple of weeks.
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Awww. @LuFins-Dad Sorry to hear that. But at least Dakota had a great 9 years with your family. He is a lucky dog (as are you guys)!!
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I had a border collie for sixteen years. They're such a great breed, aren't they?
You never forget a good dog. You'll find yourself in the odd moment, still thinking they are there and you'll turn around and look for them. Then it hits you that your mind has lied to you again and you get a tinge of sadness. Happens less often as the years go by, but it still happens.
An occasional bowl of food and a bit of love, is all any good dog asks of its family. If it gets a lot of love...walks, romps, belly rubs and daily petting...Well, I guess that's their heaven on earth. And for the seemingly short time they live, it's a pretty good thing for us, too.
Sad to see any good friend die. Worse still, if it's family. Dakota sounds like family. This one is going to hurt. For awhile. Yeah, for awhile. Can't be helped.
Dogs leave paw prints on your heart...
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Poor old Doggo.
Dakota's the best.Not to make it a competition or anything but Meatball, our Maine coon, is acting weird. Drinking a LOT of water, lost significant weight, walking funny, unwilling to get around as much. We're trying to get him in for tests this week but it's not looking good.
Please love yourself.
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Poor old Doggo.
Dakota's the best.Not to make it a competition or anything but Meatball, our Maine coon, is acting weird. Drinking a LOT of water, lost significant weight, walking funny, unwilling to get around as much. We're trying to get him in for tests this week but it's not looking good.
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Sorry, LD.
The worst part of keeping dogs is their short life-span. Pretty much everything else is awesome.
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@Aqua-Letifer ugh...
How old is Meatball?
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Poor old Doggo.
Dakota's the best.Not to make it a competition or anything but Meatball, our Maine coon, is acting weird. Drinking a LOT of water, lost significant weight, walking funny, unwilling to get around as much. We're trying to get him in for tests this week but it's not looking good.
@Aqua-Letifer said in Dakota:
Poor old Doggo.
Dakota's the best.Not to make it a competition or anything but Meatball, our Maine coon, is acting weird. Drinking a LOT of water, lost significant weight, walking funny, unwilling to get around as much. We're trying to get him in for tests this week but it's not looking good.
Oh, that's no good. Please keep us up to date.
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Awful days, but so many great memories. You gave Dakota a loving home. H
She'd thank you for it if she could. -
Well, the old girl managed to stick around and have more good days than bad until this last week. This morning it became obvious that the more good days wouldn’t be coming and any more care would be for our own selfishness and not her good.
If animals do go to heaven, there’s a bunch of pissed off squirrels up there right now.
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Oh, man...
Thanks, but while there are tears around here today, we’re pretty okay. There is a relief that her pain is over, she had a good long life, she had a lot more fun over the last 6 months than we expected, and we feel like the timing was just about as good as it could have been where her quality of life was not going to be very good going forward.
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My old border collie was chasing squirrels the week she died (leukemia). Must be something about the breed.
So many dogs have short, brutal lives. Cast off, uncared for, doomed to die unloved. Dakota lived a good life, loved to the end.
Does it get any better than that?
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
