And I laughed and laughed.
He was a Yellow Lab, I met him when he was 8 months or so old, just been rescued by my BFF a few days earlier. I came into her house, all “OH MY GOD, PUPPY!” and got down on the floor. He came flying across the room and knocked me ass over tea kettle. I howled with laughter as he proceeded to lick my face, eat my hair and generally be a wild and crazy puppy.
He was a handful. She took him to training classes, more than one. She once took him to dog park, where he dragged her across the grass, through the mud and proceeded to get into a fight with another dog while she was holding the leash. (It ended without injury to anyone except her pride.) (That was his only trip to dog park) He never liked male dogs who hadn’t been neutered. Consequently, he and Maverick never got to be friends. We wanted to get them together often, hoping that by the time Maverick’s puppy pass expired, Zeke would have accepted him, but circumstances conspired to keep that from happening and neither of us was willing to take the chance later on.
He was the best of friends with Max. They shared peanut butter bones, toys, and adventures in the front yard. Zeke stole Max’s toys from the car and Max let him do it. He was the bestest of good boys – if he liked you. If he didn’t like you, get away and do it now. I guess he was a lot like me in that way.
Max went to the Bridge one terrible day. A month or so later, my dear friends gathered together and gave me several gifts, a picture, a set of wind chimes, a framed poem. I sobbed. The puppy – who was no longer a puppy, of course – who never tolerated hugs, came to me, sat in my lap and let me sob into his fur. My best friend took a picture – because she takes pictures of everything but also because this was something that had never before happened. Zeke would allow a brief, loose hug from some, but this was full out, clinging to him, bawling, while he calmly licked my tears away.
Years went by and Zeke slowed down. The terror that he could be was replaced by an old gentleman – who still had his moments – but who no longer chased our cars to the edge of the driveway (a game we all played with him) or went for long walks. HIs legs grew weak, and his mom did everything in her power to keep him strong and healthy.
But the day came, as it always does, way too soon. Zeke went to the Bridge one awful Tuesday a month ago. I believe Max was waiting for him, with a stuffed ball (the only toy he didn’t destroy was a stuffed ball I gave him last Christmas, which had another toy inside and he never pulled out) and a peanut butter bone.
Run free, my boys, run free. There will never be another like you, sweet Zekers.
Suziecreamcheese Sings the Blues 
I am so sorry for the loss. I bought a baby ferret right after a very sad and hard divorce, wasn’t in my plan to buy from the pet store but when I went in to get my ferret fix watching the baby ferrets I noticed the other ferrets avoiding him so I took him in the little room they let you check a pet out at and yep, he was deaf (that was why I bought him, they are harder to nip train and why the other ferrets were avoiding playing with him, he couldn’t hear the you’re biting to hard squeals they do to tell the other ferrets to let go, and I was afraid he would be bitey to the humans and put down when someone else who didn’t know about ferrets would buy him). He wasn’t the regular jumpy run all over ferret. And yep, once we got the harder nip training done, he explored and had fun but he liked to be held and loved on, which was just what I needed. He was 7 (which is very old for a ferret) when I had to help him over rainbow bridge, he had a bleeding ulcer we (the vet and I) couldn’t get under control and was losing weight and waisting away and suffering terribly. Hardest thing I ever had to do, better for him, harder for me. I had had ferrets for 20 years but after losing him, I just couldn’t bear getting another one, the losses were getting to hard. I miss them all but the losses are more than I can handle anymore. Tho I loved all my ferrets, Little Venus (where I chose my online handle from) and my last fur baby were two very special ones. They live in my heart and are missed in my arms.
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Our vet said “we suffer so they don’t “. When we got Maverick, he told me “you can love again.” I said, “there’s room in my heart for both”. And we both cried a little. Max had hemangiocarsoma – the curse of Golden Retrievers. Bless you for saving your baby. I pray someday your heart will allow you to love again
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My eyes have developed a terrible leak.
Run free, boys. Run free.
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Took me a month to finish this – pretty bad trouble with my glasses – kept misting over
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My sister raised Goldens for show, they are wonderful pets and they were part of her household for years!! My sister still has one show dog but the dog lives with the co-owner who does the showing now as my sister’s health interferes with showing. Instead my sister ended up adopting a dog that she was fostering, that was picked up as a stray in rough shape by a shelter. It was a win/win for them both :).
Thank you, but if I got another one and didn’t outlive them I would worry about who would end up with him or her and their well being (they are much harder to place with trustworthy pet parents because as they age, they have very expensive vet bills), and if they didn’t outlive me my heart would be broken, so I’m better off not. My apt doesn’t allow dogs and I am allergic to cats (unless I want to pay $1,800 for one that has less allergy proteins) but I have the Savior, my children and my knitting and spinning and good friends, all of whom or which (depending on if it’s a whom or a which :P) I love. We may not get to choose our circumstances but we are always given the strength to get through it and the lessons learned are invaluable and are part of the wisdom we acquire.
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I love your attitude- always find the silver lining is how I was raised. There’s always a lesson if we open our eyes to see it
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I cry with you, but I celebrate for him. I am glad he is Home and happy.
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I know he’s with several of his buddies. We miss him, he and I had a special bond
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My belief is that time is non-linear on the other side, so there is no waiting to rejoin loved ones. We are always together.
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I love this thought!
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I have some others that help me cope with this world.
To me, this world is the dream. Reality is that we are all still on the Other Side, but our focus is here much like in this life when we sleep and dream. We are still here, but we think we are in another world. Death, to me, is like waking up. We just remember that we have been Home the whole time.
I don’t know if I’ve done a good job of explaining that, but it makes so much more sense to me than the many things I’ve been taught over the years.
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It does make sense. It would explain why some of us remember other lifetimes. Just another dream
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We usede to have a yellow lab whom we lost in a terrible and unexpected way. It was our hardest goodbye. Loosing a dog is a terrible thing. I am so terribly sorry for your loss 💔
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I believe God takes his Animals back. We will definitely see them again!
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If I get to Heaven and the animals aren’t there, I’m demanding a refund!
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