Our beautiful Spike is gone and I still can't believe it. We had him put down on Friday morning. My God he was a beautiful dog. He was all white with a brown patch on his rear quarter - we always called it his "cow patch." Spike had a brain tumor, he would lose his balance, trip over his feet, crash into doors and fall down the stairs.
Near the end I'm not certain he even knew who we were, he tilted his head and would stare at me with a blank look. There was nothing within reason I felt I could do and my wife and I have a 9 month old son and I was worried sick about the unthinkable - Spike turning on us or worse yet our precious baby.
I still feel so guilty about having to put him down but I really detested seeing Spike suffering despite the countless number of drugs he was on for pain, thyroid and everything else I cannot think of right now. We agonized for months and I tried to avoid the subject when my wife brought it up, I hated talking and thinking about putting Spike down almost as much as I hated living in denial about it. I didn't want to see him suffer but I didn't want to make this horrible decision, I didn't ever want to play God with his life and decide his time but ultimately I think I was left without a choice since I didn't have the thousands of dollars it would have taken for brain scans, experimental treatments and medications for "possible" cures.
Spike was almost 12. We adopted him one week before Christmas in 1997 - he was 3 1/2 years old - someone gave up on him. He was a powerful dog with a quiet, calm and arrogant demeanor. He was pretty big too - he was 65 lbs when we got him but after immediate neutering he puffed up to well over 90 lbs over the years. He was very active and had an excellent diet up until two or three years ago when he slowed down quite a bit. We took him everywhere we could, mainly to pet stores, parks, for walks and the like. He was always a show stopper. Children loved him and he them, many people would comment on him and stop to pet him and talk to him for a little bit
I kept the newspaper ad and probably always will, my wife found the ad: "Full blooded, 3 1/2 yr old, male, wht. Boxer, ears cropped, housebroken, very well blt."
Spike didn't bark for years, I finally taught him one day to bark on demand and when he wanted to go out. We had many wonderful years and I don't regret ever getting him, even in our deepest hour of sadness. I still believe he, like all dogs, are are gifts from God. I mean what wonderful and amazing animals dogs are and I am so very grateful for the precious little time we had with him.
Perhaps someday we'll get another dog but right now it would be very unfair to that animal and I couldn't begin to even think about it until this wound heals and I know it will take quite a while.
I'm only sorry I found this page recently, I joined a couple of days before Spike was put down, I was going to ask others if it was the right thing to do but I quickly realized that only my wife and I and Spike's vet could properly make that decision and so I didn't post until today. I regret not getting on here years ago and posting pictures during happy times.
Thank you for reading and providing this area for me to share and release some thoughts and emotions.
Take care,
Kevin
Near the end I'm not certain he even knew who we were, he tilted his head and would stare at me with a blank look. There was nothing within reason I felt I could do and my wife and I have a 9 month old son and I was worried sick about the unthinkable - Spike turning on us or worse yet our precious baby.
I still feel so guilty about having to put him down but I really detested seeing Spike suffering despite the countless number of drugs he was on for pain, thyroid and everything else I cannot think of right now. We agonized for months and I tried to avoid the subject when my wife brought it up, I hated talking and thinking about putting Spike down almost as much as I hated living in denial about it. I didn't want to see him suffer but I didn't want to make this horrible decision, I didn't ever want to play God with his life and decide his time but ultimately I think I was left without a choice since I didn't have the thousands of dollars it would have taken for brain scans, experimental treatments and medications for "possible" cures.
Spike was almost 12. We adopted him one week before Christmas in 1997 - he was 3 1/2 years old - someone gave up on him. He was a powerful dog with a quiet, calm and arrogant demeanor. He was pretty big too - he was 65 lbs when we got him but after immediate neutering he puffed up to well over 90 lbs over the years. He was very active and had an excellent diet up until two or three years ago when he slowed down quite a bit. We took him everywhere we could, mainly to pet stores, parks, for walks and the like. He was always a show stopper. Children loved him and he them, many people would comment on him and stop to pet him and talk to him for a little bit
I kept the newspaper ad and probably always will, my wife found the ad: "Full blooded, 3 1/2 yr old, male, wht. Boxer, ears cropped, housebroken, very well blt."
Spike didn't bark for years, I finally taught him one day to bark on demand and when he wanted to go out. We had many wonderful years and I don't regret ever getting him, even in our deepest hour of sadness. I still believe he, like all dogs, are are gifts from God. I mean what wonderful and amazing animals dogs are and I am so very grateful for the precious little time we had with him.
Perhaps someday we'll get another dog but right now it would be very unfair to that animal and I couldn't begin to even think about it until this wound heals and I know it will take quite a while.
I'm only sorry I found this page recently, I joined a couple of days before Spike was put down, I was going to ask others if it was the right thing to do but I quickly realized that only my wife and I and Spike's vet could properly make that decision and so I didn't post until today. I regret not getting on here years ago and posting pictures during happy times.
Thank you for reading and providing this area for me to share and release some thoughts and emotions.
Take care,
Kevin
Sweet boy: gone from site but your paw prints will be in your families heart forever lovicon
