This started out to be a very good day until we came home from running errands and found that our last dog, Rags, had passed away.She has been very despondent since Megan passed away last month and the last couple of days she, like Megan, has refused to eat so I suspected it was not going to be long.
Rags was a mutt with loads of personality. Where Megan was aloof and very independent, Rags, was always wanting to be loved, to sit in your lap. The two dogs were so different in their personalities. I claimed that Megan took after Janet's side of the family and Rags after mine.
We hadn't had Megan very long when someone dumped Rags inside the fenced back yard of our neighbor on the north. Tommy put her outside the fence because he had a Chow that probably was not going to take kindly to an intruder in his yard. As a result, Rags, got hit be a car. She wasn't hurt badly but she came up into our yard and tried to get into the backyard with Megan. I tied her in the front yard for a couple of days thinking that her owner might see her. That was before I knew that she had been put over the fence into Tommy's yard. The vet estimated that she was about four months old at the time.
I was prepared to take her to the SPCA but Janet really surprised me and said that I could keep her. We had never had two dogs before and Janet had insisted on the short haired Beagle because she wanted an inside dog. Rags was anything but short haired. She was somewhere between a Poodle and a Lhasa Apso. The funny thing was that when she arrived she looked like someone had sawed a couple of dogs in half and glued them back together wrong. On the front half of her body the hair was long and wavy with heavy body. On the back it was long, no waves, but just about as fuzzy as you can imagine a dog could be. The front was fairly easy to keep combed but if you didn't really stay after the back it got to be a mess very easily. Surprisingly after her first short Summer haircut it seemed to even out quite a bit but the back always remained difficult.
We had an argument about naming her. Janet, because she was such a fuzz ball wanted to name her Ragmuffin. Since she swept up all the dirt in the yard, I was holding out for Ragmop. We compromised on Rags. And we both fell in love with her.
They each had matching chairs in the living room where they would spend a good deal of their day. I got a lot of photographs of Rags in her chair but Megan always left the room when the camera came out. I wish I could have easily found one where Rags was sitting up, it looks like she is holding court, which she pretty much did.
When Megan would get out of the yard and go on one of her adventures, Rags always stayed behind. When I got out the camera and Megan high tailed it, Rags was always willing to put up with the flash as long as I wanted. Both of our dogs were great company and we will miss both of them very much.
But it was time, Megan had lost her hearing so I had to go out in the yard to bring her back in the house and Rags had lost a great deal of her eyesight and would probably be totally blind shortly. I just hope that they are back together again.
Gosh, 2 pets in 2 months - that's hard!! I'm sure they both enjoyed good lives with you and Janet and both will be terribly missed. I don't think you said how old she was, but it sounds like you had her for a long time. It's very hard to lose a beloved pet. I'm so sorry.
ReplyDeleteJan, thank you. Without going to Janet's records I cannot tell you exactly what year they were born but they were both around fifteen years old. Rags was about a year or so younger than Megan. You could tell that she just did not get over not having Megan around. In a way it was a bleassing in both cases because Rag's life was getting more difficult with her going blind. The thing that originally had me worried was how Janet would take it but in both cases she has handled it very well. We just talked about how long we had enjoyed having them around and what a blessing they both had been. Truthfully with my situation with Janet, worrying about and caring for Rags added to my concerns. I guess that sounds a little heartless but it just seems that it was for the best. I am thankful that even though both were inconvienced toward the ends of their lives neither suffered with a long term health problem. It seemed as though they knew it was time and their hearts just gave out. Gary
ReplyDeleteyes, if we look we can usually find something to be thankful for, even in the bad. my sister and brother-in-law's situation very much parallels yours and janets and my brother-in-law was caring for an older dog as well. lots of accidents inside the house, etc. eventually it became clear that the time was right to have their little dog put to sleep - very hard indeed but also in a way a relief to all concerned. it's a blessing that you didn't have to make that decision. still, you will miss her company i'm sure.
ReplyDeletenot sure if you are a "cat person" or not, but they are much lower maintenance than a dog and if you adopt one (whose personality is already set) you can sometimes find one that is a very loving companion. we had a cat for 18 years that was very much a "people person" and as loyal and loving as any dog, with a lot more independence. however, you may take to that idea like my brother-in-law did! ha
i'm in west texas with ronnie. he is hiking mt livermore today. yes, i brought my camera and am having fun taking pictures. can't wait to see some of the big bend ones. hopefully will have some i can share when i return.