Ksgobbler, sorry to hear the update and promise you have my deepest sympathies.
Have had dogs since my earliest days, and fell in love with goofy, lovable Great Dane breed along the way bout 25 years ago. Talk about a breed that will bring you sadness, think the longest lived one I've had was 8 (lost him to cancer as well).
Though I was required to read a fair amount of poetry in high school and college, can't say it ever proved to be my favorite thing in the world... but... one poem that has stayed with me is by Rudyard Kipling regarding dogs... don't know that truer words have ever been spoken.
The Power of the Dog
By Rudyard Kipling
There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie—
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumor, or fits,
And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find—it’s your own affair—
But … you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!).
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone—wherever it goes—for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.
We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we’ve kept ’em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long—
So why in—Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?
And yet, most of us (myself included) do keep getting them as companions. And how can we not, as they truly are man's best friend. Prayers lifted that the pain eases soon as possible while the good memories are kept forever.
