Goodbye, old friend.......

[cyberamish]

I first met Norton after receiving a call from a friend (who knew a guy, that had a friend......) asking if we were interested in adopting a 3 yr old male Shorthair. I agreed to go and take a look at the dog and drove out to Ham Lake where the dog was. When I got there I found a gangly, hyper, sun bleached, and neglegted beast tied to a towing chain behind a used car dealership. After speaking with the owner I learned that he did not know what to do with the dog and had to get rid of him. I agreed to take him home and clean him up so that I could find him a better home. I put the dog in the back seat of my car and drove away, as I did I felt this large head come to rest on my shoulder and received the most heartfelt "thank you" I have ever experienced. He had me at hello.....

I took him home where my fiancee was waiting with our other Shorthair and he proceeded to pee on the curtains, the chair, and tried to "make freinds" with our female. My fiancee wasn't amused. In time we did get him cleaned up and fed and he settled in as a great pet. I had him checked out by a trainer as our first shorthair ended up being gunshy. I was told by the trainer that he showed no interest in the pigeons he put out and he figured that the dog would never be a good hunter. Great, I thought, now I had two German Shorthairs but no hunting dog. I decided to give him to my sister as she was looking for a good pet, that lasted about a month before the phone rang asking me to come pick him up as he kept jumping the fence to chase birds. It was mid September so I thought I would take him up north with me grouse hunting just to see if the trainer was wrong. He was. I watched as Norton worked both sides of the trails like a champ. Later that year I decided to take him down to Iowa with me for pheasant opener. I was VERY nervous about it as I was hunting with my fiacee's father, brother-in-law, cousin, and uncle. All of whom had owned and hunted with shorthairs for years. Our first trip out Norton locked on his first point (for me, anyways) and the rooster flushed. Norton held point as I swung and wing shot the bird. As soon as I said okay he sprinted after the bird which was now running across a picked corn field, he lept a barbed wire fence, chased the bird down, picked it up, and brought it back to my hand. As I wiped the tears from my eyes I turned to my future father in law only to see him with tears in his eyes too. Norton had arrived.

In the next years Norton would hunt pheasants, ruffed grouse, sharp tails, ducks, and geese with me. He was my buddy and my shadow. We would learn later that he had been shot by his previous owner and was still carrying 19 pellets in his chest, legs, and feet. We would later have to amputate one of his toes because of the bb in the knuckle. It never dampened his desire to hunt with dad.

Today we had to take that last drive to the vet's office with him. He was somewhere between 13 and 14 yrs old and between the arthritis in his hips and the tumor on his spleen his quality of life was diminishing fast. I held his head in my lap and wiped my tears off his face as he took his last breath. Goodbye old friend, I will never forget you.

[irvingdog]

/gets up from the computer to hug his older dog.............../

[saddie]

I'm truely sorry for youre loss. We almost lost our golden retriever 2 weeks ago to a terrible infection. My kids and I sat all night after the vet gave him a shot of antibotics we just couldnt bear to leave his side. I didnt believe he would pull thru it so we said our goodbyes just in case. God must have heard our prayers. My three year old cried and said jesus cant have him I need him. He seems to be back to normal time will tell. He is 8 years old I hope to have as many years as you had. God bless you and help you thru this difficult time its a fine line between just being a dog or one of youre kids. What a wonderful gift you gave him taking him for that one last ride and letting him be at peace.

[saddie]

I posted the saying goodbye poem for you it gave me peace when I thought i was going to have to make that finally journey. Hope it helps. Also maybe you should sit down and write all youre memorys down and then make a poem out of them that really helped my brother when he had to put his hunting dog to sleep.

[LABS4ME]

Your eloquent tale has my eyes swollen! I'm sure he'll remain a very special dog in your mind for the rest of your days... His desire to please you, I'm sure was somehow tied to the fact of the favor you had done for him... It's never easy to make that final decision, though we know what's right, I'm sure ol' Norton is bounding around in his youthful body and spirit peeing on his "new curtains"!

Good luck with your new shorthair when you find it... I hope too that it will find another special spot in your heart.

Good Luck!

Ken

[gspman]

Cyber, you're a good master. I can see that any dog would be happy to have you for their boss. Sorry for your loss.

[cyberamish]

A huge thank you to all of you, it has been a pretty rough week for us, the last ride was tough but not as tough as explaining to our two sons ( 6 & 3) why ol' Nortie wasn't going to be around anymore. The 6 yr old understands but our little guy keeps walking around looking for him. We are somewhat comforted knowing that he is in a much better place now and are looking forward to bringing home a new friend. We have found an 11 month old female GSP that my wife and father in law are going out to "look at" (read - "take home") on Saturday. I had already made a committment to a group of buddies that I would go to LOW w/ them so I will have to wait until I get home Sunday to see her. Might be the first time I actually look forward to a fishing trip ending,

Thanks Again!