My good friend had to put her dog down this week.
This wasn't just any dog. Her dogs are like my dogs' cousins. We're like extended family.
I didn't know what to say.
There's nothing TO say, is there?
So, so sad.
And if you are one of those people who think that pet owners don't have the right to grieve, because it's "just an animal" then I only have two words....
FUCK and YOU!
Coming not long after me sobbing in front of the telly (TV) as I watched MacKenzie Phillips put her dog down on Celebrity Detox (VH1 Channel), this is another reminder of the sad fact every dog owner has to face - our furkids will not outlive us.
I try not to be a glass-half-empty person, but I see the reality I am going to have to face in the amazing speed with which Puppy Girl is growing (15 to 49 pounds in 6 months), in the fact that Puppy Dog doesn't jump up to dance with me as much as he used to.
None of us should go through life dreading the day we have to face the death of the ones we love but, with dogs, you know - you know - that you're going to have to deal with it.
And so I hung up the phone from my dear friend, Kathy, and went to hug my dogs. My beautiful, funny, cheeky, silly, furry, silky, always-hungry, always-loving, dogs.
At first I didn't want to tell them what had happened. But I felt I had to. We were going to visit Kathy's house at some point, and they'd know. So I said the words, and then it hit me.
Puppy Girl wasn't sure what was going on but, as he always does, Puppy Dog knew I was upset, and tolerated at least three long hugs, which he wouldn't normally (dog don't hug like apes do). Then he licked the tears off my cheek.
I should take a moment to pay tribute to Tara (she's the one on the left).
She was old, of course, and sick by the time I met her. But that didn't stop her personality coming through.
She was a regal dog, quietly in command of her pack.
When she barked to ask to be let out of the house, it was part request, part command. She was a stately old lady.
She was loving and enthusiastic. Even when she was really sick, she came gullumphing across to me to say hello - her equivalent of a puppyish bounce.
They had to lift her legs to get her up each step, one at a time, towards the end. She reminded me of Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment, when, playing the ageing actress Aurora Greenway in hospital after a car crash, she ties a scarf around her head, slaps on some lipstick, wraps herself in a fur coat and is wheeled out to see the press, head held high.
Tara retained her dignity, no matter how sick and sore she got.
Darling Tara, I hope she's running and jumping and barking and chasing and playing in heaven.
To see more in the Doggy Mama series, click here.