Bones said:
I just put my Chloe down last September. Best dog I have ever had.
Still brings me to tears typing this :'( Sharp as a tack, but hips were shot.
This is long so skip it if you don't have much time, but I saw your deal about Chloe. My "growing up" family dog died a month ago, today. He was a rat terrior but he thought he was bigger than anything. Here's what my dad wrote about him on my brother's website. I thought it was very good and worth sharing, cause believe it or not I do have a soul. Just a big gay soul!
Hi, I'm Grant's dad. It's a very sad day at the Haley house today. Grant's best friend Comet passed away yesterday. Comet came to be a part of the Happy Haley's in December of 1994. That's right he was 16! I don't know what that is is dog years but it is way over 100!
We got him from our good friends Jerry and Alice Grandon right before Christmas that year. This picture was taken of Grant and his pup soon after we got home. We asked Grant and his brother Clint and sis Dana what we should name our new little rat terrier. I don't know if it was because it was Christmastime and he was named after one of Santa's reindeer, or if it was because he was Haleys' Comet. Either way the name stuck and he became a very important part of our kids growing up years - especially little Grant, who seldom went anywhere on our farm that Comet wasn't right there with him. We have so many pictures of the two of them together.
Although Comet was a farm dog who killed mice and moles (and an occasional baby kitten, ouch) and lived outside, he would often sneak his way into our house when there was a thunder storm, opening day of Dove season, or the fourth of July because he HATED loud noises. Kathy and I still laugh when we think about how Comet used to jump 4 feet in the air to look in our back door window when a storm was approaching. If you opened the door even a crack he was in like a flash.
Last summer when I came home from one of my many trips to Lincoln Nebraska to see Grant I couldn't find him. I yelled for several minutes before I located him stretched out in the sunshine taking a nap in our yard. I kept hollering his name right up to where he was sleeping and he never looked up. I realized then he was stone deaf! Now you can say it was coincidence but I believe he was so connected with his master Grant he gave up his hearing to see what Grant had to go through. It was a blessing for him to finally not have to be afraid of loud noises any more!
Well I could go on for hours telling you stories about our beloved companion; how he always met you at the car after work to say "Hi", or run circles around Emma and James when they came to visit, or how happy he was to see me bring him home some chicken wing bones to snack on. (No, he never, ever got a bone caught in his throat.)
Last winter was like this one and had lots of snow and very cold temperatures. Comet had a doggie door so he could sleep in our warm garage, but it was hard for him to keep any meat on his bones, so he was looking pretty puny. I told Kathy I feared he wouldn't make it through til spring. But I believe he was not going to give up before he saw his favorite human again! He made it through and waited patiently to see us come up the road with his beloved Grant. He waited all spring, summer, and fall until finally on November 21 he saw our van pull into our driveway, and when we opened the door there he was! The two of them couldn't contain their excitement. Grant said he really didn't think he would ever see his best buddie again.
After that Grant never asked about Comet. He has been home several times since then, but I think they said their goodbyes that day, even if it was in a way you and I can't understand. I don't know how or when to tell Grant about his passing, and I know he will be sad, but I also believe he will be a little relieved that his old companion, one that was there to celebrate his achievements and also there to lick the tears from his face when he was sad, is finally not hurting any more.
So long old pal. We will miss you.
