Harry: A Pet Loss Story

The following pet loss story was sent to DoveLewis Pet Loss Support Director Enid Traisman from Jayme Thomson. Please feel free to submit your own pet loss story here.

Today would’ve been Harry’s tenth birthday, but we lost him exactly four weeks ago. He was a Border Terrier, rare in the U.S. But from the area in Scotland where my family lives, so I named him after my elderly cousin Harry. He was a one in a million dog; smart, intelligent, loving and a no nonsense Scot. We got him at eight weeks, the breeder living only a mile from us, so serendipitous. He was a piece that completed our family. He went everywhere with us, even to Canada where he escaped from our hotel room into the lobby. But you just couldn’t be angry with him. He was too special for that. 

We expected to have several more years with him, so his rapid decline was a shock. He was always so healthy even as a “senior” dog. He started limping and a few weeks later, he was gone. Aggressive cancer of the prostate,metastasis to the bone. It was so hard to see him decline and we tried so much to keep him pain free and comfortable. To the very last day, he made his way to the top of our sloped back yard, to look around and survey his estate. When he stopped eating, we knew it was time. He died in my arms, with my daughter right beside him and we were able to hold him while he slipped away from us. 

I am still crying almost as much as the day he left us. I find it difficult to talk about him without losing it. The milestones of weeks gone by, picking up his ashes, his birthday, all of them reminders of our profound loss. I am unable to pack his things up and we are still finding his mangled toys under the couch or in a clump outside. Coming home from work is hardest, he always greeted me and followed me around for awhile, I loved him underfoot. We still rotely go to the patio door to let him in for the night, the routines of a family suffering the loss of an integral member. 
We know it will get better and we lean on each other, the four of us missing our fifth piece. But I know for a fact, you never get over losing someone, you just learn to live with the absence.