A Dog's Purpose - from a 4 year old

[TrishDaDish]

Some things, you have to wonder about. Like vets that still come to your house. But it is all part of God's Great Plan...

A Dog's purpose - from a 4 year old

Being a veterinarian, I was called to examine a ten year old Irish wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for the four-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a
few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion.

We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.

Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, "I know why."

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.

He said, "People are born so they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?" The four-year-old continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long."

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Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply, Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God

I SMILE with my Eyes,

LAUGH with my Heart,

and LOVE with my Soul

[Sister Ray]

If I owned an Irish Wolfhound that lived to 10, I'd be very happy, because they usually live about eight years.

Sister "what can you expect from a dog that reaches my ribcage?" Ray

[Wicked Tinkerbell]

Originally Posted by Sister Ray

If I owned an Irish Wolfhound that lived to 10, I'd be very happy, because they usually live about eight years.

Sister "what can you expect from a dog that reaches my ribcage?" Ray

I read in a novel, that featured Wolfhounds, that they are breeding them to live longer. (One of Andrew Greeley's Nuala books. I know its fiction. Slap me with a fish, why don't ya.)

I had a Border Collie that lived to be 17+ years-old. Their life expectancy is about 12-15 years. She was a law unto herself!

[Morrigan]

Our shelties live around 15. But, generally, the larger the breed, the shorter the lives.

Morrigan

[Izzy Quigley]

This one appeared on the old boards, and it still makes me mad - what kind of parents think it's good for their 4-year-old to watch his beloved dog get put down so that he can "learn something"?

I realize that others' MMV, but my first dog was put down when I was 15, and it was very upsetting even without being present for her death. Why subject a little kid to something like that?

[Buckle Up]

Originally Posted by TrishDaDish

Some things, you have to wonder about. Like vets that still come to your house.

...or vets that are able to diagnose cancer at someone's house, with no lab equipment, x-ray, MRI, etc.

So if dogs already know how to love and be nice, and once you know that you get to die and go to heaven, then why are dogs born at all? Or why don't they live for just a year or something?

[iskinner]

Originally Posted by Izzy Quigley

Why subject a little kid to something like that?

If you didn't how would Glurge writers get their inspiration?

[Izzy Quigley]

Originally Posted by iskinner

If you didn't how would Glurge writers get their inspiration?

True. I can usually tolerate well-intentioned glurge, although I don't enjoy it. But this one just irks me.

[TB Tabby]

What happens when kids get used to the idea of pets dying...

I always hate these glurges that have such young children speaking philosophically. I just don't see a four year old speaking this way.

However, if he does see it that way, he probably doesn't have long to live, since he already understands life.

[Sister Ray]

Originally Posted by Wicked Tinkerbell

I read in a novel, that featured Wolfhounds, that they are breeding them to live longer. (One of Andrew Greeley's Nuala books. I know its fiction. Slap me with a fish, why don't ya.)

I had a Border Collie that lived to be 17+ years-old. Their life expectancy is about 12-15 years. She was a law unto herself!

Well bred dogs do tend to buck the trend - dogs from reputable breeders seem to live longer. And Morrigan is right that smaller breeds live longer.

Sister "but I'm a sucker for senior dogs" Ray

[landmammal]

Originally Posted by TrishDaDish

Some things, you have to wonder about. Like vets that still come to your house. But it is all part of God's Great Plan...

Actually, I had a vet for a while that made housecalls exclusively. It was pricey, but you got a good long visit, none of that 10 minutes in and out business. My rats went to an exotic animal hospital (I don't know why, but rats are considered exotic pets) and the vets there made housecalls too, although I didn't use that service. I'm assuming it was meant for people with a 6 foot long iguana or a 200 pound tortoise that would be difficult to transport. In addition, many vets will do a housecall to euthanize just because it's less stressful than a trip to the vet's for a very ill pet.

I got this chain in my mail today also..

Thank goodness there was no mention of anything concerning Christianity, so at least it hasn't offended me on that level.

I have a problem with kids in chain mail supposedly saying things that are wiser than ten adults put together. And really when you take the glurgifying lenses off, it's easy to see that this whole thing is flawed out the wazoo.

Kids simply aren't so jaded that they believe most humans need to learn to be nice by watching a bunch of dogs teaching them how. That's adult child&animal idealization to the point of utter absurdity.

But really, animals living shorter lifespans has nothing to do with their supposed better virtues, which is a human attribute. Maybe this kid doesn't realize that animals aren't all by default, nice little doggies. He hasn't seen enough birds crapping on cars and on trampolines and in his kiddy pool. He hasn't seen cats kill and eat mice, or wild canines and felines tear apart some prey and eat it while it's still trying to kick. Mink courtship, hamster courtship, wasps laying egs on some other insect so the young can hatch and consume it while it's alive. I bet this little kid hasn't even been near some mean pet dog that tried to bite him. My cousin had her finger tip bitten off by a dog that belonged to another of my cousins, and she was three at the time. She was always afraid of that dog afterword.

Little Johnny has a few more things yet to learn about the real world, and I'm definitely not impressed by this claptrap.

[Banrion]

I had a 75 lb black lab/german shepard mutt who lived to be 19 years old. Never had any health problems until about a week before we put her down. The vet's office reminded us that "she's not just old, she's a relic." It was very hard to let her go. I had that puppy as long as I could remember, from age 5 - 24. I still miss her :cry:

Yes. It really hurts when we lose pets we love so much. Been there, done that.

[ganzfeld]

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.

He said, "People are born so they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?" The four-year-old continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long."

But what came out of his mouth next not only startled me but it made me realize that even a four-year-old knows religion is crap.

He said, "But it doesn't make any sense at all that the designer of the universe would create creatures just so they could learn to be good. We only think that way because we evolved from primates who had a need to form strong bonds yet still compete for scarce resources in order to survive. Dogs, on the other hand, were bred by humans to have the loving characteristics we so desire." What an articulate and intelligent four-year-old he was.

[FloridaGirl]

Originally Posted by TrishDaDish

Some things, you have to wonder about. Like vets that still come to your house. But it is all part of God's Great Plan...

Why is this so confusing? Our vet came to our house to put our last two to sleep. In fact, he drank a toast of champagne with us when we put Piper to sleep. Is this really not happening anymore? If not, I feel lucky that we have such a good vet.

Piper was only supposed to live to be about 8ish or so (rottweiler). The vet said because she was so large, her life expectancy was on the shorter end of the spectrum (6-8). She was a month away from being 10 when we put her to sleep. In fact, before she got cancer, she looked closer to being 5. It was hard seeing her age so fast. We put her to sleep 4 weeks after the diagnosis (it was a very aggressive cancer) and in that month, she aged 5 years.

Actually, some of us don't believe in the evolution theory. And it isn't religion that's crap, it's the exploitation of it in chain email...as well as the continued bashing of non-evolutionist beliefs. I don't believe the Darwin theory that we supposedly came from monkeys and apes. But I haven't said anybody who did was an idiot or that it's crap...

Got it?

[Cervus]

Originally Posted by FloridaGirl

Why is this so confusing? Our vet came to our house to put our last two to sleep. In fact, he drank a toast of champagne with us when we put Piper to sleep. Is this really not happening anymore? If not, I feel lucky that we have such a good vet.

Housecalls are rare in my experience. The vet I worked for would make them if a client owned a horse or other animal the clinic couldn't accomodate, but housecalls for euthanasia were done only when she had a personal relationship with the family. You do have a good vet.

[FloridaGirl]

Originally Posted by Cervus

Housecalls are rare in my experience. The vet I worked for would make them if a client owned a horse or other animal the clinic couldn't accomodate, but housecalls for euthanasia were done only when she had a personal relationship with the family. You do have a good vet.

Well, we've had him since we've lived in this house. I was 18 months old when we moved in and so he's the only vet I've ever known. He were actually going to him when he didn't even have a clinic. You brought your pet to his home actually . He had a stable out back were he kept horses overnight and a kennel too. He's an equine specialist, I believe. I think he's been a vet for 20 years, and we've been with him for 17 of them. Anyway, my mom calls him a "good southern farm boy", which he is. Real down to earth and tells you the truth. In fact, when he put Piper down, he was more concerned about me than anything! He will make a house call for anyone, in fact, I think he's out of his office more than he is in it. Ah well, I guess I had no reason to think that most vets wouldn't make house calls, just like I had no reason to think cake doughnuts were fried .