You never truly forget do you?

A friend of mine lost his dog, of 15 years i think, Athena, last week. He really took it hard and from what I know his dog Jacques is at that age too. He's taking it pretty hard. I don't think people without dogs and cats or other pets that interact with us so closely understand the bond that a family pet has with it's other members of the household. It's like losing your best friend really. I don't know if I would equate it with losing a child or parent, but I'm pretty damn sure it's up their with losing a friend as I have lost both friend and pet.

My first pet, Pat, was an Irish Setter that my dad picked up from the pound/animal shelter. It was sickly and did not do well in a moving car. I was an infant moving up to toddler stage when he brought him home. We lived in my home state of Virginia. Pat and I became close friends as I didn't have anyone to play with really. The house on Horsepen Rd was off a highway and there was just a few houses beside us. I remember the Freeman's living beside us and I'll save that for another story. Pat was very protective of me. If I was in the backyard and the garbage guys came to pick up the trash, Pat would stand over me and not let them near me. I had a foot that was turned inward and so I had to wear a heavy brace and I would take it off and hit him in the face and he never bit me or growled or ran away. He would just take it. So we grew up together. I'm pretty sure he was meant to be my Dad's dog but I claim him as mine as I spent so much time with him. With proper nutrition and vet visits he became a healthy dog with a beautiful coat. Then the day came, I think he was 11 years old when his stomach flipped and when we took him to the vet it was too late and they put him down. Writing this part is still hard to do after so long. That night I woke up and heard crying and I crawled out of bed and my Dad was in a chair in the living room crying. I went down to him and sat in his lap and cried with him and he would tell me stories about pat. I think it helped both of us that night to be together for each other.

Our second pet was a Cocker Spaniel named Honey-pup and we kept a mutt from her last litter too, but we got rid of both when we moved and had no place for them so it was sad to see them go, but no pain.

I had a box turtle I had found in the woods and brought home. I kept it in our strawberry patch and besides strawberries I fed it lettuce and other veggies. I called it Fred and it would gently take food out of my hands. I had a friend try to feed him and it bit him.  I think I spent a little time with Fred every day and enjoyed having something so exotic. It was summer time and we went on vacation and I figured he would be find eating strawberries. It was really hot and I think he fell out of the raised strawberry patch and couldn't get any food. I searched for him for a few days and figured he got out. I was sad but not heart broken cause I figured it survived. After about a month I was getting the hose out and found it's skeleton remains underneath. That did it. I don't remember crying but to this day I feel absolutely horrible knowing it died of starvation and dehydration and I was responsible for that. Knowing how long they live it could still be alive today!

I've had fish before and never felt bad at all about them dying except when I named them. But it was never anything like the others as you could not pet them or anything really.

Many of you know I was raising some ducklings and recently gave the survivors away. Their deaths have been hard and I spent a good deal of money raising them. I still miss Naili and Omelet the most out of the 8 that hatched.

The most recent death was Lucy. She and the other adult ducks live out back in the pond. There has been a total of 10 ducks and now it is down to 3. There are two wild mallards out there but I suspect they might move on shortly so I don't really count them. Lucy was special out of the group that survive for this long. After a storm passed she somehow broke her top beak making it hard to eat and I had been hand feeding her ever since. I'm sure she got some food in the pond somehow but she was always the hungry one and since her passing it shows how much she depended on me. She was always the first one to come to my whistle, she was the one that led them to my back door and would peck on the door to let me know. If I was too slow she would try and peck my leg and she was always underfoot! Her "QUACK" was different from Daisy after breaking the beak and it became louder.  She had been attacked twice after that accident and I thought she was going to lose her foot after the last one but she kept on going and to her death her walk was normal after it healed. Then one day I went out cause they were at my back door and got the corn and just had this feeling and as I was putting the corn in the bowl it struck me that she wasn't beside me. I looked around and she was not there. I checked the bushes and whistled but no reply and then I saw her body in the pond in about 6 inches, maybe more, of water being eaten by a snapping turtle with a head about 3 inches in diameter!. That's a large ass snapper! At first I had hope as the snapper was underwater and Lucy's head was underwater and I thought she was trying to feed. Then I noticed some feathers on the water and thought maybe she got stuck in trash and was about to try and get out there when the body stopped twitching and the turtle head popped up. Then I understood. That was hard for me. Since her death the others still come to my whistle, including the Mallards, but they don't stay as long and they are never at my back door anymore to let me know they want food. They haven't even jumped in the pool of water. I still feel choked up when I look at her photo from my earlier postings. I feel better knowing that I kept her from starving as I'm pretty sure she couldn't get enough food like the others and that is why she was always at the back door. I sure do miss her "QUACK"

Buddy, our AHT, is laying down behind me as I type all this. He's 8 or 9 years old now. We switched his diet to EVO and his skin looks so amazing and last night he wanted to play with a ball and chase it. He hasn't behaved like this in a few years so I know the food is working but I worry about the time when he leaves us. I think he's got another 6 years or more but I can't help but feel sad about it already.  It's a damn shame they age so quickly.

So, I guess you really don't forget. :(