In Memory of Lad

Lad came to our home on a day that was icy and sleeting. We believe he was a stud dog on a small farm. He is a beautiful collie, but when he arrived he didn’t seem to know how to be a family dog.  He laid quietly in a corner of the house, we had to coax him to come and eat, he stayed away from the other dogs, he didn’t respond to his name, didn’t wag his tail and never came to the door when the cacaphony of the other 4 dogs greeted us when we arrived at home.
We were supposed to be a temporary foster home but when we found out that this sad, 10 year old collie had heartworm, we decided we couldn’t put him through another life change by being moved before his this difficult treatment. In the next few months we saw remarkable changes.  He started to stop by us as he walked by and of course we petted him.  He started to understand when we called “Lad” it meant something good was going to happen:  being petted, going outside, or being fed.  He was at the door when we came home, when treats were being passed out he made sure he was there to get his share.

Over time, his arthritis gradually got worse and he lost most of his hearing, but to see him you wouldn’t believe how far he came in the 2 years we had him.

We said goodbye to Lad at about 11:45 today (10/21/13).

Lad hated to travel and hated going to the vet so she graciously came to the house…on her day off….to give Lad the last loving act we needed to do.

He was no longer resting well at night…and his mobility continued to fail.  He would try to get up and not be able to or get up and then slide down, sometimes in awkward positions so it was just no longer safe for him to be home w/o someone here.  Ironically, the issue we had struggled with so long…getting him to eat well…wasn’t an issue anymore.

We miss him.  The spot in the kitchen is sadly empty.  But it was time.

Thank you for deciding to take him in and let us make him part of our family.  We will always be grateful that we had such a wonderful gentleman in our lives.