October 26, 1998-May 16, 2013
Today, we said goodbye to our sweet Bounty. Such a beautiful, special girl who continued the Hawksmoor line and began the Pondview legacy. It is never easy to make this decision. I have never had a dog with dementia before but I have also never had a 14 1/2 yr old Lab. I have watched as a little piece of who she was disappeared each day over this past year. It is more than just not being able to see. It is more than being deaf. It is not the same as just moving slowly or sometimes peeing in your crate. That happens with old age. But it was the piece that made her who she was. The part that makes a dog a dog and want to do the things a dog does. She loved being petted. She loved sitting next to me. She loved to beg up and do tricks for food. She enjoyed being with her doggie family. But as the days went by I could see that she withdrew more and more. She cringed at my touch. She only wanted the safety of her crate. She lived for her food. She would wander in circles in the yard or in the house. She would stand at the waterbowl just staring, as if forgetting why she was there. How I wished for a wag of her tail. Something that would tell me that there as some small piece of who she once was. She has been ready for a long time. I was not.
This past weekend it became so clear to me. There was a 15 yr old veteran at the Pioneer Valley Specialty. She wagged her tail. She sniffed the grass. She wanted to be with her owner. She walked proudly around the ring and was happy to be doing what she wanted to do. It was then I knew I was ready to let her go.
She is flying free now with my Hawksmoor Lisle and Hawksmoor Vixen. I know that there will be lots of tennis balls waiting for her.
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