I just ate a hamburger, which was my first food since noon Saturday. My dinner was in the oven when Tunch was killed and I just threw it out at 2 am that night, and I made dinner last night and tonight and then just gave it to the dogs, but I am crawling out of this pit and decided I had to eat something. Regardless, I just really can’t thank all of you enough. For someone who claims to be a misanthrope, I sure am surrounded by a helluva lot of wonderful people. Like I said the other day, one of the things that I love about this website is that I think I am better at expressing myself here than I am in person, so you all get the very best and very absolute worst of me.
I’ve even had my atheism challenged this week-end. Not by some silly fantasy that there is a heaven and Tunch is in it (don’t get me wrong, I love the angel picture), but by Rosie’s behavior. Lily is a little ball of love, but she is just not very bright and I don’t care. The only way I can describe her is that every time I see that sweet little bundle of awesomesauce I see a cartoon bubble over her head, and in that bubble, the text reads:
“HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY WHAT IS THIS I WANT TO SNIFF THERE IS THE FAT MAN LOVE LOVE LOVE OH HE IS SWEATING I NEED TO LICK HIM HE IS MY OWN PERSONAL BACON FLAVORED SALT LICK LOVE LOVE LOVE IS THAT A CUT ON HIS LEG HE DOES NOT KNOW ABOUT I WILL LICK THAT TOO I THINK I SMELL FOOD LET’S GO OVER THERE DO I HAVE TO POTTY NO IT IS TOO HOT OR TOO COLD AND HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY OH THERE IS THE FAT GUY AGAIN LOVE LOVE LOVE HEY THERE IS A BED WITH A COMFORTER SEE YOU GUYS LATER HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.”
You know how much I love this dog, but really, I think that is what is going on through her tiny little noggin. Rosie, on the other hand, has not been farther than a foot from me since Tunch was killed. She is on my lap at all times, right up next to me in bed, sitting with me while I am on the porch, at my feet while I was working today, and so forth. She has been a constant soothing presence since the event.
And that is what has challenged my atheism, albeit mildly. Maybe there is a grand cosmic plan, and I was supposed to pick her up by the side of the road. It’s still funny how it happened, with me seeing her, braking, and by the time I stopped she was behind me. I left my driver’s side door open, went back to check on her, she ran around the passenger side, around the front of the car, and hopped in. And so it was.
I had a lot of people I know who wanted to put her down, or who thought I should give her to a JRT rescue, or who lectured me about Tunch and JRT’s, but I had faith in her and knew my zen like lifestyle where there is plenty of love and food for everyone would fix her and now the same people who told me to give her away are the people who come over and just love on Rosie all night long.
So maybe it was meant to be. They all had and have their purposes. If that is spirituality, and a grand design, I am ok with it.
Dylan
That’s JRTs in a nutshell.
Ours got in so many open car doors, we had a tag with our phone number on it round her neck. And provided you can put up with the occasional mad dash for an open door and chasing them around the neighbourhood at all hours, they love you to bits.
kdaug
I suspect this shit’s weirder than you think.
John O
I had a half beagle, half JRT once and he was the shit.
Dogs know.
Roger Moore
@kdaug:
The universe isn’t just stranger than we imagine; it’s stranger than we can imagine.
cmorenc
My beloved Italian Greyhound “Florence” doubtless has a similar level and type of thought process running through her head as your Lilly. But oh how she loves to snuggle with a warm human body, like she was a living Teddy Bear.
Alexandra
To be fair, only because you were musing aloud about it yourself at one point.
SG
Life needs a little mystery and wonder. That’s where a dog like Rosie comes in. Have you considered, John, that even with the heartaches, you are a lucky man?
patty \
sweet dreams!
gsp
I recall you posting on something similar to this regarding Rosie some months back (about her depth of understanding). Funny how things work though. Glad she is there for you.
hamletta
@Alexandra: Lies!
John thought Rosie was a threat to Lily and Tunch, but he only wanted to send her to another home, not put her down.
Anne Laurie
To be clinically fair, Rosie probably remembers the trauma of losing her first home — she was well-fed & had been spayed when you found her, then Something Terrible happened (even if the “terrible” was, she ran away like Jackass Russell Terriers will do) and everything changed. Now Something Terrible has happened in her new home (just as she was finally getting her head around it) and she’s determined that you’re not going to get away with that “disappearing forever” stunt that her first family pulled on her, not if she can forestall it by staying glued to your leg 24/7.
Whereas Lily, if her little pink brain retains any memory of her pre-Cole life, just went from being in a very bad horrible no-good place to being in Doggie Heaven, and she’s confident that Doggie Heaven will never end, because she’s a good doggie, like the most wonderful doggie-daddy in all the universe tells her every day.
Our three little brain-damaged rescue dogs cost us $995 last week, for the annual physicals & a year’s worth of Heartguard & Preventick all round. Zevon the Runaway took the adventure in stride, shots & blood draws & all, and Sydney the Puppy-Mill Neurotic recovered after a good night’s sleep. But Gloria Who Is Too Damned Smart has been unnaturally cowed ever since — she obviously connects the sights & smells of the vet clinic with being handed off to yet another set of strangers, and she likes living at our house, even if she thinks I’m terribly inefficient at my alpha-bitch duties. She’s mostly refrained from pestering the cats, even. If she hadn’t stolen a tub of cream cheese off the kitchen counter just now, I’d worry she was physically sickening for something. Mostly we can’t know exactly what our rescues remember, but we can tell when the memories aren’t so good…
Brain Hertz
So sorry for your loss, John, and so sad for you to be hurting so badly.
Just know that the grief fades after a while, and the happy memories will eventually overtake the immediate pain of grief in your mind. Hang in there.
John Cole
@Anne Laurie: You’re probably 100% correct re: rosie, but for now I am going to roll with BECAUSE SHE LOVES ME.
The other alternative is that since she is a JRT, she sense now it is her time to become number two and she is seizing it.
Richard
I’m an atheist too. However, I’ve long thought that to the same extent that way can be described as having a “soul”, animals do too. The emotions of love and compassion burn bright in our pets. I have no doubt of that.
James E. Powell
You have to eat and keep going. Eating is a small, good thing in a time like this
– Raymond Carver, “A Small Good Thing”
I always think of that story and particularly that line from that story when I’m in one of these situations. And then I eat something.
burnspbesq
OT:
It appears that her decision to not seek re-election has liberated Michelle Bachmann to reveal the full extent of her derangement.
Prepare to be amazed.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/07/15/19487749-bachmann-explains-the-way-we-spank-the-president?lite
Anne Laurie
@John Cole:
Oh, she does love you, John. She loves you far too well to let you get distracted and disappear on her, so she’s showing her love by shadowing you!
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
@burnspbesq: wow… just wow… looks like Crazy Eyes is ready to put her foot down on all this Magic Negro business. Obummer is SO getting a timeout to think about what he’s done, but maybe if he smiles nice and stops bein’ all uppity, he can have the wand back (but not without adult supervision, of course). Leaving aside the alternate factual universe of crazy, you really can’t get more condescendingly racist than that. I can’t imagine Bachman talking about a rich old Christian white guy like that, even if she hated him.
Kat
I just found out about what happened to Tunch by reading this post – and then reading all your other posts over the past couple of days – and I’ve been sobbing for the past two hours.
My dear, dear John, my heart goes out to you more than I can possibly express.
Emerald
The Rosie-was-meant-to-be thingy much more likely is just luck, or rather, happenstance. I may be getting the quotation a bit wrong, but Carl Sagan said that “Randomness comes in clumps.”
You get a buncha random events that clump together, so you start thinking that they’re somehow mystically related.
But they’re just random. In clumps.
Nonetheless, we’re all very happy you’ve got Rosie!
Anne Laurie
@Emerald: As a devout animist, this is what I believe:
Everything is interconnected.
Every being strives.
Nothing ever stays the same, and yet nothing disappears completely.
From everything I’ve read, Carl Sagan would not disagree.
Arclite
Yeah, I don’t know about a grand cosmic plan, but I do know you have an empathetic pack animal that recognizes a loss in the pack and tries to console the pack leader. Smart dogs totally get that, and Sully pointed out a couple of days ago that elephants mourn the dead, even dead elephants they didn’t know.
OzarkHillbilly
One can be an atheist and spiritual at the same time.
MathInPA
Man, I’m up late. Various things, mostly unrelated, but something wandered in to mind. I haven’t been here long enough to know, but if you’ve never adopted an older cat, there are some things that you should prep for ahead of time. Speaking of, that is an amazingly laudable act. We had enough of a terrible time trying to get two feral kittens adopted or even accepted in a no-kill shelter– to the point that my mother in law agreed to take on one more to her house and we eventually kept the second kitten, shyness or no, because there’s no way we’d let anything happen to an animal if it’s in our power. From what I understand from friends more directly involved in rescues, older cats have a much harder time getting in to no-kills because everyone’s looking for a freaking kitten. Poor things. Anyway, when you’re at the part of wanting a cat again– my wife lasted all of four days before she began to freak out about having No Dog, so it can happen fast– there’s stuff. I want to stress that none of these, dammit, should be bars to someone adopting unless they think they can’t handle it. It may be harder to deal with some issues, but they will repay you a thousand times over for the rescue.
Anyway, I digress a lot. The Things:
(1) Older cats are much more likely to have Issues, especially with dogs but also with people. I saw you said you were looking on petfinder, but you might consider going to a local shelter if there is one close. This lets the cat get to know you and you the cat, though the downside is that it can be easy to bond to (a) younger cats and (b) more than one. Well, I say downside, but the floofy part of me doesn’t really consider those downsides, except for the ‘specifically doing the compassionate thing’ for a and the ‘space and money’ thing for b.
The other bit is knowing if the cat has any issues with dogs. For many very good reasons, older cats, especially abandoned or abused, may have Serious Things about dogs. That can be dealable with, but it may be heartbreaking for multiple reasons if while you’re training one set of animals, you have to control access to another, and the alternative is nightmarish.
That brings us to (2): Older animals are harder to train. There’s no age where they really stop learning prior to dementia symptoms, but the older an animal is, the more effort you’re going to need to putting in to various things, including litter box training, spraying, and aggression. If you’re adopting a male cat past… gah, it’s way late, but the age is pretty early, I think after a few months… make sure you ask if the cat was whole or neutered when he was brought in. If the answer is no, you may have a spraying problem to prep for, and that may be true even if the answer is yes– that doesn’t give you a timestamp. Similarly, if there are negative scratching or aggression behaviors, it’ll take more time– I doubt there’d be a way for you to give more love, I think it’s quite clear you’re all-cylinders there– and possibly help from a pro. A lot of this needs to be done very early, and it’s best to be aware of it. Ask your vet for advice when you bring the cat in for shots and such.
(3) Older cats that either aren’t dominant or who have been injured can be quite taken aback by younger or more energetic animals. Make no mistake– if the cat doesn’t socialize well with the dogs at first, you might almost want to adopt a companion cat at the same time, maybe even a kitten, because the peer bonding and/or parenting instincts are pretty strong. I’m not saying this merely because I think more cats should be rescued; they’re highly social little buggers and can get lonely/crabby very easy. If you do have socialization problems, there’ll be a lot of internet knowitall types (like me here, I admit) that’ll give you all sorts of advice, but the go-to on that is always your vet first. Destabilizing spirals are bad things.
(4) The Not My Dog problem I’ve referred to a lot of times, only it’s Not My Cat time. The animals-grieve thing has been repeated here a lot, and it’s worth remembering how children will deal with what they consider “replacement” parent/sibling/loved authority figure. Some will run to them for affection, some won’t care either way, and some will get angry, and the closer it is to the death, the more strongly the emotions are. Thankfully, this, of all the things up here, passes the easiest. If you’re careful about the socialization and your reactions/training involving it, animals will generally warm up to one another once the pack alpha says it’s ok.
(5) Cats travel very poorly. The longer the distance, the more likely they are to be sick, depressed, or have behavior problems. This can be as simple as moving across town, so it’s something to keep an eye out for. My wife had to leave her beloved calico Maine Coone (not related to our current girl) because she was getting on in age and we weren’t sure whether or not she’d make the trip. Plus her mother’s new husband adored Autumn Dawn; she was his favorite bald spot warmer. We knew she’d be well taken care of, as much as it hurt. If they hadn’t been family, we would have taken her with us, but we’d’ve been on high alert there.
I doubt anyone needs to tell you about the potential health issues and differential diets, microchipping, or cat boredom or anything like that. I’m sure there’s probably other things I’m not remembering, but rescue, in addition to being an honorable cause, is a very well interwebbed one, and there are lots of resources.
What’s the payoff? Love. Amazing, wonderful, personable love. Hell, I don’t need to tell you that, it just bears repeating to the whole world. OLDER KITTIES LOVE. If a cat isn’t gone– it can happen, just like people– in the head, whether it’s fast or slow, they will open up to you, and a cat that’s had abandonment, loss, or even just stuck in the shelter with limited People involvement? That cat NEEDS a person, and will act accordingly and affectionately. As well, a lot of the things I mention up here may not be true at all. In fact, in some cases, it may well be the exact opposite. Artemis, our new Maine Coon came to us with absolutely no need to be trained to use the litter box at all, ditto Nessa.
MarilynD in CP OR...(in too red So. OR
May I suggest, John Cole…..(new at this stuff so don’t know if you will see it)…can I suggest you check into the Religeous Atheist meme…..as the mother of a son who is a pastor of an ELCA Lutheran Church (IN TEXAS!!!… gaaah!!) who lost parishioners due to the fact that they are now
OK with the gays….even the Bishops can be!!…..have a feeling that you are experiencing something close to their free spiritual thing….because of the old bitties of the church have something against my MOST beautiful DIL,with a free spirit, she can’t bring herself to worship with him anymore, she spends her Sunday time with a Unitarian Church because it is important to her….
Keith G
No. You were supposed to because that is what caring, grounded people do.
I am fascinated by those occasions when systems work they way there are supposed to and humans do the right things – and the outcome is considered evidence of: 1. a grand cosmic plan, or worse, 2. a caring deity who randomly intervened in a particular case, while leaving others to fend for themselves.
Judge Crater
I have a beagle – a JRT mix rescue dog – that is the cutest, funniest, sweetest dog that ever wagged her tail. She was adopted at an outdoor adoption event where she was sitting shyly under a tree (the Buddha was born under a tree) waiting for someone to take her.
I firmly believe that she is a talisman, or a positive omen of some pure goodness that exists somewhere in what we call the universe. I don’t understand it but she is a sign that all is not in vain.
Csbella
Wow, ya gotta love insight from the insomniac crowd.
johnny's mom
I adopted a senior, Nicholas, from the rescue that was run out of my vet’s office. It might be more appropriate to say they gave him to me. My little Rags (love of my life) was slowly dying of renal failure. They gave me Nicholas to save me, and he did. He was, the purest light of love, and beyond a shadow of a doubt, psychic. I eventually learned that when Nicholas stopped in front of a neighbor’s door, and couldn’t be moved, it was because something terrible happened. He must have sensed the sadness or tension. He always stayed off in a corner until my little Rags died. Then Nick attached himself to me. I could never turn around or take a step without tripping over him. I never felt, for a moment, like he was grabbing for first place. He was an incredibly empathic dog. As much as I loved Rags, he was not at all empathetic. He was a crotchety old blind man, with a terrible back story, and his attitude was the compelling thing about him. Nick was the gentlest soul and the sweetest little dog. And his head smelled like cookies. Always. And yes, I think there must be something bigger than me that decided I should be blessed with his presence. I’ll be grateful forever.
mr.peabody
@OzarkHillbilly: Just what I was thinking. You don’t have to believe in a supreme being to be spiritual.
Sorry for your loss, Cole. The suddenness had to be a big shock, unlike,say, having him grow old and feeble until you had to make the call.
At least you get the chance to say goodbye that way.
kdaug
@Roger Moore:
Yep. This is why I’m suspect of absolutes. We’re fucking infants who’ve never left the cradle.
Lavocat
Or, more likely, Rosie realizes that there’s suddenly a vacancy for Side Kick and she wants in.
Cold and calculating, those JRTs.
In fact, do we know of Rosie’s whereabouts when the accident happened?
I’d be a bit suspicious. [snark]
Maude
I got a rescue cat that was nine years old. He lived for two years and was delightful. When he died, I would keep seeing him moving around out of the corner of my eye. This went on for quite a long time. Cats slither around rooms.
greennotGreen
@Lavocat: That was cold.
Narcissus
@Roger Moore:
I buy this.
Pogonip
In Eben Alexander’s “Proof of Heaven,” he recounts seeing dogs frolicking in Heaven, and I thought, well, if he hadn’t seen dogs, that’d prove that wherever he was was not Heaven. He did not mention seeing any cats; I figure he overlooked them.
Shakezula
Glad you’re starting to feel better and you have companionship while you recover.
P.S. But you suck at being a misanthropist.
cmm
John, I just have the biggest crush on you. Don’t worry, I am not stalker material; i live several states away and am happily mortgaged with my GF of going on 18 years. I just think you are neat and wish there were more guys like you in the world for all my straight female friends. There are plenty of them who need a zen lifestyle with lots of love and food too!
Anyway, just wanted to tell you that you are really neat, and any animal that comes into your life, even for a little while like Zsa Zsa, is lucky lucky lucky. And I love your stream of consciousness Lily thoughts. Hilarious.
debit
John, I took a break from BJ, decided to check in this morning and just saw the news. I am more sorry than words can express.
gnomedad
Reminds me of Allie Brosch’s drawings of “Simple Dog”. I can’t wait for her book.
Trinity
What we need often shows up before we even realized that we needed it.
Much love to you and the girls John. :)
Hazel
I truly believe our pets can sense when we’re sad.
I was 6 when I got my kitten (and yes she was mine, my parents let us each get one because the neigbor’s cat had kittens). I probably was a little too young; maybe I squeezed? Anyway, she would slip out of reach when she saw me. She grew up into a Cat who had more important things to do than socialize with mere people: she had to patrol the neighborhood! Well, one day, when I was about 8, I was crying in our backyard over something, and she appeared on our fence. And came over. And sat in my lap! I was in awe, she had never voluntarily done that.
And I think that was the moment when she decided I was redeemable and eventually trained me up to be a very good cat owner, though I say it myself.
But I’m still sort of amazed that she could tell I was sad and that I should be comforted. Animals sense these things. I”m sure Rosie senses that you are sad and need cuddles. And I’m so glad you have her.
gogol's wife
I hate to tell you this, but my husband refers to Balloon Juice as my “church.” I don’t know why people think that faith = afterlife. In my real-life church that is almost never a topic of discussion. Who can know? But to believe that there is something bigger than us humans — why is that so ridiculous? I don’t think humans are so fantastic that they must be the highest form of intelligence. To use an expression I hate, YMMV.
the lost puppy
I respect your beliefs, but please try to understand that what you have described is what many just call “God” and try to understand where they’re coming from in that regard. As they say, GOD is DOG spelled backwards.
Ragtime Willy
Glad to hear you’re feeling even just a little tiny bit better, John.
MomSense
The transformational power of love–something worth believing in!
Lurker
@Kat:
I found out about Tunch upon waking up on Sunday and I cried all day that day. Thinking of the pain John is going through makes me ill. I remember all too well the despondency I felt when one of my beloved cats passed away.
Gopher2b
That’s why I’m agnostic. I still don’t understand gravity or how an engine works. Whether here is a god is above my pay grade so I just focus on what’s for lunch.
Glad you’re doing better.
gnomedad
@Gopher2b:
For me, the big difference is not whether you believe in a God, but whether you think he’ll send people who get it wrong to hell. That’s where the real trouble starts.
terraformer
I’ve been catching up with BJ as I’ve been out the past several days for my son’s surgery. John, I’m late to the news, but I am so very sorry what happened to Tunch.
But I’ve got to say, in reading the posts and comments, I am so heartened by the people here. I feel like even though we’re all distributed, many people on here I kind of weirdly feel close to. Not only has BJ been a beacon for me in terms of information and in maintaining my sanity in a world that is increasingly becoming so heartless and lacking in empathy that it hurts, but I honestly think that if most of the folks on here were to suddenly be thrown together to fend for ourselves, we’d end up with a pretty goddam awesome commune.
This little corner of the internet is a several-times-daily stop for me, and John, you’re just an amazing fella, and you may not realize what you’ve created here.
Violet
Glad you are taking care of yourself, John. And so glad Rosie has stepped up. She’s a sweetie and she’s smart. She knows you’re hurting.
Mnemosyne
@Anne Laurie:
That’s kind of funny, because our cat Annie had the exact opposite reaction after her first trip to the vet — she was very quiet and subdued when she was there (which is how she usually reacts to humans anyway), but when we got her back home and let her out of her carrier, she was like, “Oh, wait — you mean I live here now? Permanently? Awesome!” And she let herself start to like us after that. (It was soon afterwards that she took what we call the “flop of faith” — she eyeballed G for a while and then flopped over onto her back so he could rub her belly. And it all worked out.)
kindness
I’m really looking forward to the stories of the new cat in the household. I know John is looking for a senior cat but I hope he finds a kitten.
We added a kitten to the mix about 2 months ago. She is a ball of energy. She loves the dogs more than I have ever seen a cat want to be with dogs but the dogs are confused. They hardly even manner the kitten so the kitten walks (literally) all over them and is constantly trying to play with the dogs and their appendages.
Our other cat is another story. She likes and is on good terms with the other neighborhood ‘nice’ cats. She did not like this new kitten in the midst and has had no problems telling the kitten and mannering her more than the kitten probably needs. Ah well, soon enough the kitten will be a cat and I do hope then both cats learn to like each other more.
Those are the stories I want to read from John. I will just bide my time.
Quaker in a Basement
Our animals make us better people.
MikeInSewickley
@Quaker in a Basement: Absolutely true.
And you don’t have to believe in God to have spirituality.
The “Household of John” is living proof.
maye
I’m not sure there is any rhyme, reason, or design to life’s course of events. Animals and humans are governed by the laws of nature. However, when we find some joy or love in midst of grief and sorrow, there you experience the presence of God. Take it as it comes.
Ted & Hellen
I love this post.
I don’t know if there is a cosmic plan, but there might be.
And that’s good enough.
Embracing the NOT KNOWING has been very liberating for me over the last 13 years.
The Other Chuck
That “grand cosmic plan” is just the emergent property of some good coming into the world due to decent and caring people who still inhabit it. Even if found by chance, Lily and Rosie wouldn’t be who they are without the bacon-flavored fat man who loves them. I don’t know about you, but that gives me a warmer feeling than chalking it up to the plans of the gods or the fates.
The Other Chuck
@Richard:
The very word “animal” means something that has a soul (anima). And given the fact that most animals aren’t going around doing higher order abstract math and writing on blogs, I dare say those “lower animals” do emotion a whole lot better than us.
Daffodil's Mom
O/T in part but still relevant: John, you are just one amazingly impressive guy. Watching the way you’ve gone through this has me just in awe, while I’m still grieving deeply for all of you. (And terrified bc we’ve got a supposedly cat-safe dog who truly loves our tamed ferals (who both love him back, A LOT) but still runs like hell (or a Borzoi, which is part of what he is) after anything that moves. So a racing muzzle is clearly in his future, as of this afternoon.)
Also, regarding the cat-through-the-door-or-not problem, just last week out of total desperation, I used the old Mom’s-gonna-count-to-five routine and to my utter amazement it worked like a charm! They may not know the words, but they sure hear the impatience in your voice, and after a cat does anything twice, it’s basically a habit, so that problem, around here at least, is solved!
But I wanted to say one more thing, and that is extrapolating a bit from my potential dog-cat situation to your tragically-real one. If my guy does end up killing one of our cats, while I do know he would have not have done it deliberately (just couldn’t think as fast as he runs), nevertheless, as much as I adore him, I wouldn’t be able to keep him a) because it would just hurt too much even seeing him; and b) because I’d know he’d not be able to learn from the situation and would be maybe even more likely to do it again. It would hurt like hell, but I’d have to re-home him somewhere cat-free (our fencing keeps the dogs in but cats can get in and out). So I am hoping that when Devon heals a bit from the immediate pain that she too will be able to make a similar choice, out of both care for Kiwi and love for her brother.
zombie rotten mcdonald
@Richard:
Richard, if we have souls, I don’t see any reason animals wouldn’t also.
Uncle Ebeneezer
I’ll pass on the grand design stuff. We humans are far too good at seeing faces in the clouds, especially during exceptional/traumatic times.
But dogs like humans are social animals and no doubt pick up on all kinds of cues. You are no doubt giving off a ton of them in your behavior, vocal tone, even phermones perhaps and it’s not unexpected that Rosie would be picking up on them as well as the absence of another animal in the environment. Your stress is probably stressing her, and she’s getting closer to you as a result. But it’s no different than what we do with fellow humans when they are dealing with trauma. It’s part of love. This can all happen without sprits or souls. And it doesn’t make it any less wonderful. Rosie’s a good dog. Lean on her in the times when you need to. No shame in that.
alicia-logic
I chuckle a little when people say things like “Our pets know when we’re sad (or hurt or sick or whatever)” because I’ve had a lot of dogs and cats and they ran the gamut. Several were as John has described Lily: affectionate and beloved but not showing much insight into my condition at any given moment.
Of seven dogs so far, I’ve had two who were exceptions. The first was a Doberman I had twenty years ago, the second my American Staffordshire Terrier, Joxer. We was the fourth dog in the pack when we got him and then, each of the other dogs succumbed to some illness and died before he was 2 years old. Losing 3 dogs in 1 year is pretty hard for us people, but the puppy went a little insane. That terrier brain is so busy, and he seemed to think that as the only dog it was his job to keep track of and worry about everything. He stayed by my side and needed extra reassurance and maybe that time is part of the reason we bonded so closely. I, being numb from the pain, would have waited longer than we did to adopt the next puppy, but Joxer clearly needed it and so we got him a little DoberGRL to dote on.
Later, he saw me kicked by a horse and during the long recovery from my surgery, stayed glued to my side. As I recovered and returned to working with the horses, he ‘babysat’ me every moment and took particular notice if ever a horse seemed to be being uppity. A injury recovery was the same: my dear boy was always there, riveted to my side and sharing his heartbeat, or earnestly and carefully licking my face.
He was my go-to guy to hug on and cry with when I lost all those other dogs. He outlived the puppy we got to help him adjust to their loss. He nursed me through two serious injuries and another minor surgery and innumerable minor personal crises. I clung to him when my 30-year old horse had to be put down. There was no pain he couldn’t share and lesson by looking deeply into my eyes and pressing against me, save one. I lost him to an aggressive cancer last summer.
I don’t know why special dogs like Rosie or Joxer appear, apparently when we need them most. I’m not sure there is a why. Sometimes the sun shines when you need it and it’s warm. That’s good enough for me.
gbear
@kindness:
Cats. You just know it will wind up being more than one…
Tyrone Slothrop
Poor General Stuck – not only sadly passed away, but seemingly dwarfed in commentary preoccupation and elegiacal reminiscence by a cat.
Barry
Get some sleep, and hopefully some restful dreams, John.
Barry
dance around in your bones
@Tyrone Slothrop: If you look through the blog history you will see that there were multiple posts about General Stuck and hundreds to thousands of comments about him.
As far as the ‘pets shred up the furniture and floors’ thing, my daughter and her family were charged a pet deposit for their sweet old Golden Retriever who basically sleeps all day. They laugh that they should have been charged a ‘kid deposit’ instead because their 3 young boys are FAR more destructive to the house than any dog or cat could be……
Jackie
I didn’t read any other posts. John, just wanted you to know that from day 1, Rosie was meant to be in your life for a reason. Maybe now you know the reason. I’m an animal lover, too, and for what ever reason a dog/cat crosses our path, it’s meant to be FOR A REASON. Rosie needed you and now you need Rosie. XO Hugs Jackie
Paul in KY
@MathInPA: I’ve had 4 different cats travel quite well on trips that took 12 or more hours. They then enjoyed looking out windows at ocean & generally behaved normally (slept alot & kept appetite).
Maybe it is just your particular cats.
Paul in KY
@Tyrone Slothrop: He would understand. I’m guessing he’s finally got to meet Tunch in person.