My dog

A second passing is not as serious as a person, like Arielle, but still made an impact on our family. Jordan, our beloved 14 year old yellow lab, was put down on January 4th. 14 years old is very old for such a big dog, and Jordan had been struggling for a while now. But he was always so good and never complained. He was the happiest dog who loved people, even though his size and bark would scare people, he was never mean and all he wanted to do was to lick you. It was difficult at the end. Jordan had lumps all over his body from different growths, possibly tumors, and was in a lot of pain, tho again, he didnt cry or whine. Finally after new years his back legs started to give out, where he couldnt hold himself up very well. And the problem with the new house is that it's not so wheel chair friendly. There are steps no matter which side you come in from. And Jordan, for a while, had been hopping up the steps to come in, really using his front legs as his strength and support. But he got to the point where once he'd get out, he couldnt get back up. He'd walk around the back yard with his rear basically sliding along the ground, as he couldnt push his body up with his back legs.

The night of January 3rd was an unfortunate one. Lynn was sleeping over with Joseph and Daisy. She had to get up to leave for work in Augusta at 4:30am. Something happened to the TV where the screen wouldnt show up, so my dad was on the phone for an hour and half, this is around 10pm or so, trying to fix it. Joseph hadnt fallen asleep yet, so he was cranky, and everyone was taking turns trying to rock him to sleep. Jordan was stuck outside in the back yard, in the freezing cold, barking, because he couldnt get in. At 11pm you expect the house hold to be settling down, not constant activity and noise where ever you go. Jordan couldnt get back up the steps and we couldnt leave him outside because he would bark all night long, and possibly freeze to death. He was too large to pick up, and even if we could pick him up, he was in way too much pain to have us squeezing him and he would surely bite out of tremendous pain. I walked Jordan around to the garage. He knew he wanted to come inside but his body wouldnt let him and he was really nervous, panting and barking. So now in the garage, after setting up blankets and comforters and a heater so he could sleep comfortably, he still continued to bark, because he wanted to go in. We couldnt have him barking all night in the garage either, because Lynn, who was supposed to wake up in 5 hours, was sleeping above the garage and would never get to sleep with Jordan barking. I got my mom to come and sit with him and that calmed him down a little. He really became a momma's boy in his old age. So she stayed in the garage, ready to sleep that night in the garage (and it was way too cold outside for her to be there). I took Joseph from Lynn so she could try to lay down and I continued to rock Joseph. Being the 3rd person on baby duty, he eventually fell asleep in my arms and I put him down. Around that time my dad finally got the tv back to working so that was done too.

Here it was, 11:30/midnight and we decided we needed to get Jordan inside somehow. So we had to call Sean, wake him up, have him drive 30 minutes from his apartment for his help. After trying a few different things, by about 12:30, we coaxed Jordan onto a blanket and got him to lay down, and my dad and Sean took two sides really quickly, wrapped him up like a taco, and carried him up the stairs as fast as possible before he could get out. So that was the end of the night. It was already decided that Jordan couldnt live like this any more. There was no way for him to get outside several times a day, then back inside. And he was in such bad shape, we couldnt even get him into a car to take him anywhere. Sean stayed around for a few more minutes while we took family pictures with our dog. Sean and I were young when we first got Jordan, he's been there over half of our lives.

Well, the vet had given my mom the number to a traveling vet that makes house calls. So the whole next morning she tried calling this number, getting no response. I woke up to Joseph in the next room making noises, awake in his crib. My mom was getting work calls, we were trying to take care of Joseph, Daisy was walking around very nervous, knowing something was up. We couldnt let Jordan go outside. Eventually he made his way to the back door and was scratching on it, asking to let him out because he needed to 'go', but we wouldnt let him out. if he went out my mom and i wouldnt be able to get him back in. My mom tried calling the family vet because we couldnt get a hold of anyone else. Finally, the vet let my mom know that the traveling vet she had been trying to call all morning had died the night before, but our vet was good enough to come to our house on her lunch break with an assistant and come help Jordan. Thankfully during this time Joseph was down for his nap.

Gigi was there and when the vet arrived, she held our puppy Charlie, who was barking at the new people. The vet and her assistant got on the floor and Jordan licked them in the face. My mom got Jordan to lie down so the vet could shave a little of his back leg. When she started to do this Jordan looked around real fast and growled, but it's only because he was in so much pain back there. At that point they needed to put a muzzle on him, on my poor sweet dog. My mom sat with him and talked to him and loved on him. I took the little dogs back to my parents room because they were getting in the way. Daisy immediately jumped on the bed and was shaking like crazy because she could feel the tension. Finally GiGi came and got me and thinking that I was going to say goodbye to Jordan one last time, I went out and found him gone. He was lying there, as if he was asleep. Seeing his body like that was too much for me. I couldnt get very close. I had to stay away because I was shocked and saddened to see him like that. I took a couple of more pictures, to remember him like this, in peace. When the vet gave him the needle a few minutes earlier, she said that now Jordan would be able to chase the squirrels again. And Jordan had loved doing that when he was younger.

Well we werent able to mourn for long. I had an appointment with my endocrinologist just after this down town. My mom had to get Joseph and Daisy home to Augusta, because she had Lynn's key and if Lynn got home first, she'd be stuck outside. It was a weary and exhausting day...