I recently got a puppy for me and my girlfriend to take care of. He was a Bichon Frise, about two months old. He was a lot of fun, totes a cutie pie and had a lot of character already in him at such a young age. You recognize I’m using the past tense. We only had ‘Rocko’ for five days. We took him to the vet and were told he had a bad heart. That without surgery of some sort, he wouldn’t live past 3 years old.
What did we do? We returned him to the breeder.
Anyone and everyone will tell us we made the right decision. It was sensibly, financially, emotionally the right thing to do on our side. He was unhealthy, and that made him unfit to be owned. Some thoughts I had about this subject…
- We were honestly devastated. Even after five days, it’s crazy how attached you get to such a critter. I can’t help but think that we were selfish in our decision or the ‘what ifs’ that could unfold in the future. Thoughts that maybe he’s just a slow developer and he would grow out of his weak heart sooner rather than never. That I could pay for the surgeries, no matter the stress and pain that comes with taking care of the sick. It’s a struggle of the what ifs pitted against the sensibility within our actions.
- With all this said, honestly…dogs are not humans. Maybe it’s okay for us to be selfish when it comes to things like this. He will most likely live the best three years any dog can (to his capacity) with his parents. What’s it to him, or what benefit does it give him to live with us? He doesn’t know, he’s a pup…I doubt he remembers us…So then where’s the line? I guess the line is for most people, they would fight their hardest for their child, but for other things, sometimes we do have to be selfish…
So then…how long does it take to get over a dog? One thing I know is that we won’t forget him (I hope you’re reading this Rocko).
