“Our lovely dog Dougal had been with us for over 10 years. He fell ill suddenly, just before New Year 2012. He spent time at the vets being treated and the prognosis was anything from a few months to a few weeks. At first Dougal responded well to treatment, but when we brought him home from the vets a second time, he did not want to eat or take his tablets. Returning home one evening, I realised his time with us was nearly up.
Luckily for us, Karen, a neighbour and good friend had been supporting us during this time. She came around straightaway to communicate with Dougal to find out what he wanted. Did he want us to continue trying the medication? Did he want help in passing over or did he just want to stay with us at home? Karen told us he wanted help and was ready to go the following day. She stayed to look after Tess our other dog, who knew something was wrong, while we went to the Emergency vet to find out whether Dougal’s condition had indeed deteriorated as we thought. He confirmed the worst. We knew that although it would be difficult to let Dougal go, it was the right time for him, and indeed, it was just past midnight when we said our last goodbyes. We were comforted that we had done our best for him, and that he had come home for his final days. Having Karen communicate with Dougal also gave us reassurance that we had done the right thing.
Since then, Karen has helped our younger dog, Tess, adjust to Life without Dougal – She had started to bark more, so Karen asked her if she wanted another dog for company? Most definitely NOT! She was barking to tell us all to slow down and stop rushing in and out all of the time. We needed to find space to just “be”. When Karen told us this we realised that this was exactly how life was at the time. Life is still fairly busy, but we now make sure that we try and take time to relax with each other and Tess more frequently. And Tess loves to snuggle up. I have known Karen for years but am convinced that we were “meant” to be friends for a variety of reasons, and helping Dougal and Tess was one of them.”
Roz,
Surrey 2013