good things for m.e.: Ashton 2000-2012

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Ashton 2000-2012

We said goodbye to our keeshond, Ashton, on Tues, April 3. It was the hardest thing we ever had to do and the one of the saddest times in our lives.

Our dog had been showing his age lately. We had been assisting him up the steps for the last 7-8 months. Around Ethan’s birthday on March 12 he was starting to have problems standing and would sort of drag his hind legs when he would walk. He wouldn’t do it everytime, but he would whimper as he attempted to stand or when he was trying to lay down.

It got to the point that we had to pick him up and carry him outside so he could go potty. Then since he couldn’t stand up, we would have to hold up his back legs. I would kind of grab his side fur, and then watch as he ‘went’. I remember how he always would growl at us if we attempted to pick him up or try to move him and these last weeks he gladly let us pick him up. He was so heavy like close to 50 lbs.

We made an appt on March 26 with the vet to see what they could give him to help with the back legs or just how serious it was. We were sad that day with worry. We didn’t want to hear that should be put down. That day was his 12th birthday. We were crying at the vet office, just so worried. We would surprised to find out he weighed 41lbs, so he had lost some weight. The ladies working there kept calling him a pretty dog.

She thought he had a slipped disk. She gave him a steriod shot and then we were to give him 3 medicines 3 times a day. She pinched his back feet and Ash let out a big cry, which she said was good that he had some sensation to the feet. She said we should let him lay down that day and he shouldn’t attempt to walk. I recall he did pull himself up to a sitting position once that day.

We were so happy that we got to take him home. T kept saying he was surprised that Ash was coming home with us. So we had to get him his birthday cupcake!

he always gets a vanilla cupcake for his birthday and he knows it!

Ashy had been sleeping for most of the day for the last few months and we had been noticing that his hearing was slipping. He loved to bark at any sound and used to always bark when the garage door went up. Now when T would come home he wouldn’t bark until the door to the house was shut and he noticed T in the house! He still love love loved to bark, though! The last month he would bark to go out at like 3am and then just sit there and not go out. Other stuff was going on with him. We had to bring him his food and water dish for the last 2 weeks. I got him a heavy ceramic dish for his water after he spilled his metal bowl a couple of times.

The last 3 days I decided to get puppy weewee pads for him. He was basically just sleeping and laying on his side like this. He would have accidents, like I don’t even think he knew he went. It was like he was paralyzed with his back end. I was changing those pads like once an hour. He would be whimpering and barking and it was just so sad.

I decided to feed him all of his fav people food on Mon Apr 2. I gave him some cottage cheese, which was a mess. I gave him a cheese stick and was tossing small chunks on it in front of him. One piece went too far away for him to reach so I stupidly flipped it with my finger and he bit down on my finger and it bled. I freaked out over that, I knew better and I know he didn’t mean to do it. It was just too much.

We realized that Ashton wasn’t getting any better and the last week he just got worse. We made an appt for Tues Apr 3 to put him down. The vet office was so great. We decided not to be in the room when they did it. I knew I could not handle that at all. I will be sad for some time thinking about it all still.

Ashton was in our lives for 12 years, basically our whole marriage. When we bought our first house, we knew we wanted a dog. I don’t think we waited even a week before getting a puppy. We got Ashton at eight weeks old.