Puppy

[redsfanmia]

I feel like this forum is kind of a family and I have to get this out...about 2 hours ago I was walking my 6 month old Standard Poodle puppy and she slipped out of of collar and got ran over by a car. She died in my arms on the way to the emergency vet. I loved her so much and feel responsible. I’m so sad and sick, I’m so overcome with grief I don’t know what to do.

[redsfandan]

Losing a pet sucks. But try to not beat yourself up. Someone can be a great pet owner and still lose a pet like this.

[M2]

I feel like this forum is kind of a family and I have to get this out...about 2 hours ago I was walking my 6 month old Standard Poodle puppy and she slipped out of of collar and got ran over by a car. She died in my arms on the way to the emergency vet. I loved her so much and feel responsible. I’m so sad and sick, I’m so overcome with grief I don’t know what to do.

Oh geez. So sorry to hear that. Don't have anything enlightening to say, but sending my sympathies your way.

[RedsfaninMT]

Losing a dog sucks! I've had to have three put down, and a fourth will follow soon. It never gets easier. Losing one like you did has got to be really tough. For me, every dog I've owned I've loved dearly. Also, know that your dog was lucky to have you, for however briefly. No doubt in my mind dogs dig on when they're loved. I served on a board for a startup pet shelter, and the stories of abused dogs were far too common. You loved your dog, she/he loved you back.

And dogs aren't like relationships, you don't need a bounce back period. Find yourself another pup ASAP.

[Bob Sheed]

That's awful, I am so sorry.

[Roy Tucker]

I’m so sorry. Let yourself have the grief. Unfortunately, you just have to let time pass. It will get better though. I promise you that.

I’ve had 3 dogs that I finally had to take to be put down because of age. Each time, I patted their head and told them they were a good dog and gave them a peaceful exit from this world. And each time I went out to my car and sobbed and cried like a baby.

[Redhook]

Such a sad thing to happen. So sorry to hear. It’s not your fault though.

We had to put our dog down suddenly earlier this year due to a tumor that caused her to go blind. It was one of the worst days of my life. I cried for days and days. Like Roy said, let yourself grieve. We, as a family, are finally ready for another dog and have decided to get 2 Goldens’s in December (they’ll be born any day now).

[westofyou]

My heart aches for you, I’m so sorry this happened. I wish you peace

[redsfanmia]

My heart aches for you, I’m so sorry this happened. I wish you peace

Thank you, I have always admired your wisdom. I just feel so guilty over this, I watched the whole thing in slow motion, I put the collar on her, I put her in that position. I can’t get the image of what happens out of my head. I hope I can make peace with it and I hope she forgives me and still loves me.

[RFS62]

What a terrible thing. I'm so sorry for you.

It wasn't your fault. Sometimes awful things happen.

[Revering4Blue]

I am so, so sorry for your loss.

Everyone else has already stated (more or less) my thoughts, while offering solid advice in the process.

Perhaps it's a function of having no children on my end, but I've always viewed dogs and cats not simply as pets, rather, as members of the family. As such, the grieving process (time-frame) has always reflected that each time for me. And I, too, have lost pets under circumstances in which I felt heavily responsible, as if I had failed as a pet parent. But in time, I was finally able to rid myself of the pain and guilt by heeding the advice of others in this thread.

Just know that we're all thinking of you and that we're here for you throughout this difficult time.

[redsfanmia]

I am so, so sorry for your loss.

Everyone else has already stated (more or less) my thoughts, while offering solid advice in the process.

Perhaps it's a function of having no children on my end, but I've always viewed dogs and cats not simply as pets, rather, as members of the family. As such, the grieving process (time-frame) has always reflected that each time for me. And I, too, have lost pets under circumstances in which I felt heavily responsible, as if I had failed as a pet parent. But in time, I was finally able to rid myself of the pain and guilt by heeding the advice of others in this thread.

Just know that we're all thinking of you and that we're here for you throughout this difficult time.

My wife and I also are childless. I’m trying to stay busy and not try and dwell on it. I think Pap was meant to be a shooting star, she was too perfect and had too much personality to be here too long. She left a hole in my heart that will be hard to fill.

[Griffey012]

I feel like this forum is kind of a family and I have to get this out...about 2 hours ago I was walking my 6 month old Standard Poodle puppy and she slipped out of of collar and got ran over by a car. She died in my arms on the way to the emergency vet. I loved her so much and feel responsible. I’m so sad and sick, I’m so overcome with grief I don’t know what to do.

Wow, I am so sorry. It isn't your fault, sounds like you were an awesome owner. Things like that happen with pets and it is just a freak accident. Dogs are bound to slip out of a collar/harness/whatever every once in a while no matter what you try. My own dog came a few feet from getting run over last summer, the leash snapped right in half as he tried to go after a squirrel, fortunately he sprinted across the street as a car was coming right at him and just missed him. I would have been completely devastated and was definitely shook up by it.

[Roy Tucker]

So, I'll tell the story of our last lab named Harper. She was a good dog. Hall of fame dog. This was around 2009. The family was having a hard time. It was right after the stock market crash and subsequent economic collapse. I'd lost my job at the age of 57 and was working as an IT contractor trying to convert to a full time job. My wife's father had just died and her mom was having a difficult time adjusting to it. My son was having a hard time at college. My oldest daughter, after being a stellar student, decided in her senior year, she was going to take a walk on the wild side. We had just put down our second labrador retriever Elsa. Times were a little tough. In the middle of all that, we decided (probably after a bottle of wine) to get another dog. Called some breeders and found a black female English lab up in Frankenmuth MI. We had the pick of the litter. I wanted the big male lab that was beating up all the other pups. But my youngest daughter found the runt of the litter and took her outside and sat with her on the lawn. We were trying to pick out the dog amongst the pack but Lizzy said "dad, can we get this one, she's so sweet". Of course, after a sigh, I knew that was a battle I was going to lose so I said ok. Named her Harper on the spot and took her home. She sat in my youngest's lap the whole trip home. During the next few weeks and months. my wife says she was the dog raised by wolves. All the kids were home that summer and both my wife and I were working. So the kids "raised" Harper and spoiled her to death and she never learned a single command and only responded to "dinner!". She never skipped a meal. But she was always the sweetest and probably the laziest ass dog I've ever met. Fast forward great 10 years of a sweet but a little bit dim dog.... Harper is now going on 11. She is really starting to slow down. She is starting to give me that look like "dad, something is wrong but I don't know what" (parenthetical note, for some reason, she was always my dog. My wife got mad because she was always the one to feed Harper and take her for walks and pay attention to her. I, on the other hand, did pretty much nothing except maybe pet her on the head. But she always was so glad to see me and always laid down on my feet and loved to hang around me). But something was amiss. My wife took her for a morning walk. I was fixing breakfast and she bursts in the front door and said "I can't get Harper to move": I throw on a coat and go out to the street. It's still dark and the street is black and icy and she just looks at me but won't/can't get up. I'm afraid a car is going to come along and hit us both. So I pick up this 85 lb dog and carry her to the house. My wife is freaking. I look online and there is an emergency vet just a few miles away. I pile Harper in the back seat and take her there. After an anxious hour, the vet comes out and tells us the pericardial sac around her heart has filled with fluid and she is in heart failure. They can do tests and an echocardiagram but it is $$$. I look at my wife and say **** and say ok,. Later, the vet comes back out and says they were able to drain the fluid out from around her heart and she is stable. But they don't know how long this will last. The sac may fill back up or she may be ok. So she spends the night there, I pay a hefty 4 digit $$$$ vet bill, and she comes home. We are hopeful she'll get back to normal, but as the days pass, she really isn't getting any better. Lethargic and not eager to eat and just not herself. I come home from work and my wife is holding Harper's head and crying and says "I think it's time". So I call the vet and tell them what we need. We get an appointment for later that day. Take her to the vet, check in at the desk, and they tell us to bring her in the back door (nothing good happens at the vet when you bring your pet in the back door). My wife is crying and I'm just trying to keep my **** together. And then the dang vet comes in and Harper lights up and frolics around the room. Unlike most dogs, Harper has always been ecstatic to go see the vet. She's always acted like its the greatest place on earth to be and today is nothing different. I tell the vet "honest Ms. Vet, she really isn't doing very well at all". The vet is great and understands and gets on with it. I scratch Harper's ears and tell her she's a good dog and watch her brown eyes and I can see the lights slowly go out. The vet says "she's gone" and leaves us for a few last minutes with the Harpster. By that time. I've lost it completely and so has my wife. It's sad but the grief felt is in direct proportion to the happiness she has brought to me and my family over the years. In a way, she saved my family at a time we most needed it. After saying our goodbyes, they left us out the same back door and drive home. Coda to this.... this happened about 10 months ago and now we're in the market for lab #4. We just hope we find another dog as good as Harper and Elsa and Cooper have been to us. You can’t come into this world without leaving it. But it’s worth the years you have with them, however short or long it is.

[redsfanmia]

My wife is taking it really hard, we have had Akita’s and they were always my dogs per her. My wife had some serious health issues last Christmas and almost died, she had always wanted a Standard Poodle so her friend asked me if they could get her one as a gift for her recovery and to perk us up. Our last Akita had passed in April of 19 so I was ready to get another dog so I did some research on Poodles and with much hesitation I said yes let’s do it. I figured I would get “my” dog a year later, I was wrong I fell for this dog about day 2 of having her. I’m a working class farm kid, poodles are rich people foo foo dogs this wasn’t supposed to happen. This pup loved me like nothing else ever has, she wanted to be with me every waking hour. I feel like I let her down, I will always feel that...