TheBanyanTree: Life post Ariel

[Laura]

As wonderful a dog as she was, she had really gotten weird.  I hadn't 
realized how strange her behavior had become until we lived a day or two 
without her.  

(With some minor guilt) I actually feel relieved to have her gone.  Her 
personality had changed drastically, but so gradually that we only 
noticed it when she did something really strange.  We were always working 
around her, not the other way.  Now that she is gone the other dogs, 
though always there, are never in the way.  When I play tug of war with 
Ziggy (I always get to win, eventually), it's just a game.  He never 
snaps at my hand when he's going for the rope.  It might have been an 
accident with Ariel, but it happened a lot.  If I try to step over Shilo, 
she just lies there trustingly, never leaping up frantically and tripping 
me up.  When I reach to pet Puck, he happily lets me pet him.  He never 
cringes from my touch and pees the floor with fear.

That was no way for her to live.  She was a wonderful dog, and we'll miss 
her young happy self, but we are glad that the sick, fearful dog she had 
become is now at peace.

I want to thank all of you for your support and condolences the last 
couple of days.  It was a great help to be able to write it out and purge 
myself of the associated guilt.  It allowed me to go ahead and grieve for 
her.

Wolfie
-- 
Laura
wolfljsh at insightbb.com
http://home.insightbb.com/~wolfljsh/index.html