Dog...gone.

We said good-bye to a very good dog yesterday. Sojourner was our first baby--he has been part of our family since just after Marcus and I were married and moved into our first house. And he was the sweetest dog I have ever met. He would let the cat beat up on him, and never minded when the kids pulled his fur or climbed on him. Like most dogs, I guess, he was always happy to see us when we arrived home, always up for a walk. He loved to chase squirrels through the woods, and his favorite snack was raw carrots.

Sojourner was a rescue dog--he had bounced around from home to home until he finally came to us--and that's why we named him Sojourner (although we often just called him "Sojo"). He was a special needs dog. He had a skin condition for which the vet first prescribed a special diet (he was the only vegetarian in the house), and he took steroids, and we tried dozens of different shampoos. He would itch until he had bald patches, and boy did he stink! But about a year ago we finally sorted all his skin issues and finally his coat looked great. And he never, ever protested taking his allergy shot, so long as he got his treat afterwards.

What got him in the end was a tumor growing in his sinus. We had hoped it was just some kind of infection and we tried several different treatments, none of which gave him any relief. Together with our vet, we decided that putting him to sleep was the most humane thing to do.

Before we took him to the vet for the last time, I read to him Dog Heaven, so he (and we) might not feel so sad (although I cried the whole time I was reading to him). After all, it was just one more sojourn, and in dog heaven there are fields to run in, cat-shaped dog biscuits, and angel children. And in dog heaven, dogs get to be where they belong: "with God who made them."

Once he was gone, we were talking with our vet, Dr. Gouri Krishna, and I said that there really didn't seem to be any such thing as a good end for a dog. But she said the most wise and wonderful thing. She said, "But he had lots of good moments in his life, and dogs are better at living in the moment than we are. For them death is just one more moment; it's just the end."

I used to have a bumper sticker on our old car that said "Lord, help me be the person my dog thinks I am." That is still my prayer. And I also pray that I can learn from Sojo how to live more in the moment. Thank you, Sojo, for being such a good dog and for sharing your life with us. We will miss you very much.