RIP Saint

 


Today we lost this sweet, sweet soul.  I can honestly say that I've never had to deliver such sad news to Princess Bear (PB) before.  Yes, we also lost our Dalmatian, Spot, 6 years ago.  A few differences though.  Spot had been born deaf and didn't deal with fast movements well.  Therefore, on the whole, PB was not allowed much interaction with Spot.  The occasional petting but not much else.  I also think there is a huge difference between losing a pet when you're still pretty little versus having a dog for 13 years.  Saint (and this dog acted so Saint- like especially with kids) was very much a huge part of PBs everyday world.   She was responsible for Saints water bowl.  She would take Saint out to play in the yard whenever she could.  It brought about so many tough questions.  I still have no idea how to honestly explain cremation without scaring the hell out of my child.  She was very upset that she didn't get to see Saint this morning before my dad took her to the vet but I honestly didn't think this was going to be the outcome.  She did ask if I would take her to the vet and let her pet her one last time.  I didn't think since Saint was already gone that was a good idea.   Our vet did make a plaster print of Saint's paw for PB to have.  We have a few days to decide whether to decorate it or not before "baking" the print to make it solid.  She has already asked when Saints ashes are coming home.  She's working on making the cat bat shit crazy since she's mourning the loss of Saint and doesn't want the cat to be out of her sight.  Unfortunately the cat isn't a fan of most humans.  It killed me that she didn't want to come home because her dog wasn't here.  I know that in time she'll move on from this and start remembering all the little things about Saint that she liked or even made her crazy.  I just wish she didn't have to hurt in the mean time.