Rest in peace, Joe

On Sunday our dog, Joe, passed away while up at the cottage with Kyle for the weekend. Based on the symptoms we believe it was canine bloat. Kyle was up there for a bachelor party all weekend. Joe was fine all weekend, then early Sunday morning he started having some trouble. His stomach swelled up and was hard to the touch. He was outside laying down and then he stopped breathing. I want to capture this here because Joe was a part of our family.

My brother and brother-in-law where up at the cottage as well, so they were there to help Kyle bury Joe in the pet cemetery up there. I'm thankful they were there. Kyle is a strong, tough guy but no man is immune to the emotions of having to bury his dog, and Kyle is no exception to that. I'm sad I wasn't able to be there with and for him, but was glad Kyle had family there when it happened.

It is odd not having Joe here, every time a motorcycle drives by this week I have caught myself still cringing and waiting for Joe to go crazy. Then it doesn't happen. In the morning I think "Oh, I've got to feed Joe" and I catch myself looking for him in the back yard. Any reader who knows me will be aware that Joe was not my favorite thing in life, but I certainly never wanted to see this happen to him. While we've joked about finding him a new home over the past year, we weren't at all prepared for Joe to be gone from our lives this suddenly. A random thought I had this week "I'm glad I got some pictures of Joe sitting quietly with Jacob", because that means we have pictures of both the kids with Joe.

Kaleb has asked once to feed Joe, a chore he very much enjoyed doing, and we kind of skated around the issue because we hadn't discussed yet how we are going to handle explaining this to Kaleb. Since then we have had a chance to talk and are both on the same page: Honesty is the best policy, even when it is hard, and responses to his questions should be direct and brief. If/when Kaleb asks where Joe is we will tell him that Joe died and he is not here anymore. If he wants more of an explanation we'll tell him it means that Joe's body stopped working, that it means he doesn't eat anymore. I went to a couple of my books and many websites and it looks like the experts on this stuff agree with our approach.

Joe was a nervous, shedding, high-strung dog, but he was also gentle and loving towards both of the kids, eager to please, and (generally) obedient. He was a part of our family and he is missed. Rest in peace, Joe.