On Friday 17th of this month, we had to make the decision that all pet owners have to, and take our lovely Lurcher, Rosie Lee, to the vets to be euthenised. It wasn't a decision we took lightly and, for a while, put it off with excuses that, while she was still eating, we felt she must have the will to keep living. But, when we went to the dog run to let her out first thing that morning, we could see at a glance that her whole system was closing down, and we knew that it was time.
We've both said that, to have to decide the time of our pet's death, felt like playing God, and hated the thought of it, but just that one look, and we knew it was the decent thing to do. Poor Rosie was struggling for breath, and she looked up at us with glazed eyes, as if begging for release. We wanted to weep that this amazing animal, who had given us 15 years of loving companionship, and who had been so full of life, so vital, and as fit as any dog half her age up until this last autumn, was now near her end.
As it happened, the vet said that we'd done the right thing and, as she struggled to find a viable vein to administer the shot, we could see that she was right. In the end, the vet had to shave a patch on her neck, as she just couldn't find a vein in her legs. We held her in our arms, and stroked her behind her ears as she'd always loved us to do, and the vet administered the shot. One breath, two - and she was gone. We cried, not so much for her passing, which we saw was so very quick and painless, but for the loss of our dearly loved friend. Even as I write this, I feel the tears welling again, but I know we had done the right thing for her.
We first knew about Rosie when we had a phone call from a good friend of ours, who belonged to the Dog Rescue in her area. She knew we were looking for a Lurcher, as we used ferrets to catch rabbits for the pot, and we wanted a Lurcher to stand by, in case any escaped the catch-nets. But she told us that the dog that had just been brought in was in a sad way. We knew what to expect, or so we thought, as we had helped rescue, heal, and re-home other dogs for our friend, but when she came to drop this new dog off with us, we couldn't believe the sight of her!
Our friend told us she had been found at the side of a busy motorway, tied up to a concrete block with a strand of old baling twine. She was stick thin, even for a Lurcher-type dog, and was practically bald with Mange! Our friend had taken Rosie to be checked over by her vet, and it was estimated that Rosie was coming up to, or was only just over, a year in age. The vet felt she could be saved with a lot of care and love, and so our friend contacted us, knowing how well we'd done with other rescue dogs. The first thing we did was to gently introduce ourselves to her, letting her sniff us as much as she wanted, and then her surroundings. We had converted our brick garage into separate runs, and we'd made a lovely, thick bed out of blankets for her, with a water bucket, a feeding bowl, and a selection of dog toys in the main area of the run. We put a small amount of food into the dish, and she practically inhaled it, but we knew she would need to be fed small and often over the next few days, possibly even more, until her stomach got used to eating regularly again.
We had been fortunate in having a large amount of mange treatments, and vetchem for keeping the kennels clean, as Rosie had Sarcoptic mange, bless her, which meant isolation and regular treatments, as it is highly infectious in mammals. With a whole list of do's and dont's from the vet who had initially seen Rosie, we started her treatment. At this stage, because she was almost completely bald, we had no idea what her colouring, or patterning, was but, gradually, as we beat the mange, her fur started to grow back until, when she was totally free of it, we had ourselves the most gorgeous black lurcher, with a small white bib, and four white paws.
From the very first day of her residence, Rosie was a perfect patient, never growling or snapping at us during her regular treatments, even though she must have been in a lot of pain. She was a perfect lady at home, except when being fed, where the food was almost inhaled in seconds. That was something that didn't change for most of her life, and it was only when she turned 14 or so, that her appetite abated even slightly. Once we had got her cleared of mange, we introduced her to our other furry friends. One of her favourites was our ginger queen, Thomasina, who, although only a quarter of Rosie's size, immediately adopted her for her own. At that time, we also had a Lurcher dog, called Fly and, with one glance, he fell in love with our Rosie! They were constant companions until the day Fly died.
When she was well enough for Bob to start taking her out for walks, the very first day they went further than the local fields, she shot off in hot pursuit of a rabbit even Hubby hadn't seen, and proudly brought it back to Hubby - still alive! She turned out to be the most soft-mouthed of any dog we've ever owned, and practically every single time she caught a rabbit, it was brought back in the same state, which was good, as we could then release any we didn't need for food. When she first came, she didn't have a name but, once Hubby had seen her run, he realised that she must have been a gypsy dog to have such training already, and so we called her Rosie Lee, after Gypsy Rose Lee :)
We had 15 wonderful years of companionship with Rosie, who treated every new addition to the family with a very dignified love. No matter what the addition was - and at that time, our daughter was bringing home all kinds of weird and wonderful creatures, for us to either care for until they were well enough for release back into the wild, or for re-homing - Rosie Lee either loved, or tolerated them. She became my husband's shadow almost from the second she arrived in our home, and I would only do as second best if he wasn't around for her to gaze adoringly at :)
We miss our girl, but feel so fortunate to have had her love and devotion for 15 amazing years.
Rest in peace, Rosie Lee.
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