Saying Goodbye

Today was the day we dreaded, from the time we received your diagnosis. We knew our time was limited, and that each day was special. We weren’t sure if we’d have two days, weeks, or two months with you. We are so thankful you stayed with us..if only for 8 more weeks. The last several […]

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April 2, 2019

Neely Roberts

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Today was the day we dreaded, from the time we received your diagnosis.

We knew our time was limited, and that each day was special. We weren’t sure if we’d have two days, weeks, or two months with you. We are so thankful you stayed with us..if only for 8 more weeks.

The last several days you struggled a LOT! Your good leg was getting weaker, your appetite was waning, and you struggled just getting around. We were so afraid you were going to break your leg.

Our vet was coming over tomorrow at 4:00, and we had just 24 hours with you.

The night before, some of our neighbors came out & got to love on you.

We talked about doing a doggie DNA kit for years, we just never got around to it. Four days before, we decided to order an Embark kit. It was the highest rated, gave health history, listed all the way back to great-grandparents, among other things. It wasn’t cheap, and since we had a few Amazon gift cards (and Prime), we decided to order it on March 30th, with an arrival of April 1st, still giving us 24 hours to spare.

On the morning of April 1st, I continued checking on the order and sometime late that morning, I received the worst news. The shipment was delayed. It wasn’t scheduled to arrive until April 3rd. By then it would be too late. I felt absolutely sick. All this time and we are going to miss it by 24 hours.

I didn’t know what to do, so I decided to see if I could talk to someone on the phone. I looked up and found an Amazon phone number. I don’t know who I spoke with the 1st 15 seconds, but by the time they transferred me to the main person, I was sobbing. I couldn’t stop crying. I was begging really. “Please, if you can do anything…I’m begging you…” all said between salty tears and a cracking voice.

The person on the other end of the phone, who was on the other side of the planet, was an absolute God-send!! “AJ” was very comforting, and caring. I heard him typing and reassuring. He kept asking about our dog- what kind it was (well we think a Rottweiler/German Shepherd mix…hence the DNA kit), how old he was, what was his name…everything. I could hear him typing like mad! He put me on hold for a few minutes, and when he came back, he said “Neely….I want to reassure you that I am thinking positive here..I want you to be positive, have good thoughts. I have a positive feeling that everything will be ok.” Between the tears and the snottiness, I managed to squeak out an “ok.”

I was on the phone with him for over an hour. He said he would call my number tomorrow. I thanked him, and hung up the phone…..then we waited. What else could we do?

On one of our trips outside with Geeg, I broke down and told Jason what happened. We decided we would run to the pet store and get a cheapy kit, just to see something, anything. Sadly, no pet store within over 150 miles had a kit. We were devastated. We said there was nothing we could do, and didn’t want to be even more sad on our last day with him.

We took him to our vets office so everyone there could see him. They gave him lots of hugs and kisses. We absolutely love our vets office!

We stopped by our neighbors houses. When GG would make it way over there, they would sneak him hotdogs, peanut butter (he was allergic), turkey, pizza, and any other people food. I mean, his face WAS too cute to resist!

They got to love on him and tell him goodbye.

Oh these sweet boys!!! They were so upset!

The night of April 1st, I slept on the couch. I just wanted to be able to hear him snore and pet him one last sleepy night.

April 2nd, we ended up taking him to the lake which wasn’t far from our house. He limped along, and sniffed a LOT. He even met a new Golden Retriever friend. We came home & took lots of pictures as well as made paw prints on canvas.

Making sure the house is protected! (Oh his poor little leg) 🙁

One of his favorite places- behind the bushes!

His favorite activity- sleeping on his cooling mat.

It was just too much sometimes for him to walk to his bowl, so we would spoon-feed him. We also put his bowl closer to his cooling mat, so he didn’t have to go very far.

At 2:30, just 90 minutes before our vet was scheduled to arrive, someone pulled in the driveway. A guy got out and had a package in his hands.

It was our test! It came! AJ made it happen!

As SOON (no joke), as we closed the door, my phone rang. It was AJ, making sure we received it! We were elated!!!

We did a quick swab, sealed it up and took our guy for one more walk. 45 minutes later our vet would arrive.

We had so much time with you all these years, but then again, we didn’t.

You showed up after a tornado in 2008 and captured our hearts! You were the sweetest, most gentle dog we had ever met! You loved everyone (except yellow dog), and never met a stranger! You claimed me as “yours” when Jason & I had our 1st date. I’ll never forget those dusty, muddy paws that landed on my shirt & said “mine!” You were so funny, and walked with a wiggle butt when you were happy; which was all the time! You struggled in your last few years but it was STUPID, STUPID cancer that you just couldn’t outrun. 🙁 You loved spending time on the porch while the breeze blew on your face. You also loved digging in the mulch, and sleeping behind the bushes. And let’s not forget the times you would sneak off to the neighbors houses and come back with hot dogs, pizza, a turkey, and ham bones in your mouth!!!
We never knew quite how loved you were until we started hearing from our neighbors. Everyone in the vet’s office LOVED seeing you, and you loved seeing everyone there. (We know you had your favorites). Sadly, at some point in your life, someone had shot you, as we found out during an X-ray in 2016. You always liked to be a sneaky rascal, and get in the woods, while I walked you (and made me late to work). You loved riding in the car, but we’re pretty sure your favorite activity was sleeping. You dreamed often and would run, growl and bark in your sleep. 
Thank you so much to Dr. Crabtree & Cassie for or coming out to the house, as well as all of the staff at The #critterclinic for loving our sweet old man Gooze!
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Run free on your way to the Rainbow Bridge sweet GG bear! But don’t take too long. Scoby’s waiting.

**UPDATE**

Our precious neighbor’s little girl (and her mom) made us a chocolate cake & a sweet card!

If you missed his story, you can read about it here: https://neelyroberts.com/2019/02/06/heartbreaking-news/

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