This story is in a book I have, Guide To Living With a Dog.
I think it is really touching, ( and sad). Thought I'd share it with you...
Let me tell you a story, A woman about my age brought Hamish, her middle ages West highland Terrier , to my clinic because he was limping painfully and had lost his appetite. Hamish's shoulder was swollen and sensative when touched. His breathing was labored. I took shoulder and chest x-rays. Hamish's owner did not want to wait the few minutes for the results, preferring to go home where I could telephone her. I am sure that, like me she suspected something terrible. The xrays showed a devasating problem; bone cancer that had spread to the lungs. The condition took months to develop to this critical stage but Hamish, a typically tough terrier , had never complained. Now he was in pain and short of breath. With this kind of cancer, even the most heroic treatment would be futile. I telephoned his owner with the dreaded news. She had expected it, and we arranged that she would return with Hamish at the end of the day for euthanasia.
An hour after dusk, Hamish and his owner arrived, the woman was soaked with Dec. rain, soaked to the skin, but she had kept Hamish perfectly dry. We gave her a towel to dry her face, and as Maxine, one of my nurses and I prepared , I asked how she got so wet.
Every day in th 9 years of his life, she told us, the two of them walked from their home to the local park where Hamish had a set routine, walking on the mile long peripheral pathway. She felt that Hamish would , on the last day of his life, enjoy a final look at what he had always considered his turf, but his pain and difficulty breathing made this impossible. So she put a blanket in the basket of her bicycle, gently placed Hamish on it and took him for one last look. She held her umbrella over him so he would not get wet. She was letting go of Hamish with great dignity and the respect he deserved. Maxine and I found it difficult to work efficiently because of our tears.
