Unfortunately for my 12 year old Jack Russel Terrier, he's going to be put to sleep a week from today
We bought Sparky from (what we thought) was a respectable breeder a state away from where we live, in New Hampshire. Sparky is a bigger than average Jack Russel. Even when he was a puppy he was relatively large, larger than his two other siblings, Oscar and Olivia. Sparky's original name was Jelly Bean lol But he WAS the calmer of the other two dogs for sale, so we picked him.
Sparky was pretty intelligent. Sometimes too much for his own good. One time he tried to beg for pancakes from me when I was at the table, and after repeated sayings of "No", I thought I got rid of him. Only a few minutes later, I heard a loud THUNK! followed by the table rattling. I looked down to see Spark poking his head up from under the table and wagging his tail. Stealth was never his thing lol
Our vet at the time was terrible, soley for his suggestion that Sparky didn't need a vaccination for Lyme's Disease. Even though we live in Massachusetts. Prime Tick Country! Sure enough, Sparky caught the disease from a deer tick when he was a year old, and it nearly paralyzed him for life. He could barely eat and walk for two weeks but he made a full recovery. Of course, we suspect that it had a lasting affect on his immune system and his mental health after that.
We got other dogs, four to be exact, but we kept three after Sparky viciously attacked one named Ralphie, a bichon-shi zou mix, and so we sent that one to live with relatives (he died a few years ago from cancer, sadly). Our three other dogs, Chessie, a border collie/elkhound mix is the only one Sparky gets along with, and the other two, Pixie and Walter our two cardigan corgies can't be anywhere near him.
We need to keep the dogs separated in pairs (Sparky/Chessie, Walter/Pixie) all day in separate rooms. We spend time with them all day and they go out at frequent intervals so none are neglected at all, but it's still stressful every time they need to go out because if someone forgets Sparky and Chessie are out and we let Pixie and Walter go out, the resulting fight between Sparky and the corgis wouldn't be pretty. We have had to break up many fights when "the streams get crossed" as mom calls it, and we knew we had to do something about Sparky's growing aggression. Mom however didn't like the idea of killing one of our dogs and she's been very attached to Sparky since we got him.
But it's not just aggression. He's sick all the time thanks to his Pancreatitis, vomiting and defacating red slime almost every day, and even switching to a different food to ease his stomach has done nothing. He has toxic farts that choke my parents who keep Sparky and Ches in their room, and he get's frequent ear infections, red rashes erupt all over his belly if he eats any stray crumb of food (or steals bites of chessie's food), he's probably got cataracts now, and he's getting less concerned about who he growls at and bites. That includes me, so it's obviously worrying for a number of reasons.
Now we have to move soon back to Long Island New York. The last move sent Sparky into an emotional tizzy and only aggravated his Pancreatitis. We really don't like the idea of putting him through that again when we ended up moving back home, the stress of keeping the dogs separate is taking it's toll, and with my sister's toddler running about the house when he visits, we're constantly worried that Sparky is gonna hurt him if Lucas opens the bedroom door. Our family feels like this is really a humane decision.
My mom doesn't want to give him away because she feels that will confuse him, and the fact that he's aggressive to others is a huge problem (he's sometimes growled and tried to bite guests!). My stepdad called our vet, the vet agreed with our decision, he said he'll come to our house and put him to sleep there next week. It's hard. It's really hard! I know my dog is aggressive and suffering physically, but I still feel like we should've done something more, or differently. I guess that's normal, I don't know. We tried. We clearly made mistakes, we paid for them, and we tried to live with them, but it's becoming overwhelming now with the move and a growing family...
I've dealt with loss of animals through friends and family, but never my OWN animal. I know I' not going to be in the house when the vet is here. I know I can't deal with that kind of emotional hell, so a friend of mine agreed to have me come over his house for the day when Sparky gets... escorted to the Rainbow Bridge... It's not gonna be an easy day. For any of us.
