Goodbye to a best friend

RIP Einstein 1992-2007

I just had to put one of the best dogs I have ever had to sleep. He was nearly 15 years old and had lived a good life. He had been battling arthritis for several years and it finally got to the point where he seemed to be in constant pain. Seeing his quality of life next to nothing, as well as the thought of finding him dead somewhere, prompted us to finally let go.

Einstein was the type of dog that made every one else want to have a dog. I am really a dog person and I absolutely love all dogs, but there are some dogs that are just different — a notch above the rest. In my extremely biased opinion, Einstein was one of these types of dogs. If we ever went places, we never had any trouble having someone watch him. They generally would take him to their place because he was such an easy going and friendly dog.

He was a Labrador mix and we got him in our first year of marriage. We did not have any kids and would not have kids for about 9 more years. He essentially became our child. He was a great puppy. His house training was nearly instantaneous. He always seemed happy and loved to wrestle. He soon learned all about Christmas, as we would always leave something under the tree for him. He soon learned how to open his own presents and you could see how excited he was for that.

Einstein didn’t care much for other dogs. He didn’t really hate them, but he did not want much to do with them either. He always wanted to be around you, but he was not a dog that needed or wanted much attention. He never jumped on people and he was always satisfied with a good pat on the head. At times it seemed like he didn’t really care if you paid attention to him, but he always wanted to be where you were at — not touching you, but just close by. It was like a comfort to him to have the people he loved close. He was never needy and always gave much more love than he required.

While he tolerated other dogs, he really didn’t like other animals all that much. I am not sure if it was the hunting dog in him or not, but he killed his fair share of small animals and put the fear of the Maker into quite a few cats. He would never eat his kills, but almost took it as his duty to kill these animals. One time in particular that I remember, we had gone camping and one of the dogs had gotten hold of a chipmunk. We were able to coax the dog to drop it. Me and my friend both went to reach for it, when suddenly Einstein jumped in, grabbed it by its body and shook it twice. The chipmunks head flew off behind him and he dropped the body and casually walked away. We were left staring in shock at this poor headless chipmunk.

We went camping often and Einstein and I would always go hiking. He absolutely loved it and he was the best hiking companion that someone could ask for. More often than not, I would get turned around a bit, but I never had to worry as he would always lead me home. There was absolutely no way to hold him back if I was going anywhere. Every time we would go hiking he would probably go 5 times further than I would because he was always out scouting ahead and looping back. There were times he was absolutely exhausted. One time in particular, we got back to camp and he just collapsed. I brought a water dish over to him and he drank laying down. Five minutes later I started leaving camp and he immediately leaped to his feet and started following me. I had to just sit down for the rest of the day so that he could rest.

His tolerance for pain was absolutely incredible. Most dogs are pretty good with pain, but they will still whine when hurt. Einstein rarely whined, except for when he couldn’t get to where you were at. When he was younger, he got hit by a car. It wasn’t too serious, but one of his toes got pretty beat up. I didn’t even know about it until I went outside and saw him lying there with blood all over. He never whined or anything. Just came back and laid down. Another time after one of our hikes I noticed that he was limping slightly when we got back. Checking his paw, he had a cactus stuck firmly in his toes. It appeared that he had gone on the complete trek with it there, but he never once slowed down or whined about it. I don’t recall a single time that he whined with pain. Even in the end when the arthritis was just awful and you could practically see the pain in his eyes as he got up. Not once did he cry about it.

In the end, I really felt that he was hanging on for us. You don’t have a choice when you are going to die, but it seems that some people just figure that they have had enough and it is time for them to go on. I don’t think that Einstein wanted to leave us. He was in terrible pain and near the end his legs stopped responding right. There were times he could not get up. There was no muscle left in his legs and he absolutely would not gain weight. He was nearly deaf and quite senile, but his sense of duty to his family was still very strong. I got the feeling that he would not leave us.

It makes me ponder the deeper questions. Will we ever meet up in a future life? Does he miss us as much as we miss him? Does he long for those long hikes as much as I do? I just hope that he understands how much he meant to me and that he will always hold a special place in my heart. What makes a pet like this so hard to let go of? It is unconditional love. Einstein didn’t care what I looked like, if I was smart, if I smelled bad, if I was famous or if I was rich. I was his owner and therefore he unconditionally was dedicated to me. He was never judgmental and always forgived without fail. His needs in life were few and centered mostly around being with his family. I’ll never forget you Einstein.