Why do dogs have to die?

My Australian friend called me when I was half way across Pennsylvania or maybe it was Nebraska. I had shared my cell phone number with my friends on a Golden Retriever chat board. These are folks I got to know over 9 years ago when my Goldie needed a pretty invasive surgery to repair a knee ligament tear. When Muriel called I knew it was her from the Aussie accent. We spoke for nearly a half an hour. We shared travel stories; she had crossed the U.S. by car in her early 20's. We shared dog stories; her Molly had also had the knee surgery 7 or 8 years ago. I spoke to many friends on that 7 night, 8 day cross country drive from Boston to Tucson. This was the finale of our relocation to Tucson, me and the dog in a 1998 Toyota mini-van.

Today Molly has cancer, in her brain. A few weeks ago she started bumping into walls. Muriel was told by the veterinary Ophthalmologist that Molly was blind; it was a sudden degeneration of the retina. For a secondary diagnosis, Muriel took Molly for an MRI and the diagnosis was worse. Molly has a tumor on her brain. Muriel and her husband will learn the prognosis next week.

I have been thinking about Molly a lot these last few days. I have been thinking about Goldie and Guin and Dixie and Truman and Noble and Summer and so many of the wonderful Golden Retrievers I have known. These dogs are the loyalist, most loving creatures. I call them Velcro dogs for their need to be right by your side through thick and thin. Of all the creatures on this earth that deserve to live forever it is dogs and specially Golden Retrievers. What lessons in unconditional love, living in the present-be here now, loyalty and humor we can learn from them. The human heart's ability to open up and love more and more is unlocked when you love a dog. Golden Retrievers smile when they are happy and they are happy when they are with you. So perhaps it is better when they proceed us. Their pain over our passing probably is more painful. But why so soon? Molly is just over 8 years old. Too young for a dog so beautiful to have to face up to cancer. It is sad to know that she is not the only one. Goldie's litter mate Guin was diagnosed last year with hemagiosarcoma. She is beating the odds and living longer with a very silent cancer that is untreatable. These dogs are not alone, however. They have people who love them and will help them and keep them pain free. They have people who live far away who are offering support and kind thoughts.

There is a poem about crossing a rainbow bridge to an island where your pet will wait for you to pass and you both will then go to heaven. Your pet will be happy and young and pain free while they wait for you. This poem is a comfort to many. I remember just moments before my mother died seeing a single osprey fly low over me while I was in my garden. I knew it was her like the wings of angel, flying away. The spirit always lives on. Dogs may fly away too, but like us their spirit becomes part of everyone they touch.

May Molly live a long time before her spirit is called. May they all live forever in our hearts.

vickers copyright 2009