Bad time for four legged friends
My dear old friend and confidant Mlle Jenny alerts me to the demise of her family’s longtime companion Zeke. 
.
In her own words:
We didn’t take enough pictures of Zeke in 15 years, I wish we had. He was a beautiful boy and this really doesn’t do him justice.
You would have liked Zeke — everybody did, even people who didn’t like dogs. Even the UPS guy, who I caught petting Zeke one day. Zeke just made people love him just by being his Zeke-y self. We all should be so good. :)
Zeke was a great dog and I miss him so much. We loved him more than most people; he was better than most and more deserving.
May G-d hold Zeke in the hollow of his Mighty Hand.
This poem has been a comfort to me in
this situation.
The Power of the Dog
by
Rudyard Kipling
There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie–
Perfect passsion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart to a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find–it’s your own affair–
But … you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!)
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone–wherever it goes–for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.
We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we’ve kept ’em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-term loan is as bad as a long–
So why in–Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?
All dogs do indeed go to heaven with their shining spirits and pure souls. My sympathies to Jenny and her family on their loss of Zeke.
My condolences.
As you know, I will soon feel that pain myself.
I cannot know your grief, but I understand what you are experiencing.
My prayers are with you.
For what it is worth, losing a good dog stings like the dickens, I’ve been through that before. Hopefully in the fullness of time they can remember him fondly though, that’s the best way this can end that I’ve found.
Hopefully this can help some.
I am sorry for your loss.
My deepest sympathies for your loss.
Dogs are angels among us. Pure, simple, and somehow able to remind us that we are, and need to be, better than we assume.