[Dailydrool] 14 years old basset being give up in Calgary -

[Marilyn Bickell]

Virginia,
Your post about the man giving up his senior hound made me think of Bess, in
a round-about way.
Today I wrote an email to a friend telling her the following. It's a long
note, but I really do get to the point, promise, LOL!

My email to her:

"today I'm going to go through all of my pictures of Miko and put them in an
album. I guess it's time to close that part of my life, as hard as it's
going to be! It's not like I'm turning my back on her; it's just that I'm
still having a lot of trouble letting go, and it will be a year December
4th, so I think it's time to at least try. At least get started. Then
tomorrow Tom and I are going to rearrange the furniture in the bedroom so
it's not "Miko's" bedroom. I gotta' start closing doors, so to speak,
because everything here is still hers ... Tom and I rearranged the furniture
in the living room a couple months ago, which helped for a while, but it's
still Miko's furniture: her couch. Her recliner. Ya' know? I told Tom we
need to go shopping! LOL! *sigh.* So then yesterday, I spent a couple of
hours in the B&T Coonhound Rescue website, *uhgain,* looking at the
available hounds: http://www.coonhoundrescue.com/ Gosh they have so many!
And new ones come in regularly ~~ the website is constantly being updated ~~
especially hounds coming in from the Coonhound "states." I've read all the
stories ~~ success stories, memorials, "why do you want a coonhound," etc.;
I've perused/read and reread and reread the entire website over the past few
months. Also, I noticed while reading, some of the adopted hounds were flown
to their new homes, and/or relayed. So it is possible to adopt one out of
state ... Some of the hounds are in such horrid condition from
abuse/neglect! I will NEVER EVER EVEEEEER understand people who toss dogs
away as easily as they would a sack of rotten garbage, or because the dog
won't hunt, or because they can't produce pups, or because they're old, or
because they're gun shy, or because they bay, or because "I don't want the
dog anymore." Those people have a seat waiting for them in he**, because
what goes around, comes around. And some of the Hounds are SO skinny! Scary
skinny. Unhealthy skinny! A breed that should weigh in excess of 60lbs, but
weighing only 30 lbs, or so, is an incredibly sad thing to see. I don't even
know the dogs and it breaks my heart to see such misery. How they survive
that is amazing; I suppose survival is partly due to the love of the Foster
home/Rescue. The success stories almost make up for the horror ... I
understand that I need to take into consideration Bess, who is 14, not
healthy overall, and slightly "not here" anymore, so bringing a new dog into
the "pack" probably isn't such a good idea right now."

So Virginia, I'm right there with you ~~ not understanding why some people
surrender their dogs for lame reasons. Give me a good reason, and I'm ok
with surrender, but tell me something like the dog is too old just does not
cut it. 
OTOH, a dog is better off out of an environment where it's not wanted or
loved no matter the age.

Marilyn, Miko (Chasing lizards in Heaven), El Queeno BessWHSE,
RoseyMaeNAFASSDDBBSSSBSAT, & (FC)Theodore CleavEar Beaver Bickell, 
Fort Bragg, CA., "You have gone ahead and nothing is the same, leaving paw
prints on my heart that will always remain."- Tibetan Proverb from Prayers
on the Wind.