[Dailydrool] Marley & Me

[janet dean]

I have seen 'Marley & Me" twice now - once with my two granddaughters, ages
14 and 9, and the second time with 5 other basset hound rescue friends.  I
loved watching it both times..laughed and cried both times, too.

 

I never saw Marley beaten by the fists of any of the actors.  Nor was the
dog euthanized due to the family in the movie wanting to go to Disneyland
(Marley suffered a second round of bloat that could not be corrected as it
was the first time.and Marley was 13 years old by this time, too).  Marley
was left in the garage for an hour during the first week after he had been
purchased (from someone who had adopted a female and wasn't told the dog was
pregnant..or that was the line the 'breeder' spoke anyway..those of us in
rescue sort of snickered 'yeah, right'...) when John (Owen Wilson) drove to
the airport to pick up Jenny (Jennifer Aniston) from a business trip.  This
was the first time Marley had been left alone, a thunderstorm took place,
and Marley went berserk destroying things in the garage, chewing a hole in
the drywall, etc.  I thought these two accepted the destruction that had
taken place quite well for not being experienced dog owners..John just
scratched his head, said 'I was only gone for about an hour...', and Jenny
just loved on her new 'baby' and commented that maybe he was afraid of
thunderstorms.

 

Marley was given as a birthday gift by John to Jenny.  We all know that
isn't a good thing, but these two kept the commitment they made to Marley,
and from all the destruction Marley did, I must say that most people would
have tried to give Marley to a farm many more times than the one time John
and Jenny consider doing it.  And this was said in the heat of the moment by
an overwhelmed young mother, who decided within just a few hours that
sending Marley to a farm is NOT what she wanted to do, nor would it help
with her feelings of being overwhelmed and tired.

 

The entire story is about how Marley is thought to be the 'world's worst
dog' for a number of years as he was thrown out of obedience class,
literally eats furniture, devours a lovely necklace 2 seconds after John
gives it to Jenny..the dog was a handful!  By the end of the movie, John is
telling Marley that he was the 'world's best dog' and thanked him for being
such a wonderful part of their lives.

 

My granddaughters asked me a lot of questions about Marley's euthanization
as they know that I've had to make this decision with 4 of my own basset
hounds over the past 4 years (as well as witness some of NTBHR's rescued
basset hounds being euthanized due to a variety of reasons).  I thought the
euthanization scene was very loving and touching, the vet was very sensitive
and caring, and I told my granddaughters that is exactly how it has been
with every one of my basset hounds that have gone to the Rainbow Bridge.
The act of euthanizing the terminally ill dog is the last act of love that a
human can give to that dog - even though it breaks your heart and you miss
them terribly.  You are able to help end the suffering and pain that the dog
cannot tell you it is going through.  Now that they've seen for themselves
that it was peaceful for Marley, they don't seem to be as frightened about
what happens when a dog is euthanized.

 

We rescue gals all began to weep when Marley started showing signs of aging
and being ill.  Of course, it made each of us think of the dogs we've
experienced this with ourselves..one of us lost her yellow Labrador a year
or two ago so Marley reminded her of that dog..each of us has had to make
the decision to euthanization a senior basset hound...I had to do it as
recent as 12/05/08...we passed around the napkins from the concession stand,
then we stood outside the theater for about 30 minutes afterwards just
sharing our feelings about the movie and how we were feeling at that moment.
I don't think we could have chosen a better movie to go see together.

 

I have had the book for awhile, but have yet to read it.  I look forward to
reading it now as everyone always says the movies are never as good as the
books from which they're made...I loved the movie 'Marley & Me', so the book
should be something else!

 

Janet Dean

Jackie, Kim and Lincoln - the cat!

 

 

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