[Dailydrool] Homer ATB 3/31/2010

[Melissa Jokela]

i was hoping that i wouldn't have to write this for a long long time but 
yesterday we had to let homer go to the bridge.  currently alex and i 
feel a huge hole in our hearts and home without him here.  it has been 
much much harder than either of us imagined it would be!  our house is 
way too quiet without him here and we miss him terribly.

homer came into our lives at a very difficult time, as he was brought 
into the family to keep me company while i was ill and going through 
tests to find out what was wrong.  homer kept me going and was the 
reason that i kept pushed through and did finally find a diagnosis.  he 
became a huge part of our lives.  he went everywhere with us and loved 
to travel.  one of his favorite places was at the cabin where he could 
swim and go boating.  he was the reason we got involved in basset rescue 
and met all of the great friends that we have.

about two to three years ago homer began to have episodes where he would 
just lash out and whoever or whatever was closest got it.  back then it 
was only coming maybe once every month or two but since last friday they 
were coming multiple times a day.  it was getting to the point that it 
was dangerous to us and the other dogs to have him around...so we had to 
make our decision.  i know that this is what homer wanted us to do but 
it is still so hard!  it was thought that there was something going on 
with his brain and everything that we tried over the years didn't really 
seem to help.

monday he had a bad episode and alex just about got bit (he was lucky he 
had thick work pants on) trying to get him away from the others.  it was 
at that point that we realized that it was getting much to worse and we 
had to make this tough decision.

yesterday morning rudy wanted to go out at 4:10am so i decided that i 
would let him out and see how homer was doing.  homer knew something was 
going on with him and for the past few months decided to separate 
himself from everyone and that is how he wanted to spend his last 
night.  he curled himself into the back of his room on his bed early in 
the night and just wanted to stay there.  at 4:10 he also decided to 
come out and i took that opportunity to bring him upstairs for some time 
alone with him.  he was like old homer and just laid there next to me 
licking away my tears.  he ended up sleeping there until 6:30.

we decided to take him to Mc. D's to get an ice cream cone...figured he 
might as well have what he loves on his last day.

homer taught us so much and for that we will be forever grateful.  i 
will never ever forget him and he will always have a huge piece of my 
heart!  i'm hoping that in time the pain will ease and we will be able 
to remember all of the good times with him and keep his memory going 
through those memories.

run free at the bridge homer j skillet!  we will always love you and 
will never forget you!

melissa & alex
sarge, gerdie, foster rudy and homer ATB