Our dog Rudy was euthanized this morning. I know, I know...hell of a way to start a paragraph. He was unquestionably my favorite dog. As many of you who know me are aware, we are animal lovers in this house. But we take pride in not being ridiculous ones. Sorry to offend any of you, but to dress your pets up in costumes and sweaters, or worse, to fawn all over them like an over-protective nutjob is borderline animal abuse to me. They are lovable with many personality traits but they are still animals. They rely on instincts, not emotions. The things they do are not intellectual decisions but instinctive and reactionary. And that is how they must be treated. Dogs are not to be pandered to. They are to be lead. We are the pack leader. If that sounds too "Dog Whisperer" then, oh well...it's the truth. We have "rescued" every pet we own - 5 dogs in all, 1 snake and Taylor's new guinea pig, with the exception of Rudy...a purebred Chinese Sharpei. I got him from a "questionable" breeder who had all the right credentials, affiliations and certifications. Rudy's official surname was...are you ready? Von Wrinkle. Registered with the American Kennel Club and all, the whole nine yards. Problem was they lived in a falling apart double wide trailer on a property strewn with junk and it looked apparent that this was their livelihood and they bred as many dogs as possible. It's all about the lack of respect for ones property, which typically translates to other aspects of one's life. Psychologist say if you want to look into a person's mind, look at their house. The state of the home is the state of the mind. I guess I have a dirty mind. (Sorry, had to throw in a joke to lighten the mood.) But anyway, when you breed carelessly you open up a window for physiological issues with which many breeders have no clue about. Sharpei Fever is one of those aftereffects. It's an incurable disease that attacks the kidneys and liver of this particular breed and there is little medical knowledge right now to combat it. And it's now taken 1,000's of purebreds all across the country.
Rudy started out with little "flare-ups", as we called them, once every 2 months where he became completely lethargic, ran a fever - with his head and hind legs practically on fire and he refused to eat. They lasted on average for 2 days. He was diagnosed in '07 with this "Sharpei fever" which is a relatively new disease resulting from too much inbreeding from careless breeders. Puppy Mills as many people know them. Six years ago I didn't know much about these "mills" but, as most of us do, I ignored my instincts. Not that I regret getting him, no sir, but if I was armed with more information, perhaps I would have researched my breeder more intensely. In any case, I brought him home as a Christmas present for my wife, Dawn, who had another Sharpei years ago that was tragically hit by a car when she (the dog) was only 2. I figured she should get a second chance at a Sharpei. I fear I have made her 0 for 2 now.
But we all fell in love with Rudy. As a little puppy, with this insanely huge head, he snored louder than I did. ( I like to say that for deflection purposes) The second day we had him he fell into our pool and sank quickly to the bottom before Dawn reached down and pulled him back out. Lucky for us it was the shallow end as we soon found out that Sharpei's don't float like other dogs do. All that skin and not enough fat. And he was everybody's favorite. So damn ugly he was beautiful. He was our "Bubbush", as we called him. That was the limit of our coddling. We called him "Bubba" with a lisp. So when things started getting hairy last month and he was uncharacteristically sick, even for the "fever" standards, we knew he/we were in trouble. Everybody loves their pets. Everybody gets nailed when you have to pay for a vet. Pet insurance is really, really something that needs to be looked into. Couldn't somebody make a lot of money creating affordable pet insurance? Anyone? We dropped $1,500 trying to save Rudy and another $150 to end his life. Many people have spent much more.
Which brings me to my point. The end of life. To be humane. According to Dictionary.com - humane is: adj. - characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, esp. for the suffering or distressed. Rudy was so sick his last days as his kidneys failed and his lungs began to fill with fluid that he couldn't sleep. So, so tired. Constantly trying to close his eyes but his struggles for air wouldn't let him. When the vet administered the anaesthetic it was such a relief. He slowly laid his head down with all our help, asleep at last. The final dose of sodium pentobarbital, and Rudy's heart stopped within seconds. Of course it seemed so much longer. The silence unbearable but snuffed out quickly by our own weeping. As my wife said on the way home..."Why can't we do that for people?" Yeah...why can't we? If the situation is so grim, if people can consciously make an informed decision to not suffer,why can't we just be "humanely" put to sleep. That's how I'd want to go, at least. I know, I know, I can hear some of you already. There's too much ethical, medical, liable and any other "-al's" that create a mess on either side of the issue. Whatever. In the moment...like we were this morning...and a year ago with our other dog...when it's time to go and there's nothing else to do, we just end the suffering painlessly, swiftly and peacefully. That is humane. We are the emotional ones. The intellectual ones. We have the compassion to assist end of life in any animal but we can't do it for ourselves. Why? Because of lawyers? Politicians? Clergy? Insurance companies!? It's ridiculous. It makes it look like we love the animals more than ourselves. Because we're supposed to be humane with those that we love. We've apparently over-analyzed and out thunk ourselves on the issue. 
So now Rudy is playing with Sophie, our beloved matron of the pack who we had to put down last year, in doggy heaven. They were both met by Cookie, Dawn's previous Sharpei and Pepper, my own childhood mutt and my first experience with euthanasia many years ago. It sucks for us, holding that kind of responsibility but it is so much better for them.But because I'm human...and I feel things, emote things...I had to consider one thing when we were in that room alone with Rudy's lifeless body. How could I possibly handle this if it were my parent? My child? My wife? Could I really handle that responsibility. That knowledge that it was my decision to end their life. Maybe that's why lawyers, politicians and whoever else won't let me.
But in the least...it's worth a debate.
