Might seem stupid but a friend of mine pointed me to this site last year after my German Shepard died. I found reading other people's stories very helpful. Your cousin and his wife might as well

http://www.rainbowsbridge.com/

 

Man, so sorry about that. BTW, I would probably do all the same things your're doing, like waiting to tell them until they get back. There's nothing that can be accomplished by telling them now rather than later.

 

Sorry to hear about that Kirk. I can tell you are upset. I would not stress too much over telling your cousin. There was nothing you could do. I am sorry. Kind of a sucky way to start off dogsitting.

Mark

 

Damn man i totally feel for you,that a tough situation to be in, even though its not your fault and they probaly wont blame you, you still have to break them the news which will have to be hard.
I myself was supposed to dogsit for the week but the day before they were to leave there dog died from a bloodclot which they say developed from the dogs seizures or something like that.
But anyways if they would have left one day earlier then i would not be to happy. I would have called them though when it happened , maybe because im not family just an aquantince.

 

Thanks again for all of your support.

Pretty much everyone seems to agree that waiting until they get back to tell them is the right thing to do so I am going with that. I'll post more when I get the pathology results.

Kirk

 

I agree with not telling them. There is nothing they can do and screwing up a perfectly good vacation is no help. What are you going to say when they call and ask how things are going?

That sucks man. Dogs and their keepers have a very special attachment.

 

First off, sorry for the loss of Simon.

You have made some good decisions though in the face of this. The first was taking Simon to the vet for an autopsy. This is the first thing you will be asked when they come back and hear the news.

Second, not telling them. I just recently (less than two weeks ago) was on a cruise in the Carribean when my grandmother passed away. My folks waited to tell me until I was back home. At first I was a bit put off by this, but I soon realized it was for the best. Nothing I could have done, and it would have ruined my time.

Lastly, as a person with some experience in dog rescue (founder of SC Saint Bernard Rescue), this kind of thing does happen. He may have had this coming for a long while. I sounds like he had a very rough life before. At least he was able to have the love of good owners before he passed. It would appear that he died happy.

 

Wow Kirk, this is tough. We recently lost a dog while my wife was out of town. I wanted to wait to tell her but she knew by the tone of my voice when she called home.

This isn't easy and you've stepped into a very bad situation but you are handling it very well. Hang in there amigo.

I think I owe you a PM...

Best of luck to you,

CG

 

WOW, sorry Kirk. But I must say you handled it very well. You obviously care a great deal about both the animals and their owners.
I've lost quite a few dogs over the years and it doesn't get any easier. Every one had a unique personality.

 

Thanks again for the support. I went back to my place today to check on my cats, which I will be bringing over here to stay in the next day or two so I don't have too keep going back and forth. I will keep them locked up in a separate part of the house upstairs in their own three room suite with a balcony so they can go outside when I am here.

I took the other two dogs out in the backyard and swam with them and threw the ball around. Got two keep these two guys occupied. It's going to be an interesting two weeks.

Kirk