A couple years ago I bought myself a puppy for my birthday. I drove several hours to pick him up, and fell in love instantly. He was a 4 month old apricot Standard poodle with a wickedly cute beard and sparkling brown eyes. Our first introduction was right after he'd buried his chin in a tub of water so seemed to be carrying about 10 gallons of it in his beard when he plopped his chin in my lap and drenched me.
I jumped up yelling "Holy Moses!" (Which is how he got his name.)
He just sat down, looked at me with this silly grin on his face and put a paw on my leg to say hi.
Moses was an extremely mellow pup. He loved to be near me, so always followed me around the house to make sure I didn't get away from him. If I went in the car, he HAD to come along. He was a great friend and companion for me. The only complaint I really had about him was that he was very hard to house train and seemed to always be drinking water, so when he had an accident it was a BIG one.
Over time Moses seemed to pee longer and longer. It wasn't uncommon for him to stand and go for up to 4-5 minutes at a time. It was quite obviously not normal. We got him checked out and found out he had an enormous bladder and dilute urine. In short, his kidneys weren't filtering like they should and the water pretty much went right through him. Altering his diet and keeping a close watch over him, we kept him healthier for longer than expected, but as with any degenerative problem, time caught up with him.
Moses started losing weight and lost his appetite a few weeks ago. I had to cook chicken and rice to entice him to eat, and then sometimes he just didn't want it.
In the past 2 weeks, Moses started throwing up after he ate. His weight dropped quickly and he seemed to just shrink before our eyes. Yesterday he started straining to pee, became incontinent and quit following me from room to room. He obviously no longer had the energy to keep up.
Today, because we knew that seizures and pain are the next step, we put Moses down. I couldn't put him through agony just so I could have him a few days longer. So with his head in my lap, and my husband and I both there petting and talking to him, he passed away peacefully. He's now buried in the back yard along the tree line where he used to play next to Austi, a border collie who we had before him.
In about a week I have a litter of Labradoodle pups being born. Moses was their father. I hope that there will be a pretty little girl who looks and acts like her daddy that I can keep to carry on his memory. I do have one of his daughters from last year, but she favors her Lab mom much more than Moses.
I'm sad and know I will miss him greatly, yet I don't regret having had him even for this short while. He was a great dog who when I smiled, smiled right back at me. I'm lucky to have known him and glad he's no longer suffering.
