Saying goodbye to Rocket, our beloved family dog

Our very own “Marley”

I would be lying if I said Wrigley was the perfect dog. He was far from it. When we watched the movie, “Marley & Me,” we felt like they based it on Wrigley. He was part Australian cattle dog and part German Shepherd. His energy was boundless and his protective instincts endless. In a house with two small boys, it often felt like a three ring circus. Wrigley flunked obedience school twice. (Or maybe it’s more accurate to say, we flunked obedience school twice.) He ran around in the backyard with such speed and abandon that anything we planted was destroyed. We put in a pool only to discover that he had some sort of weird phobia about water. He was fine if he was swimming alone, but the minute another person got in, Wrigley would get out and run around the pool barking….for hours. The police were called more than once on Wrigley’s disturbance of the peace.

Finding our second family dog, Rocket

When Wrigley was about 8 years old, our vet asked us what we thought about getting another dog. Because Wrigley was such a handful, we really hadn’t. But as the vet told us about the benefits of having two dogs, especially as one aged, we came around. On another cold day, we dropped by the same rescue and saw this little, black, 3-legged lab. She looked up at us with her big brown eyes and it was love. She was named Rocket because despite losing a leg, she was really quick at getting around. We would spend the rest of her time with us correcting people who assumed Rocket was a boy’s name. We took her home to meet Wrigley before the adoption was final. She could be a little stand-offish and didn’t mix well with just any dog. Wrigley and Rocket bonded immediately and up until his short illness, it was Rocket who kept Wrigley hopping into his senior dog years.

Growing up with the family dogs

The years have continued to roll by. We always talked about getting a companion for Rocket, but things were too busy. Both the boys grew up and went off to school. It was easy having just one dog. We intermittently hosted our son’s cat, Tess. We watched Rocket put up with a kitten chasing her around, biting at her tail, and bopping her on the nose. All of this Rocket endured with her quiet patience and they also became fast friends. Last week, Tess went home for the moment to be with our youngest son. Rocket didn’t seem herself. We figured her low energy and not eating were just signs she was missing her playmate.

Something’s wrong with Rocket

Yesterday, my husband and I returned from a trip. Our oldest son was at home caring for Rocket. He told us she hadn’t been eating for a couple of days. She also refused to go outside without being carried. She has some arthritis, so we called the vet and took her in to see what was going on. I think the vet knew the moment she listened to Rocket’s lungs during the exam. She asked for permission to do x-rays and returned with a serious face. We knew before the vet said anything that our time to say goodbye to Rocket was here. It was cancer in her lungs…and pretty much everywhere else. It was inoperable and we were fortunate she wasn’t in pain. Her breathing was a little labored, but the vet told us it would rapidly get worse. We gathered together as a family and decided to say goodbye tomorrow afternoon so we could all be there.

Saying goodbye and letting go

I know what is coming tomorrow. We will gather once again as a family on the floor at the vet. We will cover Rocket with a blanket I made and love her as she passes from this life. Few beings love us as unconditionally as our pets. I can’t even imagine what our life as a family would have been like without ours. It comforts me to think of Rocket seeing Wrigley waiting for her on the other side of the rainbow bridge. The pain of saying goodbye is the price we pay for loving. We will cry and remember and tell funny stories. We will welcome visits from our grand-kitty, Tess. And when the time is right, I’m sure we will go to the animal rescue and find another dog to bless our home because the years spent with them make the goodbyes bearable. They teach us to love and maybe more importantly….how to let go.

“Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love, they depart to teach us about loss. A new dog never replaces an old dog, it merely expands the heart. If you have loved many dogs your heart is very big.”

– Erica Jong