Tuesday 14 July 2009

when a dog loses his best mate



Scruffy and Harvey were best mates. Scruffy hadn't spent one day away from Harvey's company and would pine if Harvey left the house even for a trip to the vet.

But Harvey was older, and Harvey had a heart condition...and last Wednesday Harvey's life came to an end.

So Scruffy goes everywhere with his human right now, to help him deal with his bereavement. And today he visited us for the morning.

I took Penny out into the street, because she isn't always welcoming of newcomers to the house. We 'met by accident' out there and passed and re-passed each other a couple of times, with praise for quiet behavior. And then we came inside.

Scruffy was timid at first and wouldn't leave his human, but then he loosened up and explored a bit; eventually he even went outside on his own.

Penny begged him to play, with puppy play-bows and woofs, but he's not up to that yet. Maybe next time.



The third little dog in the video is Bonnie, our regular visitor. She's old, too, and nowadays just wanders, deaf and mostly blind, from place to place, thinking her own doggie thoughts.

13 comments:

Slavenka said...

Oh it is so sad story,but I have
great news,check out my blog.

Johann The Dog said...

I saw some tail wags!!! So nice of Penny to help Scruffy :)

parlance said...

Slavenka, I'm coming over now to check out your news.

parlance said...

Johann, I was so-o-o glad Penny was nice to him. I think it was partly because we did the 'meet on neutral territory' thing, but it may also have been because she sensed his sadness. Who knows?

parlance said...

Slavenka, that is such exciting news. Who is the father?
Will you keep the puppy?

Patrice said...

What a sad story. However, life goes on Scruffy, enjoy life with your new friends.

JD and Max said...

Hi Penny - well done on getting some tail wags from Scruffy!

Our human already worries about this for the two of us, although she is trying to get us to be slightly independant by walking us seperately a few times a week. She's also going to hopefully enroll us as PAT dogs next year so we'll become a bit more independant through that. But we do adore each other and find sleep best when snuggled up together - she was sad to read this story but we know that life is sad a lot of the time.

Thanks for posting this story - we think it is working towards a happy ending all thanks to Penny! Tail wags - JD and Max.

Noah the Airedale said...

Looks like Penny & Scruffy are getting along well. It's sad when a dog loses its best friend.

tailwags
Noah

parlance said...

Patrice, I read somewhere that our dogs teach us how to deal with death (I forget the actual quote). It's sad to see him missing his good mate, but as you say, life goes one.

parlance said...

JD and Max, I think the problem with Harvey and Scruffy was that Harvey was independent and confident, but Scruffy, as rescue dog, was timid and dependent on Harvey.

parlance said...

Noah, who could doubt that there are great bonds between dogs?
It makes me mad when people dismiss dogs as 'just animals'.

If only you dogs could talk!

Anonymous said...

HI PENNY ITS KYM. THANK YOU FOR SHOWING ME YOUR WONDERFUL DOGGIE DANCE MOVES THIS MORNING, IF THERE WAS A DOG VERSION OF 'DANCING WITH THE STARS' YOU WOULD WIN HANDS DOWN (OR SHOULD THAT BE PAWS DOWN!!) THANK YOU ALSO FOR BEING A GOOD FRIEND TO SCRUFFY, I KNEW HARVEY PERSONALLY AND HE AND SCRUFFY WERE INSEPERABLE AND I TAKE GREAT COMFORT KNOWING THAT HARVEY IS LOOKING DOWN FROM DOGGIE HEAVEN WATCHING OVER SCRUFFY.

parlance said...

Kym, that is so true that Harvey would be happy to know that Scruffy is loved. I see how much you and Nancy love him, and it's beautiful to see his tail wagging when he is here.

And thanks for visiting my blog!!