RIP Bojangles The Rattlesnake Slayer 3/22/2012.

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I had to put down my little Boston Terrier yesterday. Those of you that have lost a pet know the pain. Its the price we pay for choosing to share our lives with a pet.

We acquired Bojangles four years ago from a friend that couldn’t keep him anymore. He was scared of men, I think some of the guys in his previous life had mistreated him. He would cringe when Steve reached for him, slink on his belly when he called him. Steve worked with him until he was more comfortable around men, but he always preferred women.

He spent many a happy night under the covers sleeping with our daughter Keely. He adored her and followed her everywhere.

He got to go camping with us for the first time in his life. The picture I have of him on Facebook is his first canoe ride. He got to explore all kinds of interesting places when we moved to Colorado, including our horse pasture where he ate horse poop until he barfed.

We still laugh about the time he was in the jeep when we parked it to go eat on a snow day. Steve wanted to teach me the proper way to drive on ice and snow so we had been doing skids and circles on icy parking lots for a couple of hours, I parked the jeep in the middle of the almost deserted parking lot well away from other cars. We walked in and as we stared to sit down i saw a car pulling in between
two other cars right in front of the building. I thought ” boy that jeep looks like our jeep”. Then I thought “huh, that dog looks like Bo”. Then ” oh wow that is Bo!”. The jeep had slid down three rows and parked itself in between two other cars. Bo was in the backseat with his front feet on the console. I could see his head with his big Boston Terrier ears swiveling from right to left. Reading his body language he was saying ” who is driving? who is driving?”. No doubt he would have been at the steering wheel trying to drive in the next few minutes if the car had not come to a safe stop at the curb.

Although he loved Keely and Steve he was really my dog. When the weather was good he would run errands with me. He loved riding in the car. When the weather was warm and we took the top off the Wrangler he was in heaven.

He was my shadow when I was in the house, following me from room to room when I cleaned, hopping up on the couch to snuggle next to me whenever I sat down, He would lay on my foot when I stood in front of the sink to brush my teeth.

He was totally deaf, but would watch me very closely for hand signals. He also farted really bad all the time.  Boy that little guy could clear a room.

Last year Bo found a rattlesnake in our yard. He killed that sucker. Chewed him up really good. He also got bit on the snout and neck in the process. He was put on IV pain meds and antibiotics and was
almost as good as new the next day. Tough little guy.

Somehow he hurt his back and ruptured a disc. We tried prednisone and then opiate pain meds. The last two days he could hardly walk, couldn’t climb stairs and just screamed in pain. He wouldn’t take his
pills in a hot dog or cheese. I couldn’t tilt his head up to put the pills down his throat because his back and neck hurt so bad. He ate a couple of bites of hamburger then threw it right back up.

I knew it was time. I’d hoped this would happen on one of Steve’s days off so he could do it. If I didn’t take him in that day, we would have to wait until the next afternoon. I couldn’t put him through another day and night of pain so I made the call to the vet.

Tears were streaming down my face when I walked into the vets office. They took us right into a room and left us there to wait for the vet. I held him, and stroked his little gray face. He finally relaxed and went to sleep while we waited for Ana the vet.  Ana had saved his life when he became                             Bo The Rattlesnake Slayer last year.

She was crying when she walked in the room. We looked at each other and both of us stared sobbing.. We hugged and she told me she had just lost her cat the night before.

I can tell you that Bo had a very easy and loving passing, with two people that cared about him petting him and crying over him as he went to sleep for the last time.

We made an impression of his feet in clay. A local business will fireit for us. I think we will put it out in the garden where we bury his ashes beside his favorite sleeping tree.

As we were talking about the final arrangements Bo did it one last time. The fart was so bad we had to leave.

Bo could still clear a room.

4 thoughts on “RIP Bojangles The Rattlesnake Slayer 3/22/2012.

  1. I’m so sorry for your loss. I have a 9 year old BT named Charlie who we all adore. Sounds like your little guy had that awesome BT personality. They’re all little characters.

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    1. Thanks for the comment. Yeah, BT’s are pretty lovable. Bo was my first. Hope you will give your little guy an extra hug for me today.

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  2. Just now read your blog about losing your dog. My condolences. I’m sure I had mentioned having to go through the same thing, for the first time, 3x within a year. It does sound like you guys gave Bojangles quite a life!

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    1. Thanks Dennis. It’s always tough isn’t it? Miss him. It’s been a couple months. Just got the piece up on my blog

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