Woody Options

[Steve K.]

I was here ten years ago for my Beauregard. Now I am here for my Woody. Woody was a dog that nobody wanted so me and the wife took him in. He was a handful at first and he made us wonder if we made the right decision but he turned out to be a wonderful dog. He was a retriever mix and a beautiful red color.

Well, on Sunday 09/21/08, I went out for the day and the wife took the dogs (we have another shelter dog) for a walk. They were both on a leash but Woody pulled away from my wife and ran into the street. He was hit by a car and the wife got animal control to take him to the emergency clinic where the vet said it didn't look good. The wife made the decision to let Woody go and when I got home, my heart was broken. My poor wife had to watch him get hit by the car and then make the decision to let him go. We are both heartbroken. I can't sleep, I can't eat, and all I do is cry at the drop of a hat. Our other dog (Smokey Joe) is 9 years old but Woody was only four. I expected him to be around for many years. Why did God take our dog from us? I don't think that we are bad people. We took in both dogs and two stray cats. We love our animals like children. Why was he taken from us?

[Steve K.]

Jan, Brittany, Geese, and Dottie, I would like to thank you for your kind thoughts and words. I thought that today would be a little better. I didn't cry when I took Smokey for his morning walk and I didn't cry while driving to work. I made it through the whole morning without a tear. I usually go out to my truck to take my lunch break because I like to open the windows for fresh air and then I usually read for a while. Well, I didn't do much reading today. The tears started as soon as I got into my truck and I cried for almost my enitre lunch break. I managed to shed a few tears a couple of other times during the afternoon, too. I'm missing my Woody Boy and it doesn't seem to be getting any easier for me. I want to say to my wife, "how could you let him get away from you" but I don't dare. She is hurting too and if I say that it will just start a big fight. I know she didn't do it on purpose but I just wish she would have held on to him. Part of our job was to protect him and we failed him. I keep telling him that I am so sorry that we failed him even though I don't know if he hears me or not or even if he understands if he does hear me. A friend told me about some puppies that were born on 09/11/08. We are going to look at them on Sunday. When our 17 year old cat, Furfee, died last year on 08/01/07, the very next day Steph found a four week old kitten in the woods. We had to hand feed it around the clock for two weeks and that helped us with Furfee's passing. It was like Furfee sent the kitten to us as a replacement and it helped us. The father of the puppies is a Rottweiler/Lab mix and the mother is a Boxer. The pups will be big and we always take the big dogs because no one wants them. We are getting a fence around our yard so Steph doesn't have to walk them on a leash anymore when I'm not home. It's too late for Woody but maybe it will help with the next babies. Do any of you think that we are disrespecting Woody's memory? The puppies can't leave their mom for five or six more weeks and I'm thinking/hoping we will be ready for them by then. I think Woody would want us to adopt again but I don't want to do anything to take away from his memory. I miss my big red dog. Daddy and Mommy love you Woody Boy.