RIP Tinkerbell

H

hollowdweller

Joined
Sep 22, 2003
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So Tuesday Tinkerbell one of my livestock guardian dogs doesn't come down from the pasture like usual when I go up to the barn that evening.

I call her down and she seems OK, but has some swelling on one side of her head. The next day she's back up in the pasture with the goats in the morning and the swelling looks less. Thursday evening I go to the barn and she's collapsed in the barn. I thought she was dead but she was breathing. We loaded her up (she weighs like 120) and took her in the house cause it's cold and figured if she lived the night we'd take her to the vet, but after dropping $600 on another dog recently we'd see how she did. She was almost comatose and limp. Head really swollen.

This morning she was dead. Really a bummer. I have 5 dogs and hands down she was the best. Best working dog, biggest, most friendly etc. I couldn't palpate any cuts, no mucus nothing. I had the donkey out last weekend so unless he kicked her in the head it must have been some sort of mysterious infection.

When her dear departed mother Lucy had pups she was the one that had the biggest hugest most ungainly feet of all of them so I named her Tinkerbell in jest. She was only like six or seven so still young relatively speaking. She sure will be missed. She always took a position above the herd and was alert to any threat and loved to roll on her back and have her nipples rubbed.

If there's a dog afterlife she's there!!:thumbup:

2003_0206Image0033.jpg
 
I'm sorry to hear that HD. Its hard to loose a dog. I wonder what got to her? Too cold for snakes right?
 
I'm really sorry HD:(

I thought maybe intracranial pressure from a skull/brain injury at first, but usually you'll see a continous downslide after the swelling starts that you won't recover from. The swelling curve is within 24 hours.

At any rate none of that probably matters to you now. Sorry for your loss. She looks like she was a sweetheart by the picture
 
hollowdweller said:
If there's a dog afterlife she's there!!:thumbup:
Click to expand...

There is, and she is. Man and dog sealed a pact 1000's of years ago. They love us when we're sick. They love us when we're ugly. They love us even when we are so empty and void of soul that we don't think we have any love to give...even to them. With a dog you are never alone, never forgotten, never unimportant. As long as you have your faithful furry companion at your side, to them, you are the most important thing in the universe. Sail the seven seas, cross a burning desert, move to a town where you feel cold eyes burning holes into the back of your head, your dog will still be there. Happy, protective, and will never leave you.

Tinkerbell was a good dog. While her death may be a mystery her good work in life is not. A seven run was probably not long enough, but I have seen photos of your homestead, HD. Puppy heaven is going to have to pull out all the stops to match that. She had a good life.

Jake
 
If it was warm I'd have thought snakebite or spider bite. But I have no idea. I kind of checked out her teeth while she was still alive to rule out some sort of an abcessed tooth.
 
I'm very sorry for you and Mrs. HD, HD.

Painful.

Maybe, REAL painful.
 
Hollow- I'm sorry for your loss.

I don't know how I missed this thread. I love pets- especially dogs and cats, where there is something God given about the love.



munk
 
Wow...I'm really sorry to hear about your loss. I've ocassionally shed more tears from my deceased pets than some people. (of course the last one was the hardest imaginable, but we won't get into that)

FWIW, I fully believe animals have an afterlife, and it's a good one. Nothing in this world ever goes away, just changes.
 
I'm not a dog person. Even though I had 5 dogs(4 now). I love my cats though:thumbup: Dogs have always been more problematic for me and required more work.

However I've had a few and of all the ones I have had Joshua and Sarah my first 2 border collies, and Tink set at the top of my all time greats. She was a Pyr. I have 3 border collies now, and they cant touch the collar of old Josh.
 
Love is where it's found.
Tink had a good life with a good family.




munk
 
Sorry to hear, hollowdweller. Dogs are people.:( And a good one better than most people.

Snakebite is what I was thinking... myabe a vet can chime in.

I have a 20-yr. old cat whose finally showing her age- not looking forward to that sad day.


Mike
 
Ad Astra said:
Sorry to hear, hollowdweller. Dogs are people.:( And a good one better than most people.

Snakebite is what I was thinking... myabe a vet can chime in.

I have a 20-yr. old cat whose finally showing her age- not looking forward to that sad day.


Mike
Click to expand...


Most of my cats have lived to around 15. The Foo dissapeared at 17, and we suspect the evil Rottweiler that also killed my pal Paul's dog who was 13. Foo was slowing down at 17 but still played like a kitten. She was super great. One of the neighbors later nailed the Rott. I did a drive by on him once when his owner was incarcerated and hit him dead on with a .22 in the head. sent him screaming into the woods but it must have not penetrated his skull because the next day he was back. However if I slowed my car by his house or if he was in the lower corner of my field and he saw me with a gun he ran under the guys trailer;)
 
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