We made the decision to let our dog Griffin go on Monday night. I will start this story with the fact that I thought we were going to have to put him down almost two years ago. His osteoarthritis pain was beyond what Carprovet could cover and he was in a world of hurt. We tried Librela injections and his turn around was amazing. It was like he was five years old again. I was good about getting his injections done monthly, until this month. I was a week late and I thought his pain panting was because of it, and that his excessive water consumption was because of the panting. It wasn’t either. On Monday he had a stroke or something neurological happen and his head cocked and he lost control of his body. At that point it was obvious that the most humane thing to do was to ease his pain permanently. We stayed with him during the injections, both for peace for any part of him that was left, and for closure for us. He was a good boy. I’m glad we were given two extra years.

Texas is heating up and Griffin the dog is starting to pant in his winter coat. Time for a shave. I do it myself because he is not a show dog and the clippers pay for themselves after only a few trims. Since it is hot here I take his fur down quite short. He is usually very laid back, he knows how much better he’ll feel when the heavy layer of hair is gone. This time, though, halfway through, he had had enough.

I gave him a break, cleaned up three whole dust pan loads of fur, let the clippers cool, and later I coaxed him back and finished the job. I missed a few spots, and there are uneven areas, but he is a much happier dog.

No, I didn’t save the fur to spin. His hair is wiry, short, and stiff, which does not produce a nice yarn.