Good-bye Smaug
By sylvie | June 6, 2010
I had never owned a big dog before we got Smaug and when we first got him almost 9 years ago, I was apprehensive about this new puppy. A big dog could easily bowl me over so if this puppy turned out to be difficult to control, I would be in trouble.
As it turned out, while Smaug was a high energy dog, he was also my dog, so there was never any problem. He would follow me around in the house. When I did the laundry, he would come downstairs with me and give me his ball. I would throw it around in between putting clothing into the washing machine. If I stayed up late to go on a WoW raid, he would sleep beside me. He usually slept on the floor next to my side of the bed.
Sadly, Smaug was a victim of bad genetics and had been born with severe hip displasia. While we could have had some surgery done on him in hopes of solving it, the cost was prohibitive to us and there was no guarantee that it would work, so we didn’t do it. In spite of his physical problems, he was a good dog, always in a good mood, rarely complaining about pain.
As a puppy, Smaug learned that Odin was the top dog in the house. And so, even though Odin weighs about 20 pounds when wet while Smaug would top off around 120-130 pounds, our big dog was always subservient to our small one. That was probably a good thing because if there was one thing that Smaug loved, it was food. He would snarf down anything and would steal Odin’s cookie if Odin happened to walk away from it. If Smaug had realized how big he was, poor Odin would never have been able to eat.
Smaug also loved playing ball. Every morning we would hand him his ball and every evening we would put it away (or he would have chewed on it all night long). In winter, we would play inside the house. As soon as the snow was gone, though, he would beg us to go out into the backyard to throw the ball for him. Although he would tire soon (because of his hips), he would soon be back at us, begging for another round.
This morning, when I put the dogs out, Smaug got excited and ran down the stairs. When I looked outside to see if there was an animal in the backyard, I saw that Smaug was walking on only three legs. He was keeping his right back leg off the ground. When I called them in, somehow this dog with the bad hips managed to somehow climb up a short flight of stairs on just three legs.
It was only 3 in the morning but I knew we’d have to go to the emergency vet. Smaug wasn’t complaining though, so I thought that his hip had just gotten out of its socket. Maybe the vet would be able to put it back in. So I didn’t wake up André. I let Smaug sleep upstairs and I stayed with him. When André finally woke up, around 6 and saw what had happened, he called the vet and we got an appointment immediately.
The vet took some x-rays of Smaug’s hips and his knee. The hips were in much worst shape than we had imagined but the problem was in his knee, most probably a snapped tendon. The vet told us quite frankly that while he could always do surgery on Smaug’s knee, because of his bad hips, there was a very real chance that our dog would just get the same problem in the other knee. The vet very gently suggested that perhaps it was best to put an end to Smaug’s suffering. After seeing the x-ray, I knew that it was the right thing to do, as did André. Not the easiest thing to do, though.
So we hugged our big boy goodbye. Although André wanted to leave before the vet gave Smaug the overdose, I wanted to stay. I thought it would be longer than it was, but it was almost instantaneous, for which I am grateful.
I’ve been crying all day. I miss him terribly and it will take some time to get used to the empty spot next to me.
June 6th, 2010 at 17:19
Oh Sylvie, I am so sorry. It is so hard to make that decision and so hard to lose a pet. You’ll always have Smaug in your heart.
June 6th, 2010 at 18:54
Thank you Laura.
June 6th, 2010 at 20:43
My heart goes out to you and Andre. What a heartbreaking day for you both.
Smaug was lucky to have a family that loved him so much and took such good care of him.
June 6th, 2010 at 21:15
I’m so sad for you right now, but looking at the photo of Smaug makes me happy. I can only imagine what wonderful memories you mush have with him.
June 6th, 2010 at 21:16
er.. *must… sorry…
June 7th, 2010 at 6:21
Thanks guys. That’s my favourite pic of him with his big goofy smile caused by trying to get a whole pig’s ear into his mouth. It captures everything about him: his beautiful face, his happy-go-lucky nature and his obsession with chewing on things.