Andy Gapin

I had to bury my dog today. It sucked. A lot. There are few things worse than losing a dog…or any pet for that matter. It can be just as hard as losing a person. They are like little furry people each with their own personality. They are unconditionally loving friends until they end. A dog won’t hold a grudge. A dog will always be glad to see you. A dog doesn’t care that you’re late. A dog won’t complain. They just want to run up to you and lick you and cuddle and play. As far as I’m concerned, dogs are better than people.

So to me, it was weird that some people found it weird that my family had a funeral for Cotton. It was hard to say goodbye to him. He was a great little guy in every way. We had to do something. It felt weird to think about not doing anything. So we had him all cleaned up and had a little viewing for him before burying him at the pet cemetery. I just can’t imagine any other way to do it.

I haven’t lived at home in years so I didn’t get to see him too often over the past few years, but even at 15, he still knew the sound of me coming home and was waiting at the door for me every time. This made it even harder for me when I got the call from my brother saying that he was put down. I didn’t have any warning or a chance to go home and get to see him one last time. I knew it was only a matter of time, my parents had been saying they were going to have him put down for a while now, but I wasn’t expecting to get the call after it was done. It’s one of those things where you can’t actually imagine happening at any point in time. It’s always something that will “eventually happen.”

He was 15 which is a nice long life for a dog. He was almost completely blind and rarely had any idea where he was anymore. He had completely lose control of his bowels, could barely walk, and would often fall in the pool and not be able to get out. The decision was right, but it’s rough.