Your Pet Tributes

'Tai'

by Donna Stewart
(Coos Bay, Oregon)

Tai

You were a member of this family just as my own children are. We raised you from four weeks old, bottle fed you, cuddled and nurtured you. For 13 years you were our best friend.

We lost Tai on Mother's Day, 2011. Always a difficult day for me anyway, remembering my own mother. Tai had renal failure, and had reached a point that she could not walk, had to be carried from room to room and outside. She was a Shepard/Bull Mastiff mix and not a slight dog by any means, and she had a personality to match her size, and a heart to match her size as well. Her cries of pain were heartbreaking, and a fall in the hallway led us to call the vet. Not a vet who ever suggested "putting to sleep" any pet, he said there was nothing left to do.

We brought Tai home and said tearful goodbyes. She is now resting in a fenced and decorated grave in our backyard where I can sit with her every day. She loved laying beneath the shade of trees, so today we will plant a Japanese Maple next to her resting place. Tai's passing was expected, but even when it us expected, it is always unexpected.

We will miss you Tai, and the tears I cry even as writing will last forever, in some form. I love you.

The photo of Tai is not a snarl....This is her "Smile Pretty" trick.