The day will come for us all… that last day. Death is the one thing every living being is guaranteed. Humans spend the majority of their lives trying not to think about their mortality. I often wonder if dogs think about it at all. They live their lives so very much in the now, that I wonder if it even registers to them that they won’t be here someday. I don’t know a single dog owner, for whom the thought of that last day doesn’t haunt them from the very first day they have their dog – no matter how much we fight to suppress and ignore it. Yet, after holding all but one of my dogs as they passed from this world, I truly don’t think any of my dogs have concerned themselves with their mortality for even the barest of moments.
There’s a powerful lesson to be had, if we can embrace it. All life is fleeting and precious. Don’t give away precious time to something we can neither change, nor prevent. Focus on now and be there. Live in the moments you have – especially with your dog. Their lives are but a fraction of ours.
Do what can be done. Experience what can be experienced. Embrace the joy you can find. Cry the tears you must. But don’t stop living until death determines it is time, because it is the cruelest thing to willingly waste life, worrying about death when it has yet to arrive.
When the fateful day does come, then cry your tears, but don’t fail in your most solemn duty and responsibility. Be there, every day for your dog – as they are there for you. Be there for the last day – the last moment. Hold them, give them your love, be the last sight they see, so they can go bravely into that long night, knowing they are loved.