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OPINION: Putting the Squamish dog down?

“Don’t kill our dog, mom,” says my 20-something son who is lying on the floor, his head in Mieko’s fur. All four of my sons have long since moved out, so this is a rare visit and cuddle.
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“Don’t kill our dog, mom,” says my 20-something son who is lying on the floor, his head in Mieko’s fur.

All four of my sons have long since moved out, so this is a rare visit and cuddle.

I knew then he had been speaking to his older brother, to whom I had confided that Mieko had been having accidents in the house almost daily, regardless of how many walks we took him on. He struggles to sit and has slowed to a hobble on his walks.

My older son too, expressed horror that we might consider putting his boyhood pet down.

For most of us in Squamish, dogs are a constant in our lives. They liven up our homes and offices. Friends and, as a journalist, connections are made on the trails or in our driveway through our common interest in our furry sidekicks.

We adopted Mieko, a canaan, from the SPCA in 2010 when he was four years old.

So, he has been a staple in our lives since my sons were small. He has been with us on endless hikes, road trips; through no less than six house moves to three communities. Through sicknesses and fights when he cowered behind a chair, making us all feel bad and calm down enough to comfort him, he’s been there.

As a blended family of six, Mieko has been a tie that bonded us. We took turns walking him, worrying about him and loving him.

When we moved to Squamish, we went through a horrible period where Mieko was so afraid at night he would sleep in the bathtub and nervously chewed through everything from photo albums to the pipes under the bathroom sink. We think it was the bears he was reacting to. He eventually calmed down.

But his best days are behind him now.

The signs are easy to spot, but hard to quantify, less activity, less appetite, less interest in his surroundings — accidents.

Those questions all pet owners face at some point, are in front of us now.

When is it his time? Are we keeping him around for us, not him? Will he just eventually die in his sleep and is that better for him?

And, let’s be honest, money plays a role in this. We don’t want to spend thousands to keep a dog barely alive.

But he does seem to still enjoy getting outside and he doesn’t seem to be in pain. He is still eating and wagging his tail.

While admittedly nothing like life and death decisions involving human relatives, it isn’t easy to decide if and when to put a family pet down, especially when there isn’t family consensus.

For now, we have given in to our sons’ wishes and taken euthanasia off the table.

We took Mieko to our Squamish vet who gave us some ways to help his hip stiffness and with the accidents, which have since been a little less frequent.

But we can’t put this on our vet. Ultimately, we know this is our decision to make.

I just hope when the time comes, we make the right one.

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