20 April 2015

Saying goodbye to our boy

School holidays has been a mixture of happiness and sadness for my family.

After spending a wonderful week away at the beach and coming home all relaxed, these last few days have been tinged with sadness with the passing of our beloved Golden Retriever "Orson", affectionately known as "The Boy" on Saturday afternoon. 

Over the past few months my husband and I watched our gorgeous boy's health dramatically decline. For the past year he had been treated for arthritis in his back legs with steroid injections and medication, but sadly the last lot of medication stopped working and his legs gave way last Friday. 

My boy and I before Easter

We tried to keep Saturday as normal as possible with plans to take the girls to swimming lessons, then to a birthday party afterwards. My husband and I shared duties so we could both spend time at home with the boy before taking him to the vet later in the afternoon.

In the morning we told the girls that our boy was really sick and couldn't walk anymore, and got them to spend time with Orson. They made him a drawing and picked him flowers from our garden. Popette even wrote a letter, which choked me up.

They adored him, as much as he loved them. He loved watching them play in the backyard as he sat on the deck, or he would sit next to them as they played in the sandpit, or jumped on the trampoline.

When Cherub was younger, she used to think he was her pony, and would try sitting on the back of him.


Our beautiful boy "Orson", 14 years & 10 months of age

Our boy had such a beautiful temperament and personality. He was the best dog you could ever hope for. He never once growled or snapped at us. He was more than a pet to us, he was an important member of our family. Its hard to believe he is gone.

The girls with the boy // the girls made drawings and wrote a letter // picked flowers for him

He had such a fun sense of humor. When he was a pup he thought he was human and would often sit at the table with us outside when having a BBQ. He didn't sit long enough to eat his sausage though!

He also thought he was a bit of a "SUPER DOG". One of the first few days at our house he came bolting out to the deck and went for a flying leap off the 2 meter edge with all legs stretched out then landing with a thump! He got up, shaked himself off, then went running around the backyard like a crazed lunatic.
He was such a goofy pup, so full of energy.

The boy didn't believe in retrieving balls, if we threw him one he'd look at us as if to say "You want me to get that, you're joking right?" He would rather chase the birds and possums that visited our backyard, then fetch a stick or ball.

We have buried him in our backyard, and told the girls that his soul is now in heaven with Poppy (their grandfather) who is looking after him. Yesterday we bought a dwarf orange tree which we have planted in his memory (he loved to roll around on oranges!).

R.I.P Orsey boy xxx

8 comments:

  1. Oh, my heartaches, sometimes the best decisions are the hardest.What an awesome Boy. Love to all x

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  2. Oh that would have been such a hard decision to make. Thinking of you all. x

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    1. It was a very hard decision Bronnie, but my Husband & I are glad that he is now at peace and no longer in pain. x

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  3. Oh hun.. I am so so sorry for you guys. What a beautiful dog. Much love to you guys Julie :( xx

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  4. Oh, Julie, this breaks my heart. Pets are such a big part of a family. Thank you for sharing some of your precious memories with us x

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    1. Thanks Grace, he was a wonderful dog and was loved so much by all of us. We find it hard that he's no longer here with us. x

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