Mar 29, 2017
I Had To Put My Parent’s Sweet Little Dog Down
Caretaker Essay to My Parents, Pt 2 'Bailey'
So, my parents found out very recently that their sweet little dog, Bailey, had been urinating on a couple spots of an expensive “Persian rug.” The rug sits atop a new hardwood floor in their home, and the spots were directly adjacent to a very nice lo-boy cabinet. As happens, the pee, which had been accumulating for some time, and was strong in odor, but not to my parents. But, the pee had seeped under the lo-boy cabinet, and through the rug, soiling the hardwood floor, staining it and creating black mold along the flooring seams, all the way through to the sub floor! A terrible mess, and my parents were understandably angry.
Before my mom’s recent knee replacement surgery, she provided
Bailey walks, regular potty time outside, etc. Since
arriving, I’d begun that process, but Bailey had been doing this
for months. The three of us had discussed options over the past few
days, and I offered to take the dog home with me to Virginia when I
leave – Bailey would get along great with our two dogs, who you’ve
met recently in the “Celebrate Your Pet Day” video, at YouTube and
at the Not Old Better site, and I have the time and money to help
deal with this problem. They said “Oh, but dogs cost so much money
- and three dogs are more expensive than two!” “And, Bailey
will not make the trip.” Bailey is a dog my mom received from
a friend, via her will, upon this friend’s death, and we think
Bailey is 10 or 12 years old. At one point two nights
ago, my parents said they would get Bailey checked at the vet for
urinary problems before deciding anything.
The next morning, my mom, in tears, asked me to take Bailey, right
then, to the vet to euthanize the dog. My mom explained that they
asked a couple people if they were interested in taking her, but
they weren't, the friends saying the pound would most likely
euthanize a dog with urinary problems like this, and my mom is so
overwhelmed with her own convalescence and care needs that Bailey
wouldn’t and couldn’t be trained, given my mom’s limited ambulatory
ability. Hearing this, I then phoned a long-time area friend,
asking about ‘training.’ According to this friend, dogs can
be trained to not soil indoors, but the reinforcement, after the
trainer leaves is as important as the training, and in conversation
with my mom, she just couldn’t conduct that post trainer training
herself, and Bailey was not going to learn without that
reinforcement, and that if there were the urinary issues, then she
did not have much hope that the he would ever get better or stop
the behavior, and so they decided to have him put to sleep.
A difficult subject, but a thoughtful show...please
listen, and comment. What would you do?