#dog - #(RANT) The closest dog I've had to being MY dog

(RANT) The closest dog I've had to being MY dog

When I was a kid, ALL I wanted was a dog. I petitioned my folks dozens of times about getting one, got my sister involved, did research into foods and walking routes and blah blah blah. My parents eventually made the concession that we would get a cat to see if I could handle the responsibility, and then after that we would see about a dog. I took this as a big win of course, not considering that cats live for over 15 years. 15 years later and that cat is still alive. It's hard to get too mad about that, I still love that cat and to be honest you have to respect how Machiavellian the move is from my parents. They really didn't want a dog. But there was still a gap I would have loved to have been filled by a dog.

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We always went to my cousins house every Christmas, and they had a bunch of dogs. One of them was this big Chocolate Labrador that became my favourite part of going up there for Christmas really quickly. It was the kind of dog that liked playing fetch, but would never actually give you the ball back, so you had to chase it around for ages so you could throw it again. For that reason, I was the only person who could be bothered to actually play fetch with it as far as I know. But we'd play for hours every day doing that, and I genuinely believe that dog was excited to see me every year. I mean it was excited to see everyone, but he did this little dance specifically when he saw me that I noticed he didn't do with other people.

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Anyways, this dog is about 12 years old now, and when I went up for Christmas last year I noticed that he was ALOT slower chasing the balls I'd throw. Not that long ago, he was way to fast for me, I'd only catch him when he'd slow down a little bit for me. But now I can throw the ball and run and beat him to it. He's getting old. It dawned on me that he's going to die soon. And I'm moving overseas in a couple of months, I'm probably not going to see him again.

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I only had this thought for the first time the other day, and I just broke down crying. And I'm not really crier. And he's not even my dog! Probably only met this dog like 20 times in it's 12 year life. But wow, it's really rocked me. Don't know if there's any point in my writing this, just thought it might be cathartic to write about.

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His name is Wal.

Submitted March 28, 2019 at 11:58PM by JamesHasReddit
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/DOG/comments/b6tmxj/rant_the_closest_dog_ive_had_to_being_my_dog/?utm_source=ifttt