The Gumba: June 26th, 2004 – November 29th, 2014
November 29th, 2014 was one of the worst days of my life. I had to say goodbye to my heart dog. While you’ll notice I have shared my life with many Whippets, Guido, or “Gumba” was extra special. He was moody, loyal, kind, assertive, competitive, smart and my best friend. He had not been feeling well for longer than I had thought. I feel awful for not knowing he wasn’t well, but vet visits he’d had in 2011 and 2012 weren’t showing anything was wrong.
Guido did everything I asked of him. He ran NOTRA starting in 2008 at the age of 4, and the several meets we entered, he was always top scoring “non-race bred”. He also humored me and went through obedience and rally and got his CD and RN at the age of 9. He sired two litters, his first produced two top 10 ASFA runners, and his second litter is currently only 4 months old with great potential for the show ring and the coursing field.
I learned summer of this year that he had something terribly wrong going on inside. Blood tests showed a high and severe protein loss in his system, but no enzymes were showing as off. We put him on a prostate shrinking drug in July, and he was like a new dog. After that, he was neutered in August. I thought for sure we cured him, and an enlarged prostate had been the problem. Guido had a great summer and fall, playing with his son, loving his new house and yard, and going to some state parks with his friends Steve, Argo and Gloria.
Then right before Thanksgiving, he changed over night. He was hurting, he didn’t want to eat. We went in for a check and they drew more blood. His kidneys were in failure. My heart was broken.
I fed him hamburger for two days, but after that nothing interested him anymore. He spent Thanksgiving at home with our family and he liked having us all close. Friday after, I knew I couldn’t ask him to hold on any longer. I made arrangements with “MN Pets”, an at home “end of life” service for animals. On Saturday the 29th at 1:10pm, Guido left his broken body and his soul soared up and over. He’s with Adrian and Eddie, Willie, Walter, Peepers and Ace, plus many other Whippet friends.
I picked up his ashes on December 4th. He’s home again, physically and spiritually. Guido left a mark on my heart when he shared his life with me, and a hole when he left. I miss you, Little Man.
I miss him very much. He was a special dog.
He was a big part of your life too.
Even though he often acted like he didn’t like me very much, I think secretly he did. I got several special kisses from him on Thanksgiving. He will be missed.
He did like you, he was just more cat like to others 🙂
Annie: What a moving and heartfelt tribute! I have a mental picture of you and Guido from a Christmas past: You were sitting in a chair in your folks’ living room and he was sitting next to you. Both of you were quietly gazing off into space and you were petting him. I knew then that he was a special dog for you…..And you were special to him too. I’m so sorry that you didn’t get to spend more time together. Love, Mary
It is never easy,and the special ones never REALLY stop hurting. You did all you could Annie,with what you knew. Sometimes I think he was waiting for Abel to establish himself before he felt it he could leave.
Thank you all for the kind words. It’s been 3 weeks and it’s still very painful. I have not been able to look at the CD mom gave me yet, which is all of his pics over the years.
Martha, I think you are right in that he wants Abel to bond to me, and that bond has started.