Short Story Kids – My Dog Shadow
Photo credit: helicopterjeff from morguefile.com
It is often said that a dog is a man’s best friend, many dog lovers across the globe use this phrase to express their love and gratitude towards their four-legged companions. Although in cases like ours, the term ‘best friend’ can be thought of as euphemism. Our bond was closer than that of brothers.
I was seven years old when I first saw him. He was just so tiny and delicate that one couldn’t fathom that he would grow to be a forty-eight kilogram dog that the whole neighborhood would fear. It was in fact Mother who chose him, as I was busy watching the whole litter frolic about, chasing each other and tugging at each others’ ears.
After we decided which puppy we wanted, I was faced with a series of daunting tasks. No one in my family at home was particularly fond of dogs. They preferred to keep their distance. So I called them and told them that we were going to bring a dog home. I told them that I would do most of the chores and would really care for him without anyone’s help. They agreed as they thought I was bringing home a small or miniature dog that was going to be easy to handle. Little did they know that I would be bringing home a German Shepard.
Once I had convinced everyone in my family, that I was going to get a dog. The next thing that we had to decide upon was a name. Mother left it all up to me, curious at what name my young, creative mind could churn out. After going through just about every name that a child can think of, from Ace to Zoro. I finally struck gold. From the moment it came to my mind, I knew with utmost confidence that is what I would call him. Since I was seven years old at the time, I used to watch the cartoon channel Toonami. There was a show called ‘The Centurions’ where a lead character, Jake Rodwell’s dog’s name was Shadow. So that is what I decided to call our little ball of fluff.
Upon arriving at our residence, I took Shadow out of the cardboard box we had brought him home in, and set him down on the driveway. He stumbled around and sniffed just about everything he got close to. Mind you, he was still just three weeks old so he wasn’t very mobile. He had to be carried up stairs and other such obstacles that are a part of daily life of us ‘humans’.
As the sun set, we had put down some newspaper on the marble floor in Mother’s bedroom where I too used to sleep at the time. We lay him down on the newspaper just right next to the bedpost, but soon after he started to squeal. It was understandable since this was his first night away from his mother and the rest of the pack. Almost as if I understood his pain, I decided to go and get my old teddy bear that I used to sleep with when I was a baby. He immediately cuddled up with the teddy bear and thought that it was his mother; he slept peacefully after that.
As days turned into months and months turned into years, my little ball of fluff turned into my little wolf. No matter how much he grew and how much everybody was afraid of him in our neighborhood, he was still going to remain my baby . He was the gentlest, sweetest and kindest dog. He wouldn’t even hurt a fly, but everyone just seemed to be scared of him due to his size and wolf like appearance. We both did everything together like going on walks together, we played with a football and fetch with a tennis ball. We went on car rides together just for fun. I can still vividly picture his face that I could see from the side-view mirror. His eyes were closed, his long snout perfectly still and it was evident that he was on top of the world and the only feeling prevalent in his heart was true and eternal bliss. One could almost see him glowing when he had his head stuck out the car window.
One thing that everyone who saw him commented on was the fact that he had amazing looks. He could be thought of the doggy counter-part of Brad Pitt. But as I glance through all his pictures in the photo album that I have, one thing is evident. He only got better with age. As his chin changed color from jet black to grayish-black he started to look better than he did in his early days. Maybe it is a message that us humans need to embrace the process of aging instead of fighting it.
Couple of months away from his tenth birthday we got the shock of our lives when suddenly out of the blue; his tail froze up and we noticed that he had in the blink of an eye, he completely lost control of his tail. It was evident from the fact that he was not able to wag his tail when we cheerfully approached him or stroked his forehead. He used to get excited when we did show him affection but he was just never able to move his tail at all let alone in the same graceful manner that he had done before. We immediately decided to take him to the veterinarian. He was still happy about the car ride but it was deeply saddening to not see him wagging his tail at the prospect of a car ride.
When we got there, Shadow and me waited outside as Mother went in and told the veterinarian about what had happened. After all the dogs before us in the queue had been treated, we got Shadow up on the surgical table. The vet came and carefully inserted a needle into his tail. To our surprise , he didn’t even notice anything at all. Not a growl of discomfort or a squeal in pain. The doctor then told us to come the next day as it was evening on a Saturday and the hospital was about to close down.
After we got home, Shadow was feeling really uncomfortable so I took him out for a walk. Just as we got to the park he vomited out his kibble. After that we went back home, and everyone became increasingly concerned over Shadow’s health.
The next morning we went to the hospital again at nine in the morning. There they asked us to get an x-ray but there was a problem. It was on the first floor! Since we just used to live on the ground floor of our house and because we had given away the first floor on rent to a relative who was not particularly fond of dogs, we never taught Shadow to climb stairs. But due to the urgency of the situation we had to get the x-ray done. We finally got him up as I picked him up by his rear legs and mother picked him up by his front legs and we carried him up.
After the x-ray we had to go back down for a final blood test but almost as if the journey up the stairs had traumatized him , Shadow stood at the edge of the first step and refused to budge no matter how much we encouraged him. Then when Mother and me tried to pick him up again we were met with growl of refusal. Out of options, we decided to push him down the stairs one step at a time. Somehow we managed to get him down and the first thing he did was get as far away from the steps as possible. We then got him on the surgical table again and the vet took a blood sample for testing.
The next day we returned to the hospital, we were told that Shadow’s blood urea was unusually high and that he would have to come for the next five days, twice a day and he would be on a drip both times.
We continued to do as the doctors told us and kept bringing him in twice a day, until the morning of the fifth day where the doctors took another blood sample to see if the medication in the drip and the extra supplements that were being given to him were working or not.
As we arrived in the evening, we found out that his blood urea had kept on increasing and that the medication had shown very little affect. His blood urea was almost ten times the mean blood urea in dogs. There I had to make a choice, to either keep bringing him in or hope for improvement as the urea in his blood was at critical levels to the point of almost burning him from the inside out or to euthanize him.
Mother told me that it was my choice and that she would support whatever choice I made. I decided to have Shadow euthanized to stop causing him anymore pain. The doctors had said that the high urea levels in his blood had created ulcers in his digestive tract that would cause him unimaginable pain when they burst. So I decided that after the years of joy that he had given to my family and me, it would be ungrateful of me to let him suffer more just for my selfish desire of having the chance to spend a few more days with him. I always wanted to remember him for his cheery, jovial self instead of him just before death. I knew I was doing this for him. I gave the vet the nod to give him the injection and then within minutes he fell asleep. He died on the 4th of March 2013 exactly on the day he was born. He was ten years old when he passed away.
As we brought his body home in a car, we set him down in a blanket in our bedroom as my Dad and me dug a hole in the backyard and Mother got a lot of salt that we would use to bury him. After a while Dad told me that he would take care of the pit himself, and that I should go inside and say my last goodbyes. As I went inside and saw his body I immediately broke into tears again. I went and lay by him and with my arms resting on him, I prayed. It is unusual for a teenager to pray but I prayed for him and that his next life should be better than this one and in that moment I just reflected up on all the great times we had together. After Dad had completed digging the pit he came inside and said his goodbyes as well and then the whole family came in and said their farewells’.
I went inside because I could not bear the thought of seeing Shadow for the last time and that I would never lay eyes up on him again. But Mother came in and called me to put the first handful of dirt on him before Dad put the salt in and covered the pit. So I went ahead and did that. To this day I can vividly picture that moment in my head and I can even feel the cold dirt that I put on him.
After it was all done, I came inside and I cried. It was about seven o’clock and I lay down in bed and tried going sleep. I have never felt so sleepless before in my life. I remember tossing and turning throughout the night.
People often think that dealing with the death of a loved one often ends a few days after their death but it does not. I remember that every time the bell rang that a part of me just expected a ‘woof’ sound to follow the sound of the bell or that I used to constantly check before getting off the bed to see if Shadow was snuggled up next to the bed or not. These are things that it takes months to get over.
As I look back up on this experience I can only think about what I have learned from it. I can say with utmost confidence that the one thing I have learned from losing my ‘brother’ is that even after someone passes away they still remain with you where it matters the most and that is your heart. If you truly shared something special with them then you will be able to easily recall all the great times you had with them and to cherish these memories forever but then again, things never really ends, does it. You might just run into them again in another life.
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