R.I.P. Sad Elvis
Posted by Bill on Nov 17 2008 at 02:18 pm | Tagged as: General
One of the many posts I’ve been meaning to submit these past few days is one I was going to call “Our new dog Sad Elvis”. Elvis had been hanging around our house for some time now, the unwanted dog of a neighbor who refused to restrain him. He was a hound mix with full size features on short little legs. He got along with all of our dogs and cats and although he occasionally would bark at our horses, he did it infrequently and at a distance. This poor dog was skinny but we didn’t want to keep him from going home for meals. Eventually, though, we took pity on him and began feeding him. Most days he had been laying by our front door in the morning, shivering. So eventually we opened our horse trailer and put a blanket in there for him. Last week we decided to bathe him and take him to the vet for a checkup. And since his owner wasn’t taking care of him, we decided we’d try to find him a new owner. The owner had been looking for a new home for Elvis so this wasn’t out of line. We kind of wanted to keep him but we have four dogs already. He was “ours” in the sense that we were the only ones taking care of him.
Since he was now clean and since the weather grew even colder, we invited him into the house. He was a good inside dog and mostly laid around the house all day. Then on the coldest night of the season so far, we let him out before bed so he could go to the bathroom and we never saw him alive again. The next morning we discovered he had been hit by a car on a road not far from our house. Mikki pulled him off of the road and I angrily drove around looking for his owner (we had only spoken with him on the phone and he no longer took our calls). We finally found the owner and demanded he take care of Elvis’ body, which he did.
So Sunday was very sad for us. Even though he wasn’t our dog, he had become a fixture around our little farm and we’re going to miss him.
BTW, we called him Sad Elvis because hounds look sad and because of the popular Elvis song “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog”. It seemed to fit.
Oh no. That’s so sad. What a waste. He was such a handsome dog with the most soulful eyes, too.
So sorry,
Lisa
New Mexico
He was your dog, and you were his people.
Sorry for the loss, pets bring out the best in some and the lowest in others. We once rescued a skinny cat that was always hanging around the arena where we ride. It had a mournful cry and after several weeks of no one claiming it we felt compelled to take it to the vet for attention. I thought it surely had worms, it was so thin and sickly. But, turned out it was just very old, missing teeth, no hearing and bad sight. We set it up in our barn, feeing it canned food (something our 2 minpins and indoor cat never experienced). It never strayed too far from the barn for two years. Unfortunately, I think it became disoriented and ended up out on the road one night…also a victim of a passing vehicle. Take solice in what you shared even for a short time.
You gave Elvis his first real feeling of home. That was a wonderful gift. I’m sorry to hear that he was lost before you could find him a forever home.
But on behalf of the hundreds of Elvis’, thank you for giving a sad dog a warm loving place, albeit briefly.
You have the kind of heart that all people should have. His last memories were of a warm, loving home with nice people. He was a very handsome boy.
You are good people. I would have done the same. If I may, never hesitate to take an animal in, the reward is much greater than the difficulties it may bring. I did that with an old pasture lonely standard bread who is now doing dressage riding after being left as no good for 14 years. “he is just a money pit” is previous owner use to say to me. A money pit? He did never see the vet, or the ferrier and didn’t even have tack!
My home is home to a neglected horse, an abandoned kitten and two wonderful labs. None of which I have regretted helping.
Good people do good things. I am happy you’re in the Club!
Louise
Thank you all for your kind words. He was indeed a sweet guy. I am glad we made his last days sort of happy (I think), but I still can’t help but feel guilty for not doing more…and hopeless because, as my Mom recently reminded me, I “can’t save them all, honey.”
Here’s to all the Elvises out there, and all the soft-hearted saps like us. May there be fewer of the former, and more of the latter.
Now I need to go get a Kleenex.
There are (were) two dogs that roam around our rural neighborhood. I’ve seen them eating off of a dead animal on the side of the road. They are just all over the place. But, I’ve seen them in the yard they call home. So, they have owners and do not look malnourished. Well, my husband and I came home late the other night to find one of them laying in our yard. He had been hit by a car and was barely alive and in terrible shape. We don’t know how long he had laid there in the cold rain. We had to humanely take care of him. It was so sad and not fair that we had to do it. The owners weren’t even home. The neighbor that lives next door to them picked the dog up the next day after we had no luck at the owner’s house. It makes me almost cry again thinking about it. We have two dogs that stay warm and cozy in our home and I wish all dogs knew that happiness.