It is over two months since my handsome boy Magnum died - he was 5 years old - and it is still
so hard for me to believe it. We
took a wonderful trip out west to compete in the English Springer Nationals in
the state of Washington. We
decided to make it a vacation. We
have a Casita travel trailer and so camped. We visited a friend in Montana on the way to WA. Magnum was great at the Nationals
although it was not well attended.
We visited Mt. Olympic National Park, then camped and drove down the
Oregon coast. It was Magnum’s first
experience with the Pacific Ocean and he loved it. We camped in the redwoods in California then visited a
friend along the northern coast as well as participating in an agility trial
near Sacramento. The last big forest we stayed in was Sequoia.
Magnum was an awesome traveler, just a delightful
companion. He doesn’t bark at
other dogs or people and is very friendly. He traveled so well and he loved the little Casita because
his humans were close to him.
Getting home, we discovered that he had an eye
infection. I took him to the Vet
the next day. We went about our
normal classes in agility, tracking and competing in an agility trial. 2 weeks later he was lethargic, so we
took him to the Vet and he had a series of seizures. He had climbed up on Alan’s lap just before the first
hit. Alan said later that he felt
Magnum died at that moment. We
ended up taking Magnum to a critical care facility in Cincinnati with a neurologist
who did a CAT scan and spinal tap on him.
The C-scan showed a lesion on his brain. The radiologist thought it was
probably an infection, so treatment was started. He died within 10 hours of this.
Reports from the spinal tap came in after his death, which
showed a severe infection of his brain and spine – meningitis. I assume he picked up something he was
exposed to while we were traveling out west.
MACH Topguns Magnum TDX, TDU, MXS, MJG, T2B was my dream
dog. He was the result of Topgun
Springer’s excellent breeding.
Patty breeds for conformation, but just as important is the personality,
drive, and bid ability of the Springer.
He was such a lovely dog, a great competitor in agility and an
incredible tracker. I had so much
fun with him. We took 2 agility
classes a week and tracked 3 to 4 days a week. Alan was our wrangler and was there always to assist or step
in for me if I was ill. He laid
many of the tracks for us. My life
revolved around Magnum. He was my
constant companion and always at my side.
It has been hard to deal with the guilt that our travels
caused his death and that we couldn’t have done anything sooner to save
him. I needed him to comfort
me.
For a couple of weeks, I took the walk in the evening that
Magnum and I took every day after dinner.
I imagined that he was still by my side. I have looked for his sweet face in so many places. Sometimes thinking that I felt the
press of his body against my leg as he leaned in and put his chin on my knee so
that I would pet him.
I thought I had at least 9 more years with him. There was so much I looked forward to
doing with him – but most of all, just having him with me.
Was it just a simple twist of fate that killed my dog? It seems like Magnum’s future was taken
from him. How I wish I had a do
over for his life. I would trade
years of my life to have him back.
It’s been about 30 years since I have been dog less. I had someone at a Labor Day party tell
me how much easier it is not to have a dog. I guess it is easier, but my life also seems to be meaning
less.
I think about him everyday and probably tear up a couple of
times, but try not to just cry. I
have been hoping that if I behave and am good enough, then someone will bring
my dog back to me. That’s all I
want. I want my dog back.
This will be the last blog entry.
