CornerShot

Recently our family suffered the loss of a beloved member. Our chocolate Lab Bentley was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a painful form of bone cancer. His hind leg became increasingly useless and it was becoming impossible for him to get around.

The veterinarian said the only treatment would be amputation followed by chemotherapy. This would buy him several months of life, but the quality of life wouldn’t be great. Considering his advanced age, we decided to put him down to spare him more pain.

Trying to explain this to our two granddaughters was tough. Sophie, the 2-year-old, is too young to understand. Maddy, 5 years old, had many questions.

Was he coming back? Was he going to doggie heaven? We explained as best we could and I think she understood.

Not long after, during a visit to our house, Maddy exclaimed in a loud voice — “It’s Bentley! He fell from heaven to visit us.”

We had the task of explaining to her that it was just a chocolate Lab who lived up the street.

The idea of life and death through the eyes of a child is truly amazing, only if it were true.

Weather Journal

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