My dog Ginseng

I thought ATU friends might remember me talking about my beloved Standard Poodle Ginseng. She passed away on Wednesday night and the whole family is devastated. The two big girls couldn't go to school on Thurs and Fri and they told me they were crying in school today. I can hardly move or stand up straight, feel doubled-over in grief and pain.

She was 13 1/2 and still peppy on her daily walk, pulling on the leash to get the best sniffs, showing friendliness to all passersby and protecting me from other dogs. I took her for a walk on Sunday and she was fine. On Monday she would walk a few steps and then lie down, get up, lie down. She would eat but only good things from my hand. Tuesday she lay down a lot but still jumped up on the comfy chair. But Wed we let her out and she just lay on the ground. We picked her up and put her into the car and I called the vet and they said come right down. They were very kind, they put me in a private room because I was crying. The vet checked her out--she was able to stand but just barely--ran a lot of blood tests--but the xrays were conclusive that she had cancer. I had to carry her back to the car. Called Tom, and we arranged to meet with the girls back at the vet's at 7 pm to have Ginseng euthenized. Had to tell the girls which was hard, they all cried. But Wed pm from 3-6:30 was kind of interesting because the dog could not get out of the car so we all sat in the car with her and fed her expensive cheese and sopprasetta and held up her water dish. The vet took us in right away; they had a blanket on a table waiting for Ginseng. We all five gathered round her and the vet said, now you know it's very quick. An injection into her ankle and her head went limp and she stopped breathing. We were all crying.

We had her for a long time and she had a good happy life and the end was quick. I am so grateful we had such a wonderful dog for so long.

I'm sorry Constance, I remember a pic you posted of Ginseng on a sofa. Only now that there's a young dog so full of energy in the family we've realised we kept alive our old dog too long in the lame health conditions of his last months before we put him to sleep

I feel your pain ! When I had to have Mabel (my mutt of 15 years) put to sleep, I cried like a baby.

I now have Elly May, a German Shepherd...like Mabel she is not a pet, she is a family member.

Really sorry to hear this, Constance. It must be horrible for the kids, especially.

Thanks for the condolences, friends.

I just got a sympathetic email from a nearby friend. Brought tears to my eyes.

Yes Eddie, it's hard on the kids. First time they've had a feeling like this. Elisabeth had to go to the nurse yesterday because she started to cry and M started to cry when her English teacher asked her why she was out the end of last week.. Ginseng was Tom's major girlfriend so he's feeling pretty bad. We are a bunch of babies!

An appropriate 'funeral' ritual and a new puppy would seem to be the right thing to do.

Yes, we will get her ashes in a couple of weeks and plant them in the garden. And we will get a new puppy over the summer.

We got Gineng's ashes back today from the vet. They put them in a pretty red flowery tin box. The contents feel rather heavy. I put the container on the fireplace mantle. Madeleine walked through the room and said it made her feel better that Ginseng's ashes were here.

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring but we had snow on Monday and it's still on the ground. Tom wants to bury the ashes somewhere in the garden but we have to wait till the weather's right. The robins start returning once the dates in March reach the 20s....I'm really looking forward to seeing a robin.

I was crying just reading this. Ginseng looked a lovely dog and what a wonderful age. I bet she had a lovely life with all of you.

When I had my old cat put to sleep (she was around 18, not sure as she was adult when I got her and I had her 17 years). She had not been ill. but all of a sudden went off her food and became weak and unable to walk, just wanted to sleep all the time. I had the vet come out as I didn't feel I could go to the surgery with her on my own. It was all over in a second, I was holding her in my arms. I was absolutely inconsolable, but the vet and nurse were very kind.

I must have been bad as a couple of days later they sent me a Sympathy card!

Sending hugs to you all Constance x

Elisabeth,Madeleine,Julia. That picture was taken about two years ago. Julia has since grown out her bangs and has longer hair.

Here's Ginseng a few years ago in desperate need of a haircut!

Hi Nash,

Sorry to make you cry. I feel sorry about your cat. I know how it feels. 18 is a good age. Ginseng was already 13 1/2 but she got such good exercise I was pretending to myself that that was some kind of preventative medicine but of course it couldn't stop disease.

My sister and her husband live on a big ranch in Nevada and they have a lot of animals. The last animal they lost was what she called a fainting goat. It would faint if it got scared.. She also lost a big pig last year, Homer.

Constance wrote:Here's Ginseng a few years ago in desperate need of a haircut!

That's the picture I said I remember I saw
and nice pic of your kids and Ginseng

Thank you, Usero!

My friend Cindy came over for a long walk this morning and she brought her black Standard Poodle Baxter. It was nice to have Baxter in the house. He climbed up on the sofa next to Cindy. Very different personality than Ginseng. Baxter is a goofy boy and Ginseng was an elegant lady.

Hi Constance. Sorry to hear about Ginseng. She looked like a wonderful pet, and I can imagine how upset you and the girls are. I remember in one of your posts you'd read a book and relayed it's message of how important it is to let dogs smell whatever they want to when you walk them. I followed that advice and my dog is so much happier when we walk, now that I've stopped dragging him away from every odorous thing that takes his fancy.
It's so rewarding, caring for animals.
I cared for injured birds for a while but had to stop, because I got so upset when any of them died.

Thanks for your note, moonie. I remember when we talked about dogs sniffing. The author said the dog's nose was as important to the dog as sight is to us. Ginseng used to luxuriate in sniffing. I remember that you took care of injured birds. Our other pet is a Cockatiel named Pearl. Like Ginseng did, Pearl follows me around the house, moving rooms when I move. We just put him in his cage at night. But usually he puts himself to bed when he's tired. Ginseng wanted to be friends with Pearl but the bird didn't want to be friends with the dog.

I took my first long walk without the dog today. It seemed strange but I did fine. Took me over a month to attempt it.The weather has been lovely, high 70s the past few days. Daffodils are out and forsythia are starting to bud yellow.

We have vegetable raised beds in the back behind the pool that we had let run loose. Since Sunday Elisbeth has been cleaning them out and today we bought a dozen packs of seeds. She wants to start planting tomorrow. She says she enjoys it and it is good for her. I dig a little but mostly sit in a pool chair and chat.