The other two are stories about dog lovers who happened to me.
One of them happened around 2015.
That year, an old lady who I often met when walking her dog passed away.
The news of her death was posted by the old lady’s son in our dog friends group. The group members are dog owners from several nearby communities, including many retired elderly people. This is the third elderly person in the group who died of cancer. Everyone was in a low mood and sighed.
Before, after the first old man passed away, his Teddy was taken away by his daughter. According to his daughter’s later feedback, the little Teddy was depressed during the time he was at her home, but he got better afterwards. However, he still habitually guarded the door every day, probably still waiting for the old master who would never come back…
The second old man was hospitalized for illness and sent a message for help in the group, hoping that someone would adopt his big dog.
A neighbor from the next-door unit was very familiar with the old man and his dog, and liked the big dog very much. He was willing to adopt it and took it home.
Who knew that after being taken back, it would be restless all the time. As soon as the neighbor opened the door, it would run out and go directly to the door of the original owner’s house. Even if the door was closed, it would stay at the door and refused to go back with the neighbor.
The neighbor had no choice but to send it some food every day so that it would not be hungry.
We, the neighbors in the same community, would also send some snacks and bones from time to time, and sometimes bring a small ball to play ball throwing with it. When his owner was there, I could see the old man playing with the ball every day, which was probably the happiest time for him. Sometimes when I passed by his door, I heard the old man picking up the ball while mumbling: Play again, the last ball, it has been playing for almost an hour…
Later we took the ball to find it to play, it only picked up a few balls and refused to play anymore. Most of the time, it lay at the door of the empty owner’s house, silently waiting for something.
Since the old man was hospitalized, he has never been seen as lively and happy as before.
Fortunately, the old man’s condition was suppressed after a period of treatment in the hospital, and the first thing he did when he was discharged from the hospital was to take it back to his hometown. I heard from the neighbor who had been in contact with the old man that because of the advanced stage of cancer, although he also used Chinese medicine for conservative treatment after returning home, his mental state was not as good as before, and he was bedridden most of the day. The giant noble dog also stayed by the old man’s side all day long. When the family wanted to take it out for a walk and play with the ball, it was not very interested.
The last news I heard was about a year later. One time I met the neighbor on the road and asked about the old man and his dog. The ending was: the old man died after half a year. After he passed away, his family sold the giant noble dog; after the first sale, the giant noble dog ran back by itself; the second sale was to a farther place, and there was no news of it after that.
It’s a pity. I can only pray for it: meet a good owner again! Such a good dog deserves the best owner.
I want to talk about the third old lady.
During that time, group friends often tagged her, wanting to know how she was doing and whether she was getting better, but she never replied. We all thought that it might be because her condition was serious and she didn’t have the energy to look at her phone.
As a result, one day his son replied to us using his mother’s WeChat account: Thank you for the concern of the neighbors, my mother has passed away. She passed away peacefully. Where was she buried?
After some consolation, someone asked about the old lady’s 13-year-old dog. Her son said:
It has not eaten since the day of my mother’s funeral. At first, it would drink some water, but later it would not even drink water. We bought it its favorite roast duck and chopped it up for it to eat, but it just sniffed it and refused to leave my mother’s room and her bed. On the seventh day, it passed away. We buried it on a hill not far from my mother’s cemetery, which can be considered a kind of companionship.
Another person said that his son cried for a few days when his grandmother passed away; and cried for a few days when the dog passed away… The couple said that they could not raise another one for the child, but the child was unwilling: it would not be the one to be raised again.
I want to say that I have heard more than once about dogs going on hunger strike after their owners passed away. This was the closest one to me and I saw it with my own eyes. It also shocked us greatly.
During that time, group members would feel sad when they mentioned this. The old lady who passed away from cancer, and the dog who followed her.
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