{"id":1720,"date":"2019-02-11T17:32:43","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T22:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/?p=1720"},"modified":"2019-02-11T17:32:43","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T22:32:43","slug":"if-i-should-die-before-i-wake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/?p=1720","title":{"rendered":"If I Should Die Before I Wake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Cindy Bruckart and posted on DogStarDaily.com<\/em><\/p>\n

“Tell me about your plan for your dogs should something happen to you.\u00a0 Not what you think or hope will happen, but your actual plan.\u00a0 Who will take them?\u00a0 Will that person keep them or be charged with the responsibility of rehoming them?\u00a0 Do you have a dog that could not be rehomed and might have to be euthanized instead?\u00a0 Have you thought about these things?<\/p>\n

I recently and quite suddenly lost a friend.\u00a0 She was only 43 years old and by all appearances perfectly healthy.\u00a0 She died of a pulmonary embolism.\u00a0 She had two dogs, one of them is blind.\u00a0 There is no way that she or anyone else could have predicted or should have expected this to happen.<\/p>\n

Her sister was able to keep one of her dogs, but with two dogs of her own already and a full-time job, she couldn\u2019t keep the blind dog.\u00a0 I had met my friend because of this blind dog, so I now have her and am looking for a perfect home.\u00a0 She had been one of my fosters about a year ago.<\/p>\n

I have four dogs of my own.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be honest, I have no idea what would happen to them or where they would go if my husband and I were to die tomorrow.\u00a0 One is a 129 lb Rottweiler.\u00a0 He\u2019s very well socialized, loves ALL dogs and people and has some basic manners.\u00a0 But a dog that size and that breed is a bit of a handful for a lot of people, especially the people closest to me.\u00a0 My other dogs, while they don\u2019t have any big behavioral issues, all have different personalities that might require different kinds of owners.<\/p>\n

I have two grown daughters, but neither owns their own house and both have their hands full starting their own lives.\u00a0 Even if they divided the dogs so that each of them had two, it would be too much.\u00a0 I might have friends who would lend a hand, but if I died suddenly, my kids wouldn\u2019t know my friends or which ones to contact.<\/p>\n

This was the case with my friend.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know her sister or mom.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t know my connection with her dog.\u00a0 Had it not been for them communicating with friends on Facebook, we never would have worked things out the way we did.<\/p>\n

I have a couple of clients who have put me in their will as the person with a sort of Power of Attorney for their dogs should the owners pass away.\u00a0 It\u2019s written that there will be funds available to me to provide care and find homes for the dogs.\u00a0 We\u2019ve discussed the details of this, deciding that the dogs can stay with me until a proper home is found, and that the dogs will stay together.<\/p>\n

However, I still don\u2019t have a plan for my dogs.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to think about it, to be honest.\u00a0 My death is not what bothers me.\u00a0 The idea of my dogs being displaced, separated and confused is what holds me back.\u00a0 It hurts to think about.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to do it anyway, though.\u00a0 Because in the end, literally, there are many things I can\u2019t control.\u00a0 My dogs will be confused and probably separated.\u00a0 That\u2019s even more reason to have a plan in place with people I trust so we can talk about it ahead of time, reducing as much stress as possible.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important that whomever is willing to take responsibility, should the worst happen, has a relationship with my dogs ahead of time.\u00a0 It was easy for this blind dog to come stay with me because she knew me, knew my dogs and has lived in this house before.\u00a0 She\u2019s comfortable and happy here.<\/p>\n

Oh, and let me address the euthanasia comment.\u00a0 I have many trainer friends and clients who have been managing difficult dogs for years.\u00a0 These are dogs who really would not do well being taken out of their routine and might actually be dangerous without their particular owner and their years of working together as a team.\u00a0 It\u2019s simply not something that another person could pick up where the owner left off.\u00a0 One of these friends actually does have in her will that should she die, her dog must be humanely euthanized.\u00a0 I totally support her decision, seeing that the quality of life this dog would have if she had to start over in a new home would be next to nothing.\u00a0 Not to mention the potential risk to an adopter and the community.<\/p>\n

So, what is your plan?\u00a0 Do you have one?”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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