Petey is one of our family dog's. I wrote a comment in another generic diary during the doldrums today discussing him. I took the liberty of copying that comment into it's own diary. I apologize in advance as this is of a highly personal, non-political nature. Sometimes you just have to say, what the hell.
Our beloved Petey is going to be put to sleep tomorrow.
Petey was discovered by an Animal Control officer in Northridge, CA on a routine patrol. On the side of a house he was found chained up. Upon further investigation, a dog fighting ring was discovered. Petey was the bait dog, used to put in the middle and let the other dogs bite and go after while they got riled up.
Petey was placed into foster care while the case against the accused lingered in the courts. The thought was that he would be put down once he was not longer needed as evidence. Petey was such a sweetheart, the foster family somehow got him on the adoption list, where he stayed for appropriately 1 year. 8 years ago my wife found him on a website, and with his torn ears and all, we decided that when we went up to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving, we would go visit and see what came of it.
8 years later, with numerous health issues, endless prescriptions, and lastly what appears to be his second busted ACL (as well as hip and back problems) we have decided that the quality of life is such that Petey deserves better. The good part is that we know we added many loveable years to Petey's life. The bad part is that we must say goodbye.
We love you Petey. Time to spend one last night with him and make him as comfortable as possible.