Our dog Blackjack was a Giant Schnauzer, a huge but really gentle soul and great with children. He always had a big smile on his face. When we walked down the street with him people would stop us and ask about him, because his breed is somewhat rare. We would take him to street fairs and he was always the center of attention. They would ask to pet him, and he would bask in the attention. To see small children stand face to face with him was a heartwarming experience. Blackjack loved everybody and everybody loved him.
He got sick back in October 2018. He had this condition that happens to big dogs where the stomach twists and wraps around other organs. He had emergency surgery with a 50-50 chance of survival. They removed part of his stomach and his spleen but he came through OK and within a week was back to his old self. Two weeks later he suddenly got sick again and we again took him to the ER. His gallbladder had ruptured and they took that out, but he was in critical condition and his heart stopped. They said that even if they did CPR and he revived he'd have a poor quality of life. I had to make the painful decision to let him go. He was in a lot of pain and there wasn't much else to do. He died the day before his fourth birthday. When we saw him in the ER for the last time, he was lying there looking at us sadly, then he bravely struggled to sit up and say goodbye.
It’s common for pet owners to ascribe human qualities to their pets, to think an animal really thinks or feels something that the owner may simply be projecting onto them. In some cases, the pet really may feel, if not exactly think or express, what the owner thinks it does, but science hasn’t quite figured out exactly what animals can “think,” to use the term loosely.
Now, you may be wondering why I’m writing about Blackjack here. What relevance does he have to the mission of Daily Kos?
Only this: During the 2016 presidential election, my wife and I campaigned against the vicious hate that now has come to fruition. When the election took its awful turn, we were stunned, like millions of people around the country. Like them, we took to the streets to protest, to campaign, to try and do something to stem the tide of hate that has seemed to overtake America. And Blackjack was right there with us all the way. He marched with us. He sat patiently as speakers railed against what this country was becoming. Amid the anger and sorrow at these rallies, he brought a few minutes of joy to people and their children. At one large protest, I saw another dog wearing a sign that I wished I’d thought of, which perfectly represented Blackjack’s feelings. It read simply, “I support human rights.”
We are both heartbroken. We had to go into tremendous debt to try to save him, which we really can't even pay. So things have been really melancholy, and the holiday season is not very joyous. People who have lost someone always say, "I'd give anything to have them back even just for a day." Well, we did give almost everything we had, and we had another three weeks with him, and even though it cost us a lot, I don't regret it for a minute. I think I could really see the gratitude in his eyes. If you can do anything at all to help us out with the devastating costs that we incurred in trying to save Blackjack, we will be eternally grateful.
We have a GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/… Donations are made through Paypal, which accepts credit cards.
Whatever else happens, we will always remember Blackjack. I can honestly say that he made a difference, even if only a small one, in the lives of everyone he met.