Sharing this story with you about the day our dog died is still very emotional for me to tell. I never want anyone else to have to experience what happened to our dog.
My husband and I enjoyed jogging together. We had easy access to some awesome trails just a short drive from our home. Our black Labrador, Ruby, loved to jog with us.
Ruby always looked forward to jumping into our truck to join us for a jog on the trail. When she saw us heading for our truck with our jogging shoes on, she knew what it meant.
Most of the trails we frequented also had some natural source of water, either a pond or a stream. We would stop during our jog for Ruby to splash in the water. Labradors love the water!
One day we decided to try a different trail. We always hydrated well at our vehicle before starting our jog. And we had plenty of water in our vehicle to hydrate again upon finishing our jog.
It turned out to be the biggest mistake we ever made that literally took our dog’s life! On the map it showed a lake near the trail. In reality we had a nice view of the lake from the trail but no access to it’s shore.
We continued the jog, got back to our truck and drank water to hydrate. Ruby, much to our surprise refused to drink water! She was lethargic getting into the vehicle. I was concerned, she was not behaving like herself.
Ruby struggled to get out of the truck and was walking very slowly towards her bed. My husband tried to get her to drink water but she refused. I noticed her breathing became more labored. We decided to take her into the veterinarian to have her checked out.
We were shocked at what happened next! I walked up to her and encouraged her to follow me to the truck. She tried getting up on all fours and collapsed!
My husband picked her up and carried her full weight to the truck and we rushed Ruby to the veterinarian hospital. We realized there was something very wrong happening to our beautiful Labrador.
The vet quickly went into action and took her from us. He told us he did everything he could for Ruby but, she had gone into kidney failure and she could not be saved.
Nothing prepared us for the shock of those words! We asked what happened, that we didn’t understand. We said she is happy and energetic and not ever been ill her entire life.
The veterinarian told us, Labradors are highly susceptible to over heating. And that Labradors will refuse to drink water and collapse as Ruby did. We were in disbelief, Ruby was our second Labrador and we never experienced an event like this with our other Labrador.
Further, the vet told us that Ruby was suffering and in pain. And that we had to put her down, we had to put her to sleep! We wanted to see her one last time.
The sight of her brown eyes looking at us was a pain beyond measure. We had to let her go and stop her suffering.
Every year we hang her dog angel ornament on our Christmas tree. We feel her presence with us and after a long time passed we now feel her peace.
Know your dog’s breed and their health risks. Ruby would have enjoyed a few more years to her natural end if we had known more about her breed.