A Sad Day at the Doggy Park

I witnessed a sad event at the doggy park today. One minute, a beautiful bouncy golden retriever was happily playing catch with his owner; the next minute, he had a heart attack/seizure and collapsed.  His dad and two other dog people got down and started performing CPR on him. The rest of us just stood there feeling useless.

The scene was heartbreaking.  Three people frantically trying to save a beautiful dog. We were all hoping that the dog would start breathing.  He never did.  In matter of minutes, he was gone.  His dad was in shock.  He sat there staring at his dog and he kept saying that it wasn't supposed to be like this... The rest of us stood around them speechless.  We went through a short but traumatic event together.  We all shared the pain because it could have been one of our dogs.

The doggies seemed to sense that something was wrong as they all came over to check out the dog.  I told Dexter and Victor to step back and they did.

The owner had to carry the dog to his car.  He picked him up and started walking.  He had this dazed look.  It was a very long walk.  I walked with him in silence.  He said he still could not process this whole thing just yet.  He wanted to cry but he was still trying to catch up with all his emotions.  Seeing him carrying his lifeless dog just broke my heart.  I was having a hard time processing what I just witnessed too.  It seemed so unreal.  They were playing catch.  That was all.

Dexter and Victor stayed close to me as we walked the owner and his dog to the parking lot.  Victor kept sniffing the doggy. He didn't like him being carried and not moving.

As we went back to our car, Dexter and Victor walked along side me as always. I felt very sorry and sad that the other owner had to carry his dog out of the park instead.

RIP, little buddy.  Your dad said at least you died while doing something you like.