Tied for 1st Place

I write this with more than sadness.

Yesterday we lost our sweet Cora. After almost 11 years of overwhelming joy Robin and I had to make the gut wrenching decision to let her go and have her put to sleep.

Even now as i write this my fingers shake, lips quiver and tears freely flow. Cora was rushed to the emergency vet about 1am on 31st of December. She once again had a twisted gut which happened while she was in NZ almost 12 months ago. At that time we made the decision to go ahead with the expensive (who cares about that) surgery. She really only just survived that procedure. While recovering Robin and i agreed that if it happened again we should let her go. Our NZ vet said that there was a chance it could… AND IT DID.

She was in a lot of pain and we needed to do the right thing and allow her to be pain free once and for all.

What made this really hard is that we weren’t there to bid her farewell. She has been so wonderfully cared for by Robins parents for the past month while we get settled into Pennsylvania and find a home for all of us. Bill & Lib had really taken to Cora (as people who meet her were also). They frantically called us in the middle of the night while at the vet to inform us. We spoke with the vet who gave us 2 choices. Surgery NOW (which she may not even survive because of her age) or put her to sleep. We knew what decision we had to make… We had to let her go. This condition is somewhat common in Weimaraner’s and not a neglect issue or necessarily because of old age. She was a very healthy dog until the end. And would run the pants of anyone.

Someone once said “Can a person live a full life cautiously.” And i think the same applies to dogs… Cora definitely lead a full life.

Everything from…
Surviving a snake bite & almost dying many years ago.
Being dragged up mountans, rivers, through the back country of NZ too many times to remember.
Flying across the world… TWICE
the list goes one

And now she is gone!

I ran with her for what i now know was the last time last week and there she was free as could be. Yesterday i ran a 5K race in the cold. A popular race with over 600 runners. Go figure on such a cold day. A cold as it was, i ran fast and knew that she there pulling me along to get to the finish.

Here are some picture memories of her. More than a picture each one had a story behind it about when, where, what was happening. Moreover a picture of her personality. Who as Robin said yesterday “She made us laugh everyday.”

Yesterday i lost my tied for 1st place friend. At least i still have the other…Robin.

We love you Cora and you will be missed. Go and run pain free in heaven chasing all the deer, horses, cats, squirrels etc. you can handle.