Goldbyrne Who Dares

Well, yesterday was a sad occasion for my family. Goldbyrne, our Golden Retriever, was put to sleep sometime in the morning. He has some problem with his spine and nervous system that would eventually lead to paralysis. He even had problems urinating!

He had been barking the whole of the day before. It was obvious he was sick because dogs don't bark for such long hours unless something's amiss. I had also realised that he had been sitting at the same spot next to my front door entrance throughout the entire afternoon and evening whenever I saw him. He only moved at night to the outer part of the porch, and later to the back of the house. That was the last that I saw of him.

It was quite sad really thinking about it. I still can't believe that Goldbyrne really is no longer here. We bought him sometime late 1998 as I remember we had to give Sparky away at the same time because Sparky was still a little puppy and Goldbyrne could squash her to death. Finally, Sparky grew up, and we got her back to keep Goldbyrne company. They've been with each other for over 5 years now if I'm not mistaken. Yesterday, I noticed streams of dry tears on Sparky's face. She barked quite a fair bit too, more than usual (unless there are strangers near the house). I guess she also knew what had happened. Poor thing.

I guess with Goldbyrne gone, many things change. No more incessant barking when he wants to go out, no more running amok during thunderstorms (he's afraid of thunder), no more of us needing to try to block the front gate as we pass through to prevent him from squeezing through to get out of the house, and last but not least, no more hearing mum calling out Goldbyrne "Gong-Gong".

I still remember all those times before where he would push down flower pots and cabinets outside the house to hide behind them during storms. That is why if you came to my house and noticed, there aren't any flower pots around and the cabinets are mounted on the wall. It was all because of Goldbyrne that we had to do that. At one time we didn't even had benches because he would bite the bench. He even bit the metal grills causing him to bleed in the mouth. Must really hurt!

Well, that's no longer going to happen. I guess this would eventually come. I had always wondered what will happen the day Goldbryne goes away to the land of no return. I wonder if the injection that put him to sleep hurts, or whether it'll just make him drowsy and finally get his sweet relief.

All good things I guess must come to an end. As I went through all the old photos I took of Goldbyrne, lots of memories were brought up. I guess with these photos, eventhough Goldbyrne is no longer with us physically, within us, he'll still always be there.