Sad Day

We've had a sad couple of days here in the LaTour household. Our beloved Tigger is no longer with us. Hopefully he'll be finding a new home with a loving family. I guess I should start at the beginning...

Tigger has been nicknamed by us as "houdini dog." He can literally get out of anything. We've tried almost everything (and spent a large amount of money) to find a way to keep him in our fence or in a cage. He just doesn't like to be constrained in anyway. He doesn't wander far from home. But since he looks like he'd be a mean dog, neighbors were scared of him. So, a couple of weeks ago Bobby & I decided we'd look for him a new home. Fast forward to Christmas Eve. We put him in my dad's fenced-in back yard to let him run while we celebrated Christmas with Bobby's family. Well we came home hours later, and there was no Tigger to be found. This was a red flag because he always stayed closed to home. Late Christmas Eve night we saw him sitting in our yard, but he didn't want to walk to us so we knew something was wrong. He couldn't walk on his left front leg. Initially we thought it was broke, but as we watched him for a couple of days & couldn't figure out what was wrong. So then the dilemma comes as to what to do. We were already planning to find a new home. Now do we spend a small fortune to "fix" him, and then give him away--that just didn't make any sense. Or do we "fix" him & just try to keep him and hope he doesn't run off and scare the neighbors again. I've come to realize there are 3 types of animal people: the ones who would do anything or pay any amount to aid their dog (no matter the cost), the one who would just take their dog out back and shoot them upon finding him hurt; and then there is us in the middle. We love our animals, but we have to weigh the fact that we also have a mortgage, kids' tuition, groceries, etc. to pay for that directly affects our family (not to mention we have neighbors we have to live beside for quite some time). After almost a week of debating we scheduled the appointment to put him to sleep. And believe me it was a hard decision.

So I broke the news to the kids Monday night, and we all had a crying fest (yes including me). They were not happy at all. They understood, but that didn't make it any easier to accept. Micah was one of the worst. It really tore him up. We all sat around the table after dinner and talked about Tigger--our favorite & worst memories. Micah's favorite was how bad Tigger's gas smelt...which is so very true & made us all laugh. Then the kids wanted to watch Marley & Me. Really? Are you trying to make me cry all night long. I think they wanted to see a dog being put to sleep one more time just to make sure it would be as peaceful as Mom said. So I ran to Walmart and got the movie for us to watch...at this point I would of done just about anything to help comfort them. I blubbered thru the whole movie, but it seemed to help them a lot.

Tuesday morning we said our final goodbyes before school. Zion even gave Tigger his basketball cards (which was a sweet gesture). Then I waited to hear from Bobby that the deed had been done. I got a call saying that they were going to let him live and the vet was going to try and find a home for him. The doctor said he was too sweet of a dog to put to sleep (and of course we all agreed). He was diagnosed with major nerve damage in that leg (supposedly got his paw stuck somewhere and when he yanked it out it did nerve damage), and he will never have use of that leg again (he just drags it like it's paralyzed). But the good news is Tigger got to live!! Now we hope they'll find a good home for him.

Although we only had him for 1-1/2 years, he definitely found a place in all our hearts.

We got him in July 2009. That first day we had him we named him Tiger, but then it got changed to Tigger. He looks so tiny here.
His first swim in PawPaw & MawMaw's pool. Needless to say, he isn't a water dog. But, by the end of his time with us, he was starting to get into ponds and lakes to play with Dixie.

He loved camping!!

And the kids loved having the dogs with us when we camped.

He was just a fun dog who loved us as much as we loved him.

This was the last group photo the Monday night before we took Tigger away. The kids wanted one last picture with him... :o(

When I picked the kids up from school on Tuesday, they all thought Tigger had already died. They were thrilled to find out he got to live. This tidbit of knowledge made us all feel better. Micah, Trinity & Zion all wanted to draw him a picture for dad to take to him. So today Bobby went and signed over our rights to the vet (sounds so official that it makes me more sad). Zion got to tag along since he got out of school early. And they said their final goodbyes & took him the pictures the kids had drawn for him. The lady at the vet said she would put the drawings in Tigger's cages so he could see them. :)

In case you can't read it...Micah's drawing says "I hope you like your new home. We all love you. Sorry. Goodbye." Now that is just pitiful if you ask me. Bobby read it and asked Micah, "Are you trying to break my heart?"

So goodbye Tigger. We loved you more than we even realized & we will miss you greatly! We hope your new owners will love you just the same if not more.