Bandit

My in-laws lost their oldest dog yesterday. Bandit would have been 10 in April.

The night before last, my FIL had all 3 dogs in the truck when he stopped at the end of the drive to toss the trash bin in the back on his way up to the house. The dogs are used to this and always stay in the truck. I guess Bandit jumped out and my FIL didn't see him. When My FIL started up the drive, he accidentally hit him.

My FIL took him straight to the vet who sent them to the ER vet since they had personnel there to monitor him over night. X-rays showed no broken bones but Bandit was clearly in a lot of pain and could not stand up on his own. They decided to monitor him overnight and reassess the situation in the morning.

Yesterday morning, they picked him up from the ER and took him to our regular vet who re-examined him. They said he could relieve himself if they held him up but that he couldn't get up on his own. And there were apparent signs of major internal injuries. The vet told them that it would be a long road and that he may not recover. My in-laws decided to end his suffering and put him to sleep yesterday afternoon.

I talked to my MIL tonight. She is clearly upset but seems to be doing as well as can be expected. She is the cool head in these situations. We wouldn't have gotten through losing Gizmo without her. My FIL, however, is a mess. He feels like its his fault even though there were so many strange things that happened.

The dogs NEVER jump out of the truck... even Geronimo who is still fairly new to the family stays in the truck until he is called out. And those dogs will meet you at the end of the driveway and run circles around the car all the way up to the house and never get hit. And my FIL was going slower than usual to keep the trash bin from falling out of the back. So there was something going on that made Bandit jump out like he did and then not allow him to move out of the way when the truck was put into gear and started to move.

Regardless, there is a large hole at my in-laws home now. The dogs are clearly missing their friend. When my in-laws brought Bandit home to bury him, the dogs never got out of the truck even though they were told they could. They sat there and watched the hole being dug and everything. Early this morning, they went outside and to opposite ends of the yard and barked for a long time when they are usually late sleepers. When they get pig ears, Taz and Bandit would always go into the bedroom to eat theirs while Geronimo would plop down in the living room with his... This afternoon, Taz took hers into the bedroom, then came right back out and sat down next to Geronimo. And while they always steal each other's food at meal times, they have left alone the little bit of food that remains in Bandit's bowl.

I plan to take Bailey by to see them all tomorrow. Hopefully she will be a welcome distraction if only for a couple hours.

Bandit was a wonderful dog and will be greatly missed.