Brodie

     Our 16 year old dog Brodie was hit by a car last night and died. We are all sad and will miss him.  He was very old so we knew our time with him was limited. He was a nice dog although he took his property-guarding and his country-doorbell responsibilities a little too seriously at times. Man, that dog could bark! He even let us know when there was a car heading up our neighbour's driveway.
     There was a little fierce streak in Brodie that was not always under control. He knew if anyone had had a bad experience with a dog; he picked up on their fear instantly and chose these unlucky folks to nip or show his teeth to. We have neighbours that we have not seen in years because Brodie kept them at a distance. It was a problem that we were not always sure how to deal with.
     The other issue he had was staying at home. The folks we got him from had put an ad in the paper: Free to a good home. They had planned to go into cattle ranching and unfortunately for them the deal fell through. They lived in a ocean view property in White Rock and Dee-oh-gee as they had named him (Yes, it spells dog)  was not going to be happy there, they feared. At the time we were leasing 70 acres which seemed like the perfect place for Brodie as we renamed him, to run around. Later when we moved to 5 acres we could not keep him home. So he was tied up for years unfortunately until we invested in an electric collar which mostly kept him home, unless the battery went dead and we didn't notice.
    Several years ago Brodie had a grapefruit-size tumour on his shoulder and the vet said that he may or may not be able to take it out, depending on how it was growing inside. We opted not to do the surgery when we found out  from a friend about an amazing natural remedy called Essiac. I made up the tincture and poured it on his food. Within a month the tumour had shrunk down to nothing--- it was incredible! Developed by a nurse in Quebec, Essiac contains Burdock Root, Slippery Elm Inner Bark, Sheep Sorrel and Indian Rhubarb Root and was developed for use by humans but it saved Brodie's life, for a few years anyway.
     Pet deaths are hard on families but they are sometimes a child's first experience with death and so are also a teachable moment. The way we as parents mourn our losses can shape the way our children learn to cope with loss and death. Rituals which honour the loss and allow an expression of sad feelings work as well for pet loss as they do for human death. We will be having a memorial for Brodie on Sunday, rain or shine.