ilanimaka
09-15-2009, 09:57 AM
In January, I got a pitbull that I named Jasper. He was a bit head strong, but turned out to be the best companion I could have hoped for. After a rough day, I always knew that when I walked in the door, there would be my best friend to take my mind off of it all.
I took Jasper hunting once for jack rabbits. We didn't see anything, but he sure looked hard. After I decided that there was nothing left to do but go home, I put out some targets and fired off some shots with Jasper close by. He never showed any signs of being disturbed by the noise and even continued to look around for anything of interest.
This winter, I was planning to start training him to be a bait dog, for lack of a better term, for coyotes. He was already incredibly strong, smart, and loyal to me and mine.
All of those plans however have been cut short, as was the life of my best friend. He would occasionally find a way to run off with my other pitbull, Oscar. The two were like those two dogs on the old cartoons with Jasper being the big tough dog and Oscar being the little sidekick. Anyways, they ran off late Monday night and I went looking for them. When I was heading towards the main road, I saw Oscar running home alone looking behind him like he was running from something. I hopped out, threw Oscar in the van, and kept looking. When I got to the main street, I saw a car parked on the side of the street and my stomach sank. As I got closer, I saw something laying on the side of the road and I knew what had happened. With a 40mph speed limit, some kid in a new camaro had hit him. When I got to him, he was still alive but horribly injured. After taking him to a 24hr vet, it was determined that his bowels were dying and he couldn't be saved. The family gathered and said their goodbyes, and we had him put down.
I replay the events of the evening and see several decisions I could have made differently and Jasper would still be jumping around me like the spaz he was when I came home. He didn't deserve to go out like that. It was pointless. He should have gone out ten years down the road doing something he loved, having lived a life worthy of the dog he was.
I'm sure gonna miss him and only hope that he saves some game for me when we meet again.
I took Jasper hunting once for jack rabbits. We didn't see anything, but he sure looked hard. After I decided that there was nothing left to do but go home, I put out some targets and fired off some shots with Jasper close by. He never showed any signs of being disturbed by the noise and even continued to look around for anything of interest.
This winter, I was planning to start training him to be a bait dog, for lack of a better term, for coyotes. He was already incredibly strong, smart, and loyal to me and mine.
All of those plans however have been cut short, as was the life of my best friend. He would occasionally find a way to run off with my other pitbull, Oscar. The two were like those two dogs on the old cartoons with Jasper being the big tough dog and Oscar being the little sidekick. Anyways, they ran off late Monday night and I went looking for them. When I was heading towards the main road, I saw Oscar running home alone looking behind him like he was running from something. I hopped out, threw Oscar in the van, and kept looking. When I got to the main street, I saw a car parked on the side of the street and my stomach sank. As I got closer, I saw something laying on the side of the road and I knew what had happened. With a 40mph speed limit, some kid in a new camaro had hit him. When I got to him, he was still alive but horribly injured. After taking him to a 24hr vet, it was determined that his bowels were dying and he couldn't be saved. The family gathered and said their goodbyes, and we had him put down.
I replay the events of the evening and see several decisions I could have made differently and Jasper would still be jumping around me like the spaz he was when I came home. He didn't deserve to go out like that. It was pointless. He should have gone out ten years down the road doing something he loved, having lived a life worthy of the dog he was.
I'm sure gonna miss him and only hope that he saves some game for me when we meet again.