Oscar 2012-2019

[Lawgirl]

It is with tears in my eyes that I share that my much loved boy Oscar has passed on September 11, 2019.  He was just seven years, two months old.

On Saturday, Oscar was racing around, happy as usual, but then developed an occasional cough.  By Sunday, his bark was quite hoarse.

On Monday, we took him to the vet, who diagnosed tracheolitis, and put him on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.

On Tuesday, Oscar was much worse.  His head was hanging low and he would not lift it vertically, he was reluctant to drink, and could not jump up onto anything.  So back to the vet.  After a complete blood panel, Oscar's liver enzymes were slightly elevated, his red blood cell count was elevated, but his white blood cell count was down.   Oscar's neck was not sore, but he would not voluntarily raise it, and he had mildly reduced reaction in his hind legs. The conclusion was likely sepsis with neurologic involvement.  We left him at the vets overnight for IV antibiotics and pain relief.

On Wednesday morning, Oscar's condition had deteriorated again.  He could just about roll from his side to his stomach with help, and could move his legs, but could not stand.  Oscar could not raise his head.  It appeared his organs were shutting down.  There was nothing more our local vet could do for him.  Oscar was incredibly stressed at the vet.  They could refer him to a vet hospital 500 kilometres (310 miles) away for further investigation.  Oscar is not a good traveller, and does not do that well away from home when he is well, let alone sick.  There was no guarantee there was anything anyone could do to help him, given how quickly he had deteriorated.

We brought Oscar home and let him spend the day surrounded by love before the vet came and put him to sleep.  He was much calmer at home.

My partner wrote this post on Facebook,  It says everything Oscar meant to us so much better than I can.

Oh Oscar, Mr Schnoz. What can I say about you? I will try and write something but forgive me, my eyesight is impaired, burdened with tears so big that only the greatest sorrow could ever create.

A story maybe.

As a boy I loved Footrot Flats and from the earliest readings of those comic strips I had always wanted a Border Collie. They seemed so intelligent, so individual. Come 2012 we had moved into our own house and my thirtieth birthday was fast approaching, knowing from many discussion that it was the dog I had always wanted Kate was on the hunt and a week before my birthday she found what she was looking for. Border Collie puppies.

I have had good dogs. Dogs that I had a deep connection with. I grew up with the most unique Lassie Collie you could think imagine. This new fluff ball was going to be Kate's first live inside own dog, we had to decide between two available puppies, one called Orange and one called Yellow, named due to their coloured tags. Which to choose? A tri colour pup with the cutest black paw print on his pink nose, or a white faced pup with two different coloured eyes?

Kate had formed a deep fondness for Clancy, my parents tri colour Lassie. The choice was made. We would go with Orange but Kate, even prior to calling and organising pickup of Orange had made it clear that Yellow, the white face was an "Oscar", no understanding why but that was just the right name for him.

We set out on our trip to Dartmoor, to pick up Orange from a breeders son who was making the trip to meet us kind of half way between our home and the breeders home. We were instantly in love and Orange, due to his insatiable curiosity, would become George. But it was still fated and some may say Thanos like, inevitable, Kate had already named Oscar. So by the time we got home that evening, settled inside with Orange, Kate made the call "Can we pick up the white face too."

My birthday. Two days after picking up Orange we set out for the same trip to collect Yellow, Oscar. It was instant madness. Oscar was a fat bombastic bully that tormented George in only the ways a puppy can. They were the last two pups in the litter and they were always going to be inseparable. It was everything you could ever hope for. Endless fun.

But. There was a dark underside to all of this. I was suffering. I was in a terrible head-space. Somewhere I thought, at the time, was so deep I could never come back from. George and Oscar came at the exact right time. We're here for the most briefest of moments in the course of all of time and space and I lucked out, I got the exact cure right before there could have been none. They saved me. They helped me be a better person.

Oscar, he was a childhood dream. He was the white faced Border Collie from Footrot Flats "dog". He was as unique and individual as his comic counterpart. He was everything I had hoped and dreamt of. Life rarely fulfils your desires. Your wants. I was lucky. I may never be so lucky again.

Today, I suffer. Existence is so fragile. It comes from nothing in the blink of an eye and can as abruptly return to that from which it came. Oscar, all I can hope for is that as you passed you knew that you mattered. That you were a dream fulfilled. That you were deeply loved and that you were a hero, even inadvertently. Oscar, the suffering of your passing will never be fully articulated as we simple beings will never have the language skills to ever give it due credit. It's a feeling without words. Maybe it's better that way, unspoken gives it a reverence that seems fitting.

Today is supposed to be a good day, it's warm and windy with the spring time sun that makes you feel the season of renewel. As I write this the sun doesn't seem as bright but rather dull and cruel, how dare it try to give me the impression that new life is here. Instead of signifying we're out of the dark it only feels like the start of it.

Oz, I'll keep George company for you. You will never be forgotten and I thank you for being you.

Farewell Oscar

[GentleLake]

I have no words that can ease your loss, or articulate how it must feel to you better than your partner's moving tribute to the handsome Mr. Schnoz. So through my tears I'll just say dogspeed to this wonder who brought so much into your lives and will obviously continued to be loved as long as each of you has the breath to do so.

roxanne

[Journey]

Oh, I am so so sorry..you can feel the love/loss in the tribute. I'm so sorry.

[aschlemm]

I'm so sorry for your unexpected loss. I vet I worked for years ago used to say to people losing a dog young "You were robbed!  You should be angry and upset!  You should have had this dog for another seven years!"  So, you have my deepest sympathy.

[Lawgirl]

4 hours ago, aschlemm said:

I'm so sorry for your unexpected loss. I vet I worked for years ago used to say to people losing a dog young "You were robbed!  You should be angry and upset!  You should have had this dog for another seven years!"  So, you have my deepest sympathy.

Thank you, this is exactly how we feel. No matter that we gave Oscar a wonderful life, and we did try to, he should have had another seven years of that wonderful life to look forward to.  He was robbed and we were robbed.  And that hurts.

[CptJack]

This  is  devastating.  I am  so  very  sorry.

[D'Elle]

I am so very sorry. I know that it feels so much sharper and is much harder to accept when it happens suddenly like that, and when the dog is much too young for you to have to say good bye. You have my deepest sympathy. Your partner wrote a beautiful tribute to him. Oscar was lucky to have had your home for his own, and I have no doubt he knew he was loved deeply.

 

[Sue R]

I am so sorry to hear this. 

[Lawgirl]

I had always sworn I would never get a tattoo. It is amazing how losing a beloved dog can change your opinion on things.

Here is my permanent memorial to Oscar. It took this long to get an appointment with the tattoo artist recommended to me.

[D'Elle]

I love your tattoo!  And love that your first (maybe only) tattoo is in memory of your dog. 

I have one tattoo memorial to the beloved cat I had for 18 years. I plan to get one to memorialize one of the dogs I have now, once he is no longer here, or perhaps I will get it before he has to go. It's not the kind of tattoo that you will ever regret having, in my opinion, and my favorite thing about it is the fact that unlike a piece of jewelry it is always with me no matter what.

[Lawgirl]

It has now been two years since Oscar passed away, and it still catches me at times.  I still sometimes have dreams that Oscar is bouncing up to the front door, with his goofy grin on his face.

I commissioned a local artist to do some portraits of Oscar and his brother George, which she did in pastels.  I think they turned out amazingly well, and I feel she really captured Oscar's spirit, considering she had never met him.

[Journey]

Whoever she is she did a great job!

[amc]

Wow, what lovely portraits of both Oscar and George; they come alive as you gaze at them!

Amy

 

[urge to herd]

Beautiful!

Ruth & Gibbs

[Lawgirl]

She is a very talented lady called Janet Bird, and she is the wife of someone I know through agility.  She does a lot of portraits of dogs for her friends and contacts.

I was only charged AU$150 (about 110USD or 80 pounds) for each portrait, which I think was super cheap for a handmade, personalised portrait.  The framing actually cost more!

I adore them, and they are hung either side of our bed head.