With a deep sadness in our hearts, Blake and I lost our beloved Bepino to old age last Wednesday evening. He lived a long and healthy life – our guess was that he was about 16 years old – but last May – old age started to take over his body – he was starting to walk more slowly, he could no longer manage the stairs, he was growing thinner, and in the latter months, we started to suspect he may have had dementia. But he was still happy – he was eating, he always had a smile on his face, he still barked when we came home. Sadly, two weeks ago, his eating grew fussy and last Tuesday he took a turn for the worse, dying in my arms Wednesday evening.
We are sad. Once again there is a huge hole left in our hearts where there was once one of our beloved adopted older dogs.
Bepino, along with his bonded partner Gemina, came to us quite by accident in October 2005 through a co-worker who would look on rescue sites.
“Rescue site – whats that??” I naively asked her one day. “See if you can find a Pomeranian!”
And sure enough – within minutes – up popped Bepino and Gemina. I read their biography and started to cry – they were rescued from a puppy mill where they had been kept in cages for the entirety of their 10 years. We submitted our application – and within a few days – we were visiting the foster parents. They broke my heart – the sad eyes told me they wanted happiness…..we held them and decided they were for us. As we left, the two of them followed us shoulder to shoulder and stood at the door and looked at us as we went down the stairs. I’ll never forget them standing there looking at us as we left…
Sadly we lost Gemina in May 2008. But we were blessed to have Bepino for almost four more years. He lived his last six years healthy and happy. He always had the biggest, happiest smile on his face. He loved everything about his new life – he loved us – he loved his canine siblings – he loved to eat – he loved to bark. And he loved to run!!! Oh how he loved to run! I don’t think he had ever experienced walking in his previous life. When we first got the two of them, we were so excited. We drove to the pet store to get harnesses for Beppo and Gemmy. On the way home we stopped at the park. We got out of the car. We started to walk. They just stood there. They had no idea what to do. What a horrible and sad shock that was.
But with time they learned to walk on the leash and to love the walks. One of my fondest memories of Bepino will be him off the leash running in the laneway. He would stop and sniff – we would walk on – and then he would run full out, happiness on his face, to catch up with us.
There are so many good memories.
Bepino was the kindest and gentlest of souls. He never cried, he never complained. He never showed anger or jealousy to the other dogs. He was always such a gentleman. He was our only male in a house of females – and he would sit and let each one eat – he wouldn’t eat until they all had their fill. And when we did adopt another male who was the “jealous type”, Mr. Bepino would just let that jealousy slide (most of the time!).
Bepino and Gemina, along with Giuliana, an older dog we adopted from a breeder in April 2005, brought us such happiness and joy and left us a wonderful legacy. They taught us that an older dog can truly be a wonderful and loving companion. We currently have three other dogs, all wonderful, older, little dogs with sad backgrounds that needed homes, rescued by the PSBR.
Blake and I want to thank you for the work you do – you are all special people for rescuing and bringing back to health and taking care of these little ones.
We miss Bepino and always will as we still miss our other dogs. Hopefully he has been reunited with Gemina and Giuliana and Mia and Michaela and Polly too and they are healthy and happy and somewhere out there running to their hearts content!
Thank you Silvana and all of the foster parents and volunteers of Pomeranian and Small Breed Rescue for bringing him and Gemina and all the others into our lives. They have enriched us and given us so much happiness.