The "Sleeping" Dog

Before I was born, my grandparents bought a puppy who they named Ike. Since my parents lived with my grandparents, I grew up with that puppy. Unfortunately, Ike died when I was five years old. Ike, to my five year old self, was the best dog in the world. He was no award winning pedigree, but he was family and that’s all that mattered. My parents told me that whenever one of our other dogs was bothering me, Ike would come to my rescue to shoo them away. I distinctly remember my five year old self yelling “IKE! Help me!” and him coming, barking at the other dogs, “shooing” them away.

I loved that dog so much because he would protect me. My grandparents, to this day, remind me about Ike, they tell me how I used to go outside to play with him every day. I remember those long hot summer days when I used to go out in the backyard to play with him. I still remember, and will always remember, the day I went outside and saw him on the ground not moving. The image of him haunts my mind and fills me with sadness. When I saw Ike, I ran to my grandpa and told him that Ike was “sick and didn’t want to play”. When I told my grandpa that, he went and picked Ike up, and drove him away. 

I didn’t see Ike for a few days and I was really sad. I no longer had a friend to play with in the back yard. I no longer could call to him when I was being bothered by the other dogs. I didn’t understand. Where was Ike? Why was he gone? Where did my Grandpa take him too? Finally, I went up to my Grandpa and demanded to know what happened to my dog. 

“He’s at the vet’s sweetie, he has cancer”

was the response I got. Being five, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as cancer. I didn’t understand what was going on. “I’ll take you to see him tomorrow” my grandpa said. The next day, my grandpa took me to see Ike. Little did I know this would be the last time I would see him. When I saw him, he was laying on a metal table with a bunch of tubes in him. My grandpa picked me up, held me in his arms, and told me that Ike was going to be “put to sleep” because he just too sick from his cancer. When he said “put to sleep” I literally thought he was just going to be sleeping. I was too young, too dumb, too realize that they were going to kill Ike and that I’d never see him again. I didn’t know he would die because I didn’t understand the meaning of death; I was just a young child thinking her dog was just “sleeping”.