Bill Simmons with a nice column about his dog

The day my 10-1/2-year-old golden retriever goes, I'll be blogging about him, too...but vow to keep it at about half the length. I will try to use my post about my father's passing as the limit.
That said, thank God with young kids in the Simmons abode, the Dooze wasn't a humper, like B is. B has a big hitch in his left front giddyup, but he's still capable of getting up to ingratiate himself on me. The big puppy is spending more time in the kitchen than downstairs this winter - a sure sign he's realizing his age.

 

I'lll still take that over peeling a limp, lifeless-yet-still-warm cat or dog off the road after it has been annihilated by some speeding asshole.

 

I agree, a strong Simmons piece in terms of emotion.

As a father, the hardest thing I've had to deal with was telling my daughter her hamster had died last year. I know it was just a hamster, but for a 5-year-old who'd had him for two years (her first pet), that was just tragic. Watching her heart break and seeing the tears stream down her face melted me. I was a wreck. Couldn't get out to get a new hamster for her fast enough. We've moved on quite a bit since then, but she still has moments of mini-breakdown where we have to go out to the little grave outside the house and say hi to Pebbles. I fear for the day either one of our two dogs dies. I'm not sure how we'll get through it.

 

I enjoyed the column, but then I can usually get something enjoyable out of any Simmons column. I know, I'm in the minority here in that regard.

However, stories like this create a problem for me professionally. I work at a horse magazine and anytime someone reads a dead pet/dead horse article, they feel the need to write their own and submit it for publication. I get dozens of tributes to dead horses every month, and our magazine runs maybe one a year. And even then it is professionally written, not just the drivel of some random reader.

So for my sake, stop with the dead pet stories!

 

My then-12-year-old came upon our/her beautiful, littlecat seconds after it had been smashed by a speeding asshole in an SUV.

It's still in there, two years later.

Breaks my heart.

 

Having a pet is a way for children to say good bye to something. It sucks, but it should be a learning experience.

I would rather have Lil 93 have a practice run of saying good bye to a dog before she has to say good bye to a grandparent or to me or my wife.

 

A few months ago, my wife and I put down our dog (we got him as a puppy when we were juniors in college) - he was a 13-year-old chocolate lab with bad hips that had gotten really bad over the last year.

So obviously not an easy read for me at this time.

But I think Simmons' detail is what grabs you: the realness of all those moments you share with your dog and the endearing quirks of their personality.

 

It sucks. It's worse when the kid has to see it.
I still have the occasional nightmare about watching my golden collide with a car. He got off his leash one day in front of the house, and as I chased him down the sidewalk, he dodged out into the street (a semi-main drag with a hospital three blocks away) and ran right into the side of a car that was coming to a stop. The fact that he was wearing an E-collar (he'd developed a couple of hot spots he'd licked raw) probably saved his life, and he escaped with a torn-up right front paw from trying to stop himself.
I was in tough shape that day. If he had been seriously injured or needed to be put down...don't wanna think about it.

 

it sucks that dogs and cats get hit by cars, but christ, if the damn thing is in the road what in the hell do you expect?

 

I expect miscreants such as yourself to drive within 20 mph of the fucking speed limit.

 

and your daughter weeps because you don't care enough to make sure her cat doesn't run out on the street. ... it's called being a responsible pet owner.

 

Oh brother. I can smell the lockdown from here. Keep it civil, fellas.