RIP Rosco

My sweet little Rosco died on June 7th. Probably one of the saddest days of my life so far. Trent and the kids had gone to Celina that Monday (the 6th) because I had to work and then had an awards ceremony until late that night. I got home about 8:30 and could tell Rosco had been sick that day. It appeared he had, had a pretty bad seizure. His bed was soaking wet and you could tell he wasn't right. As you know, he was sick often so I wasn't that worried. I put him in bed with me and tried to soothe him. He couldn't get comfortable. I tried to give him his medicine and he wouldn't take it. That worried me because he will ALWAYS eat cheese, even in the middle of a seizure he would try to eat it. That next morning he still wasn't himself but sometimes it took him awhile to recover. He wouldn't take his pill again. I text Trent and told him to come home early if he could because I thought he would need to go to the vet if he still wasn't better.
I got home around 4:15 on Tuesday. I beat Trent home. Rosco was not good at all. He was not with it at all. His eyes were open and he could stand but he wouldn't move. It was almost like he was waiting for me to get home because within minutes he progressively got worse. He was breathing really heavy. I called our vet, who is out on maternity leave so her office is not open as much as normal. As I was on the phone with them Rosco started breathing really heavy, making random loud noises and had some black tar coming out of his bottom. The vet said it sounded really bad and to get him to a vet right away. As I grabbed him to go out the door he went into a small seizure. By the time we were in the car he was out of it again. He looked dead. The only way I knew he wasn't was because of his heavy breathing. I drove to the vet (about 10-15 minutes away). As I got closer his breathing became lighter and lighter. I could tell I was losing him. I pulled in the parking lot, ran around to grab him and as I did he gasped really big and I'm 99% sure that's when he died. I ran in and cut in front of everyone in line to hand him to the vet. They took him back and were back there for an eternity. Really it was probably only 5 minutes. They called me into a room and shut all the doors. The nurse said the vet would be with me in a minute. At that point I knew he was dead. I cried and cried. He came in and broke the news that I knew was coming. He didn't make it. :(
I asked if he knew what caused it and he did not. He said it could have been a seizure that he never recovered from or he could have had an aneurysm. I was devastated. I always knew this day would come but I had hoped it would be when Trent was home and not me. Thankfully, I was alone and didn't have the kids. The vet said we could take him home and bury him, cremate him and leave the ashes for them to dispose of him or cremate him and keep him. He told me I didn't have the make the decision that day, that I could call him the next day to let them know. So I left empty handed. I sat in the car and cried for a long time before coming back home.
He was my baby. I had him back in Sanger before I had kids to keep me busy. Back when I wasn't used to being a coaches wife...spending so many nights/days alone. Rosco was so little when we got him he couldn't even get up the curb. He wasn't much bigger than a toilet paper roll. I spoiled him rotten and treated him like a kid. I loved that dog more than any other animal I have ever had. I have dreaded this day for a long time.
Trent didn't want to keep his ashes in our house so we brought him home and buried him in our backyard. I plan to add a little rock with his name on it soon.



This was in Abilene the day Michael got him (Rosco was his dog before he became mine). He didn't keep him long because he also had Bentley, a Great Dane.


A week or two after the above pictures Michael called and asked if I wanted him. He was afraid Bentley would crush him. I immediately drove to Abilene to pick him up. This is how he slept in my front seat from Abilene to Sanger!




see...he's not much longer than the toilet paper roll!


first bath



The day we got Jack! Rosco was a little over a year old here.





I sure do miss him! It has been sad around my house lately. The first few days were really sad...
-hearing Jack run out back barking and not hearing Rosco running after him barking as well.
-seeing his torn apart cheese in the fridge for his pills
-his pill chart on our fridge
-seeing his empty bed beside ours
-not hearing his snort as he ran around the house
-hearing Madison yell "Jack and Rosco" as she called them to eat the food she had dropped
-Madison asking where the other bowl was. Having to explain to her that she only needed to put one scoop of food out instead of two
-not having my sleeping partner right beside my belly at night
-no one there waiting on me to get out of the shower to lick the water off the shower door
I know it seems silly to get this emotional over a dog but I've done a lot better than I thought. I haven't cried in a long time (until making this post). I have two sweet babies to keep me VERY distracted! We will always miss our sweet Rosco! Jack is finally recovering as well. He didn't eat for over a week. He's eating again but he still looks sad to me. He loved Rosco. I don't think Rosco cared much for him. I think Rosco liked when it was just me, him and Trent. :) Unfortunately, Jack won't be getting another friend anytime soon. Until then, we'll just have to make sure we give him extra attention. :)