When Meyer arrived at AWARE he was paralysed. He couldn’t even lift his head to drink. Someone had left this beautiful, young Chocolate Lab lying on the path by the Main Gate.
The Vet’s diagnosis was of some kind of blow to the spine, probably not inflicted by a speeding vehicle – possibly by the owner of a female dog in heat to whom Meyer was paying court.
From the outset Meyer showed a healthy interest in food and water, despite needing help to lift his head into a slurping position, and within a week he was back on his feet and looking at his handlers as if to say “So why are you keeping me in this pen?” He was assigned a group for a daily run through the woods, and was scheduled for neutering. And we gave his story a great title: ‘Meyer the Miracle Dog’.
Meyer was one perfectly behaved, sweet-natured guy, and we knew that some lucky person was soon (though they didn’t know it) to acquire a great long-term companion and friend.
Meyer was indeed very sweet-natured, but he could seem a little reserved, even (in retrospect) a tad withdrawn.
Then one day someone went into his pen to take him out for a run, and he just took off – out the door in a flash and streaking down the hill. There was panic in the Office. “Well we’ve got to find him and bring him back!” was the edict.
All day until it got too dark to see, and all the next morning search parties toured Hound Heights and found nothing. We figured that Meyer just didn’t want to be found. Then Cordulia had the bright idea of taking Meyer’s pen-mates into the woods to look for him, and we wouldn’t have found him without them.
We figure he heard his buddies barking and just had to come out of his hiding place to them. He was a mess.
Back up in the Clinic the Canadian Vet Students diagnosed severe dehydration, and put him on fluids. There was obviously something else going on, though, and Xenii decided to send him to the Vet.
Less than two years old, so handsome and so noble. And such a crappy deal from Life. The Vet had rarely seen such bad dehydration, and didn’t take long to find the cancer in Meyer’s throat. Only one decision to make, and Meyer was made comfortable, and euthanised.
How can it be that some of the brightest lights are taken away, yet Life is always just as beautiful? Is the cruelty part of the beauty?
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