Day of Mourning

My next entry should have been about adopting Miss Heidi. Instead, I need to mark the passing of a friend's golden retriever.

I used to house/dog sit for her when I lived in her area. Her 3 goldens, my golden and my doxies all played, ate and slept together (all of them in the big bed with me).

If I were still in the area, I am sure I would have been house sitting for her this past week. While she was away, someone poisoned one of her dogs. Just hours before she arrived home, the sitter let her 2 goldens (one of her 3 has already passed) out into her very securely fenced acre+ yard. When they came back in, Dodger was foaming at the mouth and collapsed. He died of poisoning. My friend was in the air on the way home and had no idea she would arrive to a dead dog. She is beyond devastated right now.

If I had been there, could I have some how prevented this? Or would Valentin now be dead too?

We have the evidence that he was deliberately poisoned, we have a suspect. What we don't have is proof, just a dead beloved fur friend and some ugly suspicions. Dodger is not the only pet in the neighbourhood to have been murdered.

I feel as if I have lost one of my own. I can't count the number of times I have stayed at her home, nor the hours that I have spent with Dodger and his brothers. To bring this even more closer to home for me, is that her remaining golden, who came in unharmed, was my former foster dog. He was rescued a day before he was scheduled to be shot. We thought we had brought him to safety. He was a stray in a very northern, isolated, native village. He is a golden/arctic wolf cross; a miniature golden with blue eyes. Welcome to "civilization".

I know her yard is 100% secure. Valentin has been in that yard countless times and could never find a crack to escape. It is almost an acre of backyard, so there isn't any room for anything to have "accidentally" gotten into her yard.

You can be sure that I will now be checking my dog run before letting my boys out. I live in a very pet friendly neighbourhood, but anyone could still toss anything over our gate. Afterall, we never, ever dreamed that this might happen to Dodger.
Dogspeed, sweet, sweet Dodger - you never hurt anyone, even when little Miss Heidi would nip at your paws, you never reacted back. You did not deserve this death.
Give all your furkids an extra tonight, for Dodger --- RIP my sweet friend.