My Life in Argentina and Beyond

Rubio was 12 years old when he died. He was a German shepherd mix, and began to suffer from constipation problems back in January 2001, when he was 6 years old. The vets and I tried everything: mixing liquid Vaseline into his food, putting him on a vegetable diet, giving him laxatives. He had 2 operations, but neither one corrected the problem. He suffered when he had to do his doggie business and ceased enjoying his walks. On several occasions, he had to be taken to the pet hospital emergency room so that they could empty him out. On December 28, 2006, I took him for his first morning walk, but he got as far as the sidewalk. He pulled me back inside our building. That morning, Rubio refused to eat his breakfast and he did not get up from his usual place until around 2 in the afternoon. He went to drink a little bit of water and never got up again. The vet gave him an injection. It did not help. He got sores on his hips, the sores got bigger and bigger. The vet said to cure them with sugar. That did no good, either. His appetite came back after New Year’s 2007. He had stopped barking whenever a stranger walked by our door, and now his bark came back. It was feeble, but it was his. But he would never walk again. The vet recommended I have him put him down.
It was a very difficult decision for me to make. Rubio died on January 9, 2007.
I feel that I failed him. He was a great dog and my best friend. I thought of using a doggie cart, but our neighbors were not the nicest people and using the building elevator would have been a problem.