10.03.16

morning run (aborted):
Godzilla*
Gowron
Twiggy
MoMo
Hazel
Lex
Cookie
Zoila
Tupo
(9)

What an awful day. I am writing about it now four days later. I left with Zoila and Tupo on leashes and everything seemed to be going well except I noticed when I got to the shrimpery that Godzilla was not behind me. I called for her and she finally appeared, but as we continued on towards the land bridge she was more and more reticent to go. She also looked strange to me. She had been up for the run beforehand but now her tail was down and her lips seemed to be an odd color so I turned us all around and went home, after only 1km. Zilla got some meds and went into a crate to be observed. I foolishly decided to try and take the remaining eight back out but a couple of them were already less enthusiastic, since it had been kind of weird. I insisted PupG and Lex get back into the launchpad and then we left again. This time things did not go so well. Lex, Cookie and Mo led by PupG all immediately ran down to the beach to the south of us which led to me forcing them out of the water and injuring myself in the process. At this point I finally realized how dumb this was and that we weren't going anywhere today, so I rounded everyone back up who was still loose (some had already gone home). When things calmed down I went to check on Godzilla in her crate and she was dead. We've seen something like this before, where a dog had a long-running, undiagnosed case of ehrlichiosis, went running and got very sick and died. Godzilla had not given us any indication that she might be sick or under the weather. We could find no bite marks on her. Her appetite was good, she had no issues going to the bathroom and her attitude seemed playful if anything. I would've had to drive her body all the way to Merida to possibly have someone analyze it and tell us what happened and we've never had good luck getting these kinds of answers before, so we just buried her. It sucks to not know why your friends die. Godzilla was a wonderful dog and a member of the first family group that we took in (Gracie's pups). She and her litter were born in the bushes at the army camp up the road but their eyes weren't even open when the soldiers asked us to come get them. Gracie, George, Chester and their little crew of pups helped us turn into the pack we are. We went through so many things with her and with all of them, and she grew up to be such a good girl she didn't even wear a collar - it mussed her pretty coat too much and she didn't really need it. We're both sickened by her loss and by the fact that we don't know why.