blacksettingsun
10-14-2006, 08:59 PM
I didn't know where to post this, because it is a memorial but doesn't really fit because he wasn't a pet, but I needed to post it anyway. My sister's dog digs in my parents yard, hunting for chipmunks. He also tries to get to the chinchillas, and bit the end off of Merlot's tail only a few months ago (and pulled a tendon out...Merlot has healed well). This afternoon I was out in the yard cutting branches to dry, and I heard Benji moving things around in the backyard. Benji is only 23 lbs, and a dachsund/terrier/?? mix, so he's not a big pup, but he can move huge things with his paws and teeth. He's chomped through branches and tree roots, and won't let anything get in the way of what he wants. I heard him moving things, so I went to make sure that he wasn't gonna hurt himself...I looked around to make sure that he hadn't trapped a chipmunk anywhere, but went back to getting branches when I didn't see anything. Benji also "buries" things throughout the house, and will bury treats and bones in the yard and will even carry them on his walks. When he came around the corner with his tail wagging, I thought he had just dug up a bone. My mom's dog, Dakota, gets jealous if Benji has something she wants, so she instigates and tries to fight him. As I approached him, she jumped on him and they started to fight. I grabbed Dakota and put her in the house, and Benji grabbed what he had, but not before I saw it...he had a chipmunk in his mouth. I had to pry open his mouth to get it out, and it looked like he had started to eat it, but it was still alive. I didn't know what to do...I guess I rushed into "rescue" mode because I snatched it up and checked to see if the little critter could make it or not. I knew he wouldn't, and I couldn't stand to see him suffer, so I took him to my mom's pond, and I drowned him. I couldn't believe it when I saw it...I didn't think Benji would actually kill something. I started to cry so hard when I was holding that little chipmunk under the water...he didn't fight at all, so I know that he was going to die, I just wanted it to be faster for him. I realize that some people aren't going to see what I did as humane or the right thing to do, but I just couldn't stand to watch him suffer. I knew that if I tried to get him to a vet, he wouldn't make the car ride there, and I had to do something. I buried the little chipmunk in the memorial garden where I buried Wilbur and Psyche...I was hoping that they would show him the way across the rainbow bridge. I'm sorry to vet all of this on you guys...I just needed to tell someone that loves animals the way I do. So please just say a little prayer for the little chipmunk tonight, just to make sure he crossed the rainbow. So here's for the little chipmunk :nolove: