When I was born back in 1991, my parents had a dog named Hershey. He was a year and a half at the time. As I grew older I watched the young dog grow. He would dig holes in the sand beach that we had at our cottage. I remember when I threw sticks off the dock and we would jump off into the water racing for the stick(I always lost).
He had a few incidents in his life. My dad threw a ball down the sidewalk and it rolled on to the road. Hershey ran across the street and a truck caught his back leg. Luckily he just got a bad scrape so all he needed was some medication. He also was bitten horribly by a dog on his morning walk with my mom. Again all he needed was some medication.
He was an exceptional dog. His last few nights my mother and I took him for some late night walks. The first night there was a full moon and my mom told me that when living things are coming to the end sometimes a full moon can cause death because of it’s gravitational forces. The next night we took him for a walk and his legs were shaking and he could barely walk. That night my mom slept with him the whole night. In the morning he couldn’t stand up, he just fell over.
My parents didn’t tell my sister and me, and just sent us off to school as if everything was fine. I got home from school and I was really excited because I made the volleyball team at school. My excitement dropped as my parents told me the horrible news. All through Hershey’s life he developed lumps. Apparently a lump had grown inside his skull and it was pressing against his brain so that he couldn’t stand up and he wouldn’t eat or drink. On September 10, 2003 our gentle giant, Hershey Ristow, was put to sleep. It’s hard to live without him.
We miss you, Hershey.
With love,
| Melissa Ristow |