Oct. 16 1991 —— Feb. 16 2001
Dog
My boyfriend
surprised me with Tyson as a gift 10 yrs ago.
I had been begging for a dog for a couple of years and after 2 cats,
I finally got my puppy. Tyson was so tiny & chubby.
He had such a personality! I loved him the minute I saw him.
During the first couple of years we got 2 more dogs a Shitzu
and a Shar-pei. When we moved I could only bring one
dog with me I chose Tyson.
Everyone thought I was crazy because Tyson was such a hyper
nosy boy. He was the “ring leader” causing all sorts of trouble.
Even when he was being bad he was so cute.
I couldn’t stay mad long. In May of 2000 we found a lump
on Tyson’s neck. We brought him to the hospital and were told he
had lymphoma.
Initially they said he had anywhere from 3 months to a year to live
if he had chemo treatments. However there have been cases
of dogs living 4 and 5 years. We went with the treatments.
We were determined to save him no matter what.
After his first treatment he was sick! but he pulled though it.
We gave him lots of love and lots of “cookies”. 9 months
later he was still doing very well.
The day before Tyson died my mom came up to see him
and was amazed at how well he was doing.
I said “I know he is going to make it through the cancer.”
We went to bed as normal on 2/15/01. Tyson lying just above my head
as he always did. We had begun leaving the bedroom door open because
his medication increased urination and he would need to go out often.
This night we put up a cardboard barrier to make sure Tyson didn’t get into
the kitchen because we had recently put in a new floor and didn’t
want him using the bathroom there.
The next morning I was awoken to the screams of my boyfriend.
He was crying and yelling “Tracy wake up something happened to Tyson
he is gone.” Initially I thought Tyson gotten out of the house somehow.
Tyson had gotten into the kitchen and into a trash bag.
He managed to get a bag of frozen potato tots out of the trash.
The bag was slippery and once Tyson got the bag on his head he
couldn’t get it off. He suffocated.
My boyfriend found him with the bag still on him.
It was and is the absolute worst thing that has ever happened to us.
My poor baby.
After all of the treatments every other week to get him healthy.
Our main concern was that he never suffered not for one minute..
This wasn’t right. It never will be. We should have been
more careful and known that Tyson was too curious and
maybe put the lid on tighter. People say “It isn’t your fault”.
But he was my child and it was my responsibility to care for him.
Now I look for him and think I hear him constantly.
It has only been 3 days but it honestly feels like eternity.
I only hope he knew how very much he was loved.
If you are reading this and you have a curious dog
PLEASE be extra careful because you never know what could happen.
We never never thought this could happen to us.
We were always so careful.
This time we were not careful enough.
Tracy
| Tyson |