Lord Ringo of Wacella

[nobarkus]

I got Ringo in 1994 from a rescue breeder, he was 2 years old. The newspaper ad read " red/wht Basenji $75". I wanted a companion for Nika, my new blk/wht as she was so wild I needed another for her to target all that energy at instead of me.
When he arrived at my house he came very thin as he had malobsorbtion. They gave him poancrezyme to help with that.
He had bounced around to different homes but they returned him to the breeder. He had a bit of a mean streak in him. He would challenge large dogs. His coat was rough which made him look old. He was also a bit quiet and attacked Nika the second night. He would also growl at me when he was laying on the couch or chair. Anybody or dog that was over him was bad thing.
I got him some quality food and took him out with Nika to a huge open grassy area with jack rabbits. That did the trick!
Over the months his coat became a rich beautiful red and he gained some weight. A muscular 29 lbs!
All three of us had so many hiking adventures together over the years, the beaches, up in the hills and open fields. I think we hiked a few hundred miles together.
Ringo was a very intense guy to say the least, not shy at all. So he became very clownish and funny with many funny stories to tell. I'll give 2. When we were at the beach he'd get Nika or any dog to chase him. He'd round around and then like kids playing tag he'd find the nearest person, usually me and plow into us like we were home base. One day there were 2 women walking together down the beach and he just ran full speed and plowed into one of them from behind and knocked her down face first into the sand. I ran over apologetically and she laughed about it.
Or one day at the beach he spotted a dog laying next to it's owners, they were on a picnic blanket. The dog was laying behind them with a dog cookie. Ringo got as close as he could, the dog growling, and playfully baited and challenged the dog until it chased Ringo around the people on the blanket and as Ringo came around the back he swooped up the cookie and took off down the beach. The dog didn't notice what Ringo did and stopped where he had been laying and just looked down the beach at Ringo like"you better run"! Then the dog was sniffing around looking for his cookie everywhere very confused on where it could have gone.
His health started to decline last year at 13-1/2 , bad hearing and weight loss. He had developed a thyroid problem at 9.
A month ago I noticed his energy going down and took him to the vet. She noticed a mass, internally on his right side next to his stomach. After an ultra sound they determined it was benign as it would have killed him a lot earlier. She said if stays the same size he should be OK. He was dehydrated and after some liquid injection looked a whole lot better. That was a relief.
Well unfortunately the mass grew and pushed against his organs, mainly his stomach and he lost a lot of weight, loss of bladder control and got very weak. You see Ringo always had a very good appetite and if you didn't pull your fingers back quickly he take them too. So he couldn't even hardly take a bit of cooked chicken. I had to force feed him with a large syringe filled with high calorie/protein mix that he would try to spit out.
So on last Thursday, May 3, 2007 after talking to the vet several times I had to make the nightmarish decision to send him to Basenji heaven. What a terrible experience! I had to do it for him. I hoped he was going to beat it as on Tuesday he eat a lot of chicken with some vitamins. But On Wednesday he couldn't eat anything. I had to force feed him. Same with Thursday. He was miserable. I had to be unselfish and decide to set him free. I had his little body in a cardboard coffin the vet provided. I kept him next to me on my bed on Thursday night and Friday night. On Saturday I put beach sand around him in the coffin like he was at the beach and buried him, with Nika laying by. May he be having a blast on the other side of the rainbow! I'll always be grateful for all the wonderful experiences we had together. You were and are the best! I love you Ringo.

[tanza]

What a wonderful dedication to your sweet boy and I am sure he is have a blast over the Rainbow bridge. Thank you for setting him free

[nomrbddgs]

Many of us have had similar experiences. It takes someone special not to prolong the agony for our own selfish reasons and to help them cross over. God Bless!!

[youngandtired]

I am so sad that you lost your Ringo, I can't stand to even think of having to do what you had to do. I have one B, Sahara, my baby, she is 1yr. 4mos. and we love her so much. Thanks for sharing your memories, sounds like he had a great life, and you were so good to him.

[nala121498]

I am so sorry for your loss. What a lovely tribute to a great friend and companion. How wonderful that you gave Ringo his "forever home" and learned to appreciate him and all his Basenjisms! I'm sure he's having a blast. Thanks for sharing.

[tasha]

Thank you so much for sharing your life with Ringo. I am so sad to hear of your loss. I can't imagine what it will feel like when I have to set any of my babies free.
R.I.P. Ringo

[jys1011]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. It's never easy to say good bye. It sounds like Ringo lived a wonderful life with you…and you have hundreds of miles of memories of a precious little life

[cmd]

Thanks for sharing. I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. But take comfort in knowing you did the right thing. Ringo needed the peace that only you could give. What you did was the most unselfish act. You are now taking the pain and I'm sure Ringo is up there jumping around on the beach stealing cookies.

Just last year I had to do the same. My path is similar to yours. We saw an ad in the paper as well: "1 yr old red/white Basenji". We had great times hiking and playing on the beach. Brie was just over 14 last year. A year prior she lost her hearing then her bladder control then most cognitive abilities. I started working from home and was able to spend more time with her. But towards the end, she didn't seem to recognize me. She started to walk into things and was rapidly loosing weight. I saw her fall down a flight of stairs and it was tearing me up inside. I talked to several vets who all came to the same conclusion. It was time to let go. It was the only way I could give her her dignity back and it was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. Ever.

It took several weeks to start to move on and several months to not think about it ALL the time. I still think about her a lot, but now I think about the good times with her. Just take some peace in knowing you did the right thing. You had some great times with Ringo. Most dogs never get to go the beach or share experiences that you did. You gave Ringo a great life and I'm sure he's up there driving Brie nuts about now. God has a special place for animals and I truly believe you'll see him again.