A Sad Story

I'm going to tell you a sad story that happened when I was nine years old. Well, I was born in Kentucky and that is where my mother and her family was born and raised. Well my moms birthday was a month after I was born and my dad got my mother a great dane puppy named Polo. My mother was going to name him Palo, but my sister who was a year and a half, couldnt pronouce Palo and said Polo and that is how this sweet puppy's name came to be. Well, Polo was like a big brother to my sister and I. He was just a few months older than me so we grew up together. He used to strech his large body across our couch and he would put his arm around me as I layed next to him on the couch. He was almost as big as a horse and watched over my sister and I as if we were his own children. He was a very sweet and noble dog and truely saved our lives many times. When my sister was two years old, Polo saved her from a large pitbal that was being aggresive with her. My sister and I used to ride him like a horse and he would lick up from our heads to our toes. =)

As you know, dogs dont live forever. It was my ninth birthday and my parents wanted to do something extra special because my birthday is in the summer. This seemed to be the biggest mistake we ever made. Anyway, we wanted to go to a water park so my family went to a really nice and large water park in Texas. It was huge and amazing! Well, I had a great ninth birtday, but while Polo was back in the kennel in Utah, he wasnt having the greatest time. You see, when you have a great dane, they have to get a lot of exercise and can not eat more than two small meals a day. My dad specifically told the people that were taking care of our dog that he needed special care or like other great danes as well, he can get bloat. Which is when great danes are not taken care of well and thier stomach flips over.

Well you guessed it, the people in the vet didnt treat him well and he got bloat. We couldnt do anything about it because we were in Texas first of all and second of all, We didnt even know about it! Well back in Texas, we were watching the news and there were predictions of bad weather in Texas so we decided to head back home. It was two days after my birthday and we were all happy and having a good time when my mother's cell phone rang. It was the Vet. We found out about Polo and how he had bloat at the moment. They had waited 6 hours before they called us so my dog had been suffering for that long! The people apologized and asked if we wanted to do surgery or just put the poor creature down. My family talked about it. Well, the thing was, when Polo was younger, he got hit by a car and his hip and toe were injured and he was still in pain from the accident. We made our decision. They... put Polo.....asleep....:'(

Well I hope he is in a better place now, and I will never forget the strong memories he carved into my life.