Family pet celebrates 11th and potentially last birthday

Shortly after Kara and I married in 2004, I offered to buy her a collie for her Christmas present.

Kara had a collie as a child and spoke about the dog as if she walked on water. Her eyes lit up when I told her I wanted to buy a collie and it took her all of about a second to say yes. Come to think of it, she took less time to say yes to that than when I proposed to her.

We lived in Palm Springs (Calif.) then, and I found an ad in the newspaper that a nearby pet story had a collie for sale. We went there and found a dog that looked more like a coyote than Lassie. Her hair was shaved short to withstand the punishing 100-plus degree summer temperature. We bought her anyway, and from that moment on, Sierra Bear has been as much a member of our family as anyone.

Sierra celebrated her 11th birthday Thursday and sadly, I fear there won’t be a 12th. Father Time has taken his toll on our collie, and that means a dreaded decision looms. I pray it’s one that is a few years, or at least a few months away, and not a few weeks.

Kara and the kids took Sierra for a walk last weekend and she barely lasted a block. She has arthritis, and in recent months, she has moved as gingerly as my 80-year-old grandmother. On Monday, we found two wet spots on the carpet, another alarming sign for a dog that has been house-trained for nearly 11 years.

There’s no way of knowing for sure how any of us will react when we have to say goodbye to Sierra, but it’s a safe bet that we’ll all be distraught.

How the kids will cope with her death, of course, worries me. How do you explain to kids why their dog is no longer here? They don’t know life without Sierra. She’s been around longer than they have.

Sierra’s never been close with our 6-year-old daughter, Lexi. My guess is Sierra didn’t appreciate someone else moving onto her turf and taking up our time. She hasn’t been mean to Lexi, she’s just ignored her. Lexi still says she loves her, though, even though their brief interactions state otherwise.

Our 3-year-old son, Luke, adores Sierra. Whatever jealousy our dog has felt toward Lexi, she hasn’t been that way with Luke. One of the common scenes in our house is Luke using Sierra as a pillow, resting his head on her backside.

I imagine Luke will be as rattled as any young kid can be about losing its pet. Lexi is emotional, so she’ll probably be a mess, too.

That emotional side of Lexi comes from her mother, who will probably grieve more so than any of us when Father Time takes Sierra away.

That will put me in the unenviable position of trying to stay strong for the rest of the family. I’m not sure I’m cut out for it.

When Sierra dies, she’ll take a piece of all of us with her.

Thomas St. Myer writes a weekly parenting column on medium.com that is published in The Courier Review. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter @tstmyer.