In Memory of a Good Gae

This blog was created in memory of SooNee, my gae (dog) who passed away yesterday.  She was the last of my original "Jindo" gaes. 

SooNee as a pup.

She was bright dog who was limited by her owner's limited training skills.  She knew the usual obedience commands of sit, down, paw, stand, stay, come, round, heel, out, off, on, and back.  In obedience school, I remember her surprising me at her tolerance towards a male chihuahua pawing her face while she was laying down.  She could be an impatient learner, and she was apt to throw new behaviors at me trying to figure out what I wanted.  I wasn't very good at tapping into that.    Clickers?  What's that?

Later in life, I taught her to hold things for me.  She would fetch and hold a basket for me and then other items.

SooNee carrying her special basket.

I had to be careful that I didn't give her something that I cared about though.  She was apt to toss the item back to her molars and bite down to hurry me up.  Many a pencil bore her teeth marks in this way.       

When SooNee became a senior dog though, I noticed a change in her.  She was deaf and losing her eyesight, but beyond that, she wasn't processing or reasoning as well.  She was showing dementia-like behavior.  

When SooNee was at the end of her life,  she was diagnosed with a fast acting brain tumor that affected 3 of her limbs and her mental capacity (dementia-like behavior).  She could no longer stand or sit up in the span of one day.  Her dignity was in shreds.  When I looked into her eyes, I knew it was time.  She was born on August 19, 1996, so she was 14 yr of age in American years when she died.  When I'm thinking more clearly, I'll try to calculate her years in Korean years.

All though her life, I used to ask her, "Are you a good dog?"  A rhetorical question but one that I asked out of habit and often said out loud during a petting session.  When I left home for work, I often left her with the admonishment, "Be a good dog."  Saying "Goodbye" was just not me, I thought.   Too wussy for a sensible, pragmatic left-brained scientist I guess.

When she laid on the vet examination table, with the syringe being depressed into her vein, I couldn't say "Goodbye".  Instead, my parting thought to her, because she was deaf and couldn't hear, was "You were a good dog,  A VERY good dog."

She'll be very missed.  Rest in peace my dear SooNee. 

SooNee back in April.