This morning, I was showing off my new car (3.5 hours at the dealer last night) to my mother and friends when my mom decided to dramatically declare that she is putting Storm to sleep. Storm is her oldest dog, a Keeshond, and he hasn't been doing that well lately. I, really without thinking I guess, asked her if she was serious since Storm has been "dying" for well over ten years. She started to explain why, then just walked away instead of actually explaining why.

We'll ignore the fact that someone who raised me to think critically my entire life shouldn't just walk away as an answer to what I felt was an honest question. She has been claiming Storm has been dying since at least 1997 and every two years, she declares she is putting him to sleep because he's doing horribly.

One might say, this is crying wolf.

I chose to say she is being selfish. Of all the animals that have gone through her house, and all the animals who have been put to sleep, only two of them are ones that I seriously think were at the end of their life. Storm is one of them, I knew that before she made this announcement but I hate it when she does this. Basically, Storm stopped taking his medication. He refuses the pain killers and he is really struggling. His quality of life has dropped in the last month and it's pretty obvious. His younger brother, Nado (short for Tornado Valley Boy), had cancer and his quality of life dropped about as fast as Dante's (my dog from a year ago, start here if you want to see it start) did.

But, she spent ten years talking about how Storm was dying. So, that is why I asked.

I didn't bother bringing up all the other animals that she had put to sleep. Animals that I felt were not dying or their quality of life had dropped. Most of them, as far as I can tell, were put to sleep because they were an annoyance. Sir Smoke probably had an urinary tract infection and peed everywhere. So, she put him to sleep, claimed that he was in "great pain" that apparently only happened when no one else was watching. Her housekeepers, both of which were greatly attached to her cats, were devastated, but it was a decision she made. My cats pee all over the place, I will fully admit it. They go on the clothes on the ground and I find messes whenever we don't change their kitty litter. You know what? I just clean it up. I'm not going to put them to sleep just because they are making a mess, even if they do it when the boxes are clean. I love them for who they are, annoyances to me or not. And I just clean up.

Mist, Nado's and Storm's mother, was put to sleep right about the time she got Hershey (my brother's second dog). For all her ranting about my brother's taking care of dogs (Dante was his first, we took him when Celyn couldn't really take care of him; she pretty much stole Hershey from him in a rather bitter turn of events), she is terrible with animals. She also finds new and interesting excuses of why they were dying. When I found out Dante had cancer in December 2006, I told everyone. I told them because it upset me and I was rather distraught. A day later, she dramatically claimed that Storm also had cancer and "he might not make it the week." That one hurt, not only because it was a lie, but because Dante was getting all the attention. He only lasted a few days after we found out, but she felt it important to have Storm suddenly get cancer. When I brought it up six months later, she claimed that he is somehow surviving through cancer that kills most dogs so fast and she didn't know how he could hold on so well. I suspect his supernatural survival rate had to do with him not having it in the first place.

Snowball, who apparently walks on water, is incapable of making messes. However, every animal around him is capable of making Snowball-shaped and size messes. She makes great efforts to explain how she is a master dog trainer, but her dogs attack mine almost every single time I bring them into the house. She just wails at them, then yells at anyone else who tries to correct them properly (remember, you can't smack an animal even when they are biting, that's horrible, right?).

When Celyn and Dorine got their two new puppies this holiday, Hershey and Snowball kept slamming into Inigo (my youngest dog, a Keeshond) when he tried to play. I got snapped at for trying to stop it, until I kept pointing out every single time they did it. And I mean every single time, then she admitted they were being abusive, but she told me she couldn't do anything about it.

And to remind me that I was a terrible dog parent because I smack Inigo when he barks in the car and he ignores my quiet command. You know, he doesn't really bark in the car anymore, instead he just lies down on the side seat and puts his head on my lap. That's a sign of a terrible dog owner?

She did the same with Bonzai, my oldest cat's litter mate, and a score of other animals. Each one seems to acquire sudden health problems about a week after they get really annoying and they have to be put to sleep because of dire, but vague, health concerns.

It makes me sad. It really does. Every time she has one animal put to sleep, less than a month later, a new puppy shows up.

At least it was better than the time we came home from the weekend visit with dad to find out she "had to give away" all three of our dogs because they were barking too much. She claimed they were sent to the "funny farm" to be companion animals for those who need it, but I found out later that she was about to be foreclosed and I highly suspect she either had them put to sleep or sold them to make a bit more money. That is probably the one point that I realized that, in many ways, I can't really trust her and probably one of the most painful memories of my life.

Truth is a painful thing.

I know Storm is doing badly, but I also know how much effort me, Fluffy, Fightertype, and half a dozen other people have fought for ten years to keep this dog from being put to sleep because he was annoying, prone to barking, and basically lazy. I know how many arguments I had with my mother and how many times I've "just mentioned" it to her husband to get him involved, to keep just one dog alive to enjoy his full and rather happy life. I know it is time for him to go; when anyone refuses to take their pain medication, it tells you they are near that point. When they just walk up against your leg and hold themselves there, it just makes the point. It happened to me with my animals, so I think I see it with Storm.

I've know Storm his entire life. I was there the day he was born and I grew up with him. I'll be sad when he finally does go, knowing that he won't die in the arms of someone who loves him like Dante did in mine, but also in memory of so many others who died because they were just an annoyance. I'm proud that I fought for him, fighting against my mother's lies and deceptions, but I'm deeply saddened that this war may finally be over.

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