Coming Home: A Tribute to Mickey

Last week, I took you through our journey of bringing Luci to Canada. Today, I’m going to share when Luci met our beloved family dog, Mickey.

Remember my friend who helped give me advice about my options for bringing Luci home? I had asked her to come pick me up from the airport when we landed since there wasn’t enough room in my family’s car to bring both Luci and me back home, and she graciously agreed. On the way back we stopped by our dog sitters place to pick up our dog, Mickey.

Now, Mickey had been in our family for over 15 years. We had had him since he was a tiny puppy. He was a westie and happened to be the only one in his litter when he was born, which is termed as a ‘Singleton Puppy’. Little did we know, these types of pups are more prone to behavioural issues since they weren’t raised with any littermates. As a result, he was a more grumpy pup, but we loved him dearly and he loved to give you snuggles and curl up beside you in bed. You weren’t allowed to disturb him from his beauty sleep though, or he’d be really mad at you. About a month before we left for Chile, Mickey began expressing signs that he was getting old, but was still in good spirits. In the care of our dog sitter, we knew he would be well taken care of for the 10 days we were gone.

When I walked up to the dog sitters place to bring Mickey home, I knew something was wrong when I looked through the window. He looked up at me and wasn’t excited to see me like he usually was, he just slowly got up from his bed and started walking over, and he looked very skinny. My heart broke. I had him in my lap the whole way home while Luci was in the back, noticeably jealous I was giving this other dog more attention, but Mickey was my top priority in that moment.

When I walked in the door, my brother was already there and helped me bring everything in. When he saw Mickey, I knew he knew, too. Mickey just wasn’t himself anymore, so first thing in the morning my brother took him to the vet.

The vet didn’t have good news. They gave us meds to give to him so he wouldn’t be in pain but said it would be in Mickey’s best interest that we put him down as soon as possible. Just the day before, the dog sitter had posted a video of Mickey barking and playing with other dogs, and within a day, he completely went downhill. We brought him home, gave him all the love and bacon we could muster (without him getting an upset stomach) and tried to make the most of our last day together. We had booked his appointment for later that evening after sharing the news with our mom (who was still in Chile), and my brother and I were with him through the entire process. It was by far the hardest thing I had ever done, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I was glad we were able to comfort him in his final moments like he had always been there for us.

As soon as we got home and walked through the door, Luci was there to greet us, and I felt incredible guilt. All I could think about was how Mickey might've thought that we replaced him, when that was so far from the truth. My brother and I often say that if we had known Mickey was going to take such a turn, we wouldn’t have gone to Chile at all. And if that had been the case, I wouldn’t have Luci here by my side today. Although incredibly difficult to go through, it’s a part of life and that’s what you sign up for when you get a pet -- you stick by them through thick and thin like they always do for you. Mickey gave us nearly 16 years of great memories that we will cherish forever, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

This one’s for you Mickey, I miss you every day.