![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/Ben20at20Christmas.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThose of you who’ve followed my blog for a while (thanks, guys!) will know that in mid-2009 I farewelled my lovely old labrador Bella – & that after 9 weeks I’d had enough of being dogless & Ben joined our family.<\/p>\n
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Having Ben hasn’t made me forget Bella, of course (I’m as soppy as the next person!). So I rather liked the contents of an e-mail one of my friends sent today & thought I’d share it. (Yes, I know it’s been all round the interwebs by now & no, it’s not science and not scientific at all, but ‘dog people’ will know why it clicked.)<\/p>\n
Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Those of you who’ve followed my blog for a while (thanks, guys!) will know that in mid-2009 I farewelled my lovely old labrador Bella – & that after 9 weeks I’d had enough of being dogless & Ben joined our family. Having Ben hasn’t made me forget Bella, of course (I’m as soppy as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[22],"yoast_head":"\n
I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.
As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.<\/span><\/span>
The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker’s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.
The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ‘I know why.’<\/span><\/span>
Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation.
He said, ‘People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?’ The six-year-old continued, ‘Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.’<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
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