Ashley and Hobie's Story

On April 8, 1992, my brother went to the North Shore Animal League. A litter of nine puppies had just been brought in.  He adopted the German Shepherd looking one, Ashley. During the drive home, she cried the entire time.  So, my brother turned the car around and went back to the shelter.  He put Ashley back in with the other puppies and all of them came up and started licking her.  She ignored all of them and went to a corner and curled up with a little black one - our Hobie.  My brother figured that Hobie was who she wanted to spend her life with and adopted them both.

For 14 years they were part of our family. 

On March 25, 2006 we took Hobie and Ashley to the dog beach in Huntington Beach, as they love the beach, and within five minutes Hobie started having trouble breathing.  We rushed him to the vets, and they thought that it was mineralization in the lungs, or lung cancer, or a collapsed larynx.

Hobie stayed at the emergency vet overnight on oxygen, and we stayed in the area too, so we could visit him, and be near.  On Sunday afternoon he was okay to go home, with meds.  When we got to the WLA area he couldn't breathe again.  We rushed him to the WLA VCA, where he immediately had two respiratory failures, they tried CPR, but Hobie passed within five minutes, at about 5:30pm.  The staff at the VCA were wonderful. 

We drove back to Woodland Hills to get Ashley, Hobie's sister, as Ashley couldn't understand where her brother had gone, she was searching the house, and would not eat, she knew something was wrong.  We had read before that it is closure for a dog to see the body of their brother/sister/partner, so we took Ashley to view Hobie.  Ashley is very old and weak, but she sniffed her brother, and she knew.

A week later, on April 1st, I had to make the difficult decision of putting Ashley to sleep. Although Hobie's death was sudden and unexpected, I had been trying to emotionally prepare for Ashley to pass away for some time now.  She was diagnosed with Cushings Disease about three years ago and three months ago a tumor was found in her spleen.  Along the way, she seemed to pick up every other minor ailment but she was such a tough cookie and exceeded everyone's expectations. 

Unfortunately, from the day her brother died, her condition deteriorated rapidly and she just seemed to lose her will to live.  I know she was grieving terribly for him.  She began to refuse to eat or drink, and at the end she couldn't even get up and walk. 

On Saturday evening, the vet, Dr. Karen Kelly, came out to our home and helped her through the final stages of her journey.  She was incredibly compassionate and laid down on the floor with Ashley and talked to her, and then told myself, my brother and our friends what was going to happen.  Ashley was given a sedative and she slipped very quickly into unconsciousness.  When she was ready, the doctor gave her a shot and she died so peacefully and gently, in her own home and surrounded by people who loved and cared for her all her life.  As she passed on, we held her, stroked her face and told her that she would be with Hobie soon and we would see them both again one day.  Ashley and Hobie were like my children and words cannot express the loss that I feel. 

They were both truly wonderful and patient dogs . . .  Over the years, I have brought many dogs in and out of our home.  Ashley and Hobie were patient and accepting and didn't seem to mind that other dogs were getting attention.
 
I believe that in the end, Ashley decided again to tell us that she needed to be with her brother.  She gave us the strength to let her go, and in many ways it is somewhat comforting that they were only separated for one week.  Although they were both 14 years old when they left us, I know that right now, they are once more young and happy, and playing like puppies together again in Heaven.
 
On a final note, they were cremated together.  They came into the world together, and it felt right that their physical bodies became one at the end.