After 14 years, Polly was a part of Robert Dessaix’s family. One day after her death, the writer grapples with grief and what it is to love a dog
e are a threesome. The most wonderful thing in the world for me – the most joyful, vivifying, meaningful, precious thing in the world – is my tiny family: Peter Timms, the dog and me. We are the only family any of us has. The dog is not a child, of course, nor a mere companion, nor even our “best friend”. The dog is our dog. The dog is our anchor. We love each other, Peter and I, anchored by our dog . I can see that now. It has taken me all my life to see this.
So when the vet said we might want to consider if it was time to say goodbye, I started bawling. How unmanly. I was shocked. Polly was right there, bright-eyed, I stretched out my hand, she wagged her tail and came over to me. She was given two weeks if we did nothing. I had to leave the room. I sat outside the room where Peter waited with her, crying loudly and disturbing everyone in the waiting room just round the corner.
Nothing is the same today. I have never woken up in this house without finding Polly waiting for a pat. I have never spent a day here without hearing her, seeing her, moving about, going in and out of the garden. Now nothing. Just yesterday we strolled around the block, sniffing things and peeing here and there as usual. The day before she went for a walk beside the river in the sun. The day before that along a wild beach on the east coast .
Polly was a gentle dog, a self-possessed brown dog found on the street across the river from our house and taken to a refuge. When we went to the refuge all those years ago, what caught Peter’s eye was the independence of this dog in her cage, her take-it-or-leave it attitude to us, not barking or asking for attention or to be taken home, please. The morning after we took her home, before she even knew her name, I popped out of the front door to pick up the Sunday newspaper.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Nun’s body intact four years after death draws people to Missouri monasterySister Wilhelmina Lancaster’s body was exhumed and found to be ‘incorrupt’, a sign of holiness and later justification for sainthood
Read more »
Tina Turner’s cause of death revealedA spokesperson for rock icon Tina Turner has confirmed the 83-year-old's cause of death in a statement following her passing on May 24.
Read more »
Teen learner driver charged over pedestrian's deathA 16-year-old learner driver has been charged over the death of a pedestrian in Keilor Downs. 7NEWS
Read more »
Man crushed to death in workplace accident at Victorian factoryAn engineering firm has been fined $250,000 after a worker was killed while dismantling a former Victorian cheese factory. 7NEWS
Read more »
Regional Victorian engineering company fined after worker crushed to deathA1 Engineering has been fined and convicted over a workplace incident in December 2016 where two workers were inside a container preparing to move a 770kg piece of machinery when it fell on them, killing one and badly injuring the other.
Read more »
Boy's choking death 'could have been prevented', inquest findsThe death of a young boy with special needs, who choked on a nectarine stone while at school, would have been prevented had he been better supervised.
Read more »