"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:35:06 -0400, Dogman wrote:

On Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:28:19 -0700, "Phyrie"
wrote:

[...]
We received a puppy for Christmas in 1971 or '72. He came from the SPCA,
and was sick, but they thought we could nurse him back to health, so they
let my aunt (the giver of the gift) bring him home. It was horrible. It
took him two weeks to die from distemper and can make me weep to this
day.
Not something I would ever wish to see another dog suffer from, ever
again.
I'll take the vaccination any day, over that disease.

Yeah, it's pretty horrible to witness. The drooling, the staggering
around, paralysis, etc. I saw it all the time as a young boy.

Apparently Char would have us see all that again.

Why don't we bring back polio and smallpox why we're at it? Ah, the
nostalgia.

That's actually a little frightening. My SIL, back in the late 70's, was a
real hippy. She ate health food (*shudder*) and made her own wine (*grin*),
but she was against everything government (we're Canadian, fercrissake's!)
and she wouldn't immunize her daughter, who was about two at the time. She
even had her 16 year old SIL (that would be me) convinced of the "hazards"
of immunization, and I didn't have my infant daughter done either. Until
the public health nurse told me about TWO diphtheria cases over on the
mainland JUST THAT YEAR!! My daughter was promptly brought up to date with
her vaccinations!

Dogman, that pup was such a good dog, too. He was possibly as old as eight
weeks, but no more, I think. When he couldn't walk anymore, he would still
drag himself out of the little box he slept in to use the litter box we had
set down beside his bed box. It would exhaust him so much, that he would
have to rest up in the litter box, before dragging himself back to bed. I
don't know what my parents were thinking, allowing this to go on, but
perhaps the vet had convinced them he could be cured. I don't know, but I
don't think I would have let it continue, if I was the adult and had him
here like that today. I'll never forget the sad, mournful howl he let out
just before he died. It still has the power to bring tears, and give me a
chill.