My boyfriend has had a blonde in his life for 5 years, she came before me, and I have accepted that and now relish in her company. Her name is Maggie and she's a lab x shepard. She's always there at the car door before you even realize that you've arrived, and she brings him so much light and laughter.
The other day, we drove up, and she stayed on the portch. She didn't move, everything but her tail was completely frozen. We made our way up the walk and finally, she stood - or tried to.
Mag is 4 years old, and she has just blown out her ACL. She's had two previous surgeries regarding her joints, and now it looks like a third is in place...she's an awfully expensive pup considering she was obtained for free.
The vet bills are forcing my man to decide between his dog or his horses. He's a mess about it all, and just gutted.

I know we all think we'll go as far as we can, and do all that is in our power for something/someone we love...but then reality steps in and seperates our will with our desire...

So my question is this:
Have you ever failed someone or something you treasured because, despite your heart, you didn't have the means?

Thanks for sharing this jbean.

Haven't been in such a situation. It would be so hard to decide if you are caught in something like this.
But I can understand your bf's pain as I always have cats and dogs at home.

One of the pups we bought home turned out to have a very bad case of temper troubles. He was aggressive to the extent of biting family members. Some vet suggested he be put down, others suggested we give him away to dog shelter for such dog where perhaps they may help him or just put him down....I remember those few months when we worried what to do. We were in love with this little one we bought home....and felt responsible for his life. It would be cruel to give him away to anyone knowing how dangerous he was becoming and we didn't want to kill... so we spoke with some animal behaviour experts, finally meeting up with a horse trainer who also worked with dogs. This guy helped us train our little fellow and understand his psychology. We have made changes in our lifestyle around our labrador and things are normal. He is almost 4 yrs now and doing well. Looking back I feel that we didn't jump into any hasty decision and took our time to decide what we really wanted for him and us. We thought of him as our baby and we made our decision. We know he is not completely Ok, we are very cautious but it's worth it cos we see his devotion , love and how protective he is towards us now. He is family.

A tough choice n thanks for bringing this to flowers....

Hi JBean.

Crikey - an awful dilemma.

I think its the situation we all dread - particularly as parents get older or we have children - not being able to be there when they need us the most. Sometimes I'm sure I'll just go mad if I dwell on it.

As Spock said - each will respond according to his or her abilities. You don't know until you get there but you always hope you'll do the right thing.