“You were the best, I loved you so much. Why today, you won’t have to suffer anymore. You will finally be able to have peace, and no longer feel pain.” This is what I said to my dog while I was hugging her, as she was getting her euthanization shots. Cleo, my dog, was a mutt she was mostly German Shepherd. We found her on the side of the street in Chinatown, when she was a puppy. My family has rescued every dog we’ve ever had. She had the classic German Shepherd fur, black and brown. She was the most lovable dog ever. Cleo was a big fluffy dog, one that would never do anything to hurt you. I loved seeing my dog when I came home from school especially with her welcoming kisses and her excitement to see me. “Come here Cleo, look at how cute you are today.” It gave me something to look forward to throughout my whole day when I was away from home. My dog Cleo has been by my side since the day I was born. Sleeping on my feet all night until the morning. Laying next to me as I watched tv, and during every meal of the day. Cleo was one of the most loving cuddling dogs I’ve ever had.

Cleo was always a slower more relaxed dog but one day she was really slow, and very moody. She didn’t sleep on my bed, she slept next to it. When I ate breakfast she laid in her bed and looked from a distance at me where I was eating in the kitchen table. She was acting very strange. I pushed the issue aside because there were many factors that would have upseted her, my mom was out of town for a friends week, my dad was in Iowa with my brother bringing supplies for his upcoming school year, and we recently got a new puppy. I thought Cleo was upset at the fact that all of that was going on in my family. Still I was worried about her. When we got the puppy she loved it, constantly playing with him and letting him sleep next to her in her bed. But, my mom warned me that she was getting old, and that she needed rest and time to be alone. So I did just that and waited for her to come to me, I let her have time to rest.

After my breakfast it was time for me to feed my dogs breakfast also. I filled the bowls up and called all three of my dogs names, Scrappy my other dog, came running down and began to eat, Newton was passed out under the table, and Cleo stayed in her bed and didn’t move. She loved when her food was out for breakfast but not today I guess. Scrappy kept looking over at Cleo and giving her a weird look. Then came the growling from Scrappy, and Cleo lifted her head up. She growled back, my stomach dropped. For a moment I was sitting there yelling stop it Scrappy, telling her to leave Cleo alone, and then suddenly all I remember was Cleo getting up and running at Scrappy. They began to fight horribly. Scrappy, being younger and a hunting breed, suddenly pinned Cleo to the ground. My body was frozen, I felt like I couldn’t hear anything, besides just seeing what was occurring. It was in slow motion, I couldn’t believe what was happening before my eyes. I began to shed a tear because I was so upset this never happens, and of course it occurs on the time that I am by myself. Then I snapped back into reality, I was out of shock, the first sound I heard was Scrappy making this awful noise while she was biting Cleos neck aggressively. Cleo was trying to get up but she couldn’t Scrappy was younger and stronger which gave her the advantage.

Cleo was whining, making the noise that every person hates because it makes them feel bad for the dog, I hated that noise I knew I had to help her. She was getting hurt, very badly, I had no clue what to do. My first instinct was to go in the braul and grab Scrappy’s collar and pull her off of Cleo. But then I thought this could be very bad she could possibly bite my arm since she is in such a crazy state of mind. I grabbed the nearest object on the counter next to me. It was a newspaper, I swatted at Scrappy’s behind. She turned around and snapped at the newspaper. Thank god I grabbed the newspaper that could’ve been my arm. I hit harder but more near the neck Scrappy made a little squeal sound and sprinted toward the stairs. Cleo was on the floor laying there. I looked at her neck and it was all bloody. I grabbed a towel, and tried to wipe off the fur, then the napkin was all bloody. I gave her a little kiss because I wanted her to just suddenly stop bleeding and to be okay but I knew that wasn’t possible. I put my hand on the wound to see if it was still actively bleeding. I felt a little gash. It was wet and cold it was pretty deep, all I felt was fur and then a hole where Scrappy dug her tooth in. My hand was now all bloody, I didn’t know what to do, I reached for my phone, with the bloody hand, and dialed my mom’s number right away. She used to work for a animal hospital until she moved onto humans. She answered right away, thank god, I put her on speaker and told her the whole story and asked her what to do with Cleo. The first step, she told me, was to see if the gash was bleeding a lot. I went back in through the fur with my finger and it seemed to be drying up a bit, I thought to myself I was 16 why should I be doing this. My finger now was beginning to dry up, but it was still bloody. She began to talk to Cleo her first instinct was to comfort her. My mom stated, “It’s okay baby don’t worry you’re gonna be okay. I love you.” Then she made a little kissing sound. I told her I’d take care of it, and she gave me a few tips just incase if the wound opened back up and began to bleed again.

I glanced at the time and saw that it was nearing 3 o’clock time flew by that’s all I remembered, it felt like 10 min. I let Cleo lay there a bit and I went upstairs to shower. After I was done, I went in my room to lay down, Cleo was on the side of my bed laying there. She looked up with a slight little glance and still managed to wag her tail. I gave her a kiss. The next thing I knew was that I began to fall asleep. I woke up and it was 10 o’clock. I looked over at the side of my bed and I saw a pretty decent sized puddle of blood. I began to shake, I was so scared and worried to see what I was gonna walk into. I called Cleo’s name and I didn’t hear any noise. I heard the puppy, Newton, bark and I went downstairs she was by Cleo, and Cleo was bleeding from her mouth, and her ass. The fur around those areas was all crusty with blood. All I thought to do was call my mom she didn’t answer so I moved onto my dad, he picked up and stated that my mom told him the story about Cleo. I said, “No Dad you don’t understand, Cleo is bleeding a lot now, like out of her mouth and her ass, what do I do.” He said to go to our vet and take her there now. The next few moments flashed by and the next thing I knew I was carrying Cleo out of my car into the vet. They opened the door for me and saw all the blood. There was blood on my shirt, blood on my pants, and blood on my hands. They took her back and said instantly that we have to put her down, she’s in pain. I knew that was the right thing to do, I laid over her once they put her on the steel, cold table. I took her in my arms and started balling my eyes out. I began to say, “You were the best, I loved you so much. Why today, you won’t have to suffer anymore. You will finally be able to have peace, and no longer feel pain.”
Cleo was gone I wasn’t able to do anything more for her, the doctors believed she ripped the lining of her intestines when she was fighting with Scrappy that’s why she was bleeding so much.

I was devastated at the whole event. Cleo was an amazing dog, it was so weird how quick and horrible she went. She wasn’t that old she would’ve had about two or three more years left in her life. My dad came home right when we got off the phone, he was devastated and wanted to make sure that my thinking process was okay because of all the blood. My mom got a flight home the next day. My mom had even more of a connection with Cleo than me. My mom was truly upset she didn’t even want to see the amount of blood or anything that was around the house. My dad dad threw out the carpet in my room and the living room where the blood was left behind. My dad doesn’t show much emotion but he was sad also. My mom made a suggestion of why she was acting so weird, it was most likely because of the fact that the puppy came into our lives so fast, and we shifted all the attention on Newton and not Cleo. Scrappy was trying to act as the bigger alpha dog, even though that was Cleo’s position and at a certain time Cleo was fed up with Scrappy. But Scrappy was much stronger. I keep Cleo’s collar in my room due to the fact that at the end it was my responsibility to make sure she was okay, and not suffering any longer. Frequently, I look back at the collar and commonly began to tear up because of the drastic ending. She was the best, rest in peace Cleo. Thanks for the good times and laughs.