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On February 12, our dog Nika had to be put down. Initially, I think our Golden Retriever, Nigel, believed she\u2019d gone back to Megan\u2019s like she sometimes did before Covid. When we picked up Megan for our recent trip to Georgia, Nigel leaped out of the car as soon as we pulled into her driveway. He hurried up to the door, tail whipping back and forth, and I think he expected to see Nika. But as soon as he entered the house, he paused and looked around,<\/p>\n
No Nika.<\/p>\n
He made his way from room to room, sniffing, undoubtedly finding her scent everywhere. His tail still wagged, but not as quickly. By the time he got to the front room and still hadn\u2019t found her, he returned to the front door and plopped down in front of it. He seemed dejected. My sense is that he intuited she wasn\u2019t with us anymore but remained hopeful until that careful sniffing expedition of Megan\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
On the drive to Georgia, we stopped at a place where we usually stop to walk the dogs. Nigel bounded out of the car and strained at his leash as I walked him over to the grassy area. Nose to the ground, he sniffed everywhere and at one point stopped and looked up at me with those huge brown eyes and seemed to be asking, Where is she?<\/em><\/p>\n Sometimes at the dog park he he’ll see a black and white dog that resembles Nika and will stop obsessing about his ball to check out the dog. It’s eerily similar to what Nika used to do after our noble red Golden Noah, died. Nika would spot a red Golden and lope over to it tailing wagging, her hope so obvious I nearly wept.<\/p>\n We got Nigel as a pup, just two years before Noah died. Noah was the elder who adopted Nika when Megan and I brought her home as a pup from Big Dog Rescue Ranch. When Nigel arrived, Noah nurtured him. On weekends when Megan arrived with Nika, the reunion of these three amigos\u00a0 was always joyful, the three of them racing around the dog park, the yard.<\/p>\n Megan’s painting of these three beautiful souls.<\/p>\n Yes, dogs grieve.<\/p>\n And the people who love them grieve as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On February 12, our dog Nika had to be put down. Initially, I think our Golden Retriever, Nigel, believed she\u2019d gone back to Megan\u2019s like she sometimes did before Covid. When we picked up Megan for our recent trip to … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themysticalunderground.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/E94EA571-E2AD-4377-BE9C-247B947BF1A9_1_105_c.jpeg?resize=495%2C592&ssl=1\")
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