Explaining death to children.

It was December of 1997 and my wife heard from her parents that the dog she had grown up with had to be euthanized as he had grown too old. She was very sad that day so I wanted to brighten her up and came with an idea. We adopted a six-weeks-old boy. He is very different in many ways than a one.

We adopted a male puppy (Sheltland Sheep breed) into our home. He was running around so much that we named him ‘Chase’. He was such a fun dog when he was young that every time I came home, he wanted to be touched and played with and when I didn’t he would stand on his hind limbs and pushes me with force with his forelimbs on my butt (probably that’s how dogs kick people). He maintained a ‘no fly zone’ above our backyard because every time he saw a plane flying over our backyard, he would go crazy and run around in circles till the plane goes out of vicinity. I can go on and on about him.

In 2001 and 2004 my girls came home. When we decided to relocate to India, we wanted to give him to someone that want to take him but in one attempt we learnt that he doesn’t want anyone else but our family. We decided to bring him with us to India so he traveled in the same plane with us for 20 hours to reach Bangalore. Girls saw him in the airport and were excited that we are going to be together again.

He adjusted himself much better to the heat than we had anticipated. It has been more two years now and all in all it has been more than 10 years since we adopted him. He has grown old and slowed down quite a bit. We suddenly noticed that he is peeing blood. In the town that we live in, there are some vets but not that good facilities so when we took him, they took an x-ray and said that he might be having stones. Now it is getting worse. He now dribbles even when he barks and he being an inside dog, making the house unhygienic.

A thought crossed my mind about euthanizing Chase. It was a flashback of 1997. When her father told my wife about her dog, she didn’t take it well and here I am having to tell my little girls and how do they take it? How am I to explain about euthanasia? Would I be seen as cruel and inhuman?

Do you have any advice or thoughts to help this dad?