This isn't the first time I've buried a Golden Retriever with lung cancer. It sort of goes with the breed--you've got about a 7 of 10 chance of losing a Golden to some kind of cancer. We adopt unwanted dogs, so it's all part of the game.
But it's not the dog or her fate that really bothers me. She was a good girl right up to the end.
About 10 years ago, another dog I owned got sick the same way. The cancer progresses pretty quickly, but most dogs are eager to keep doing familiar things. Mariah (the first dog) would go out for a walk with the other dogs, but be unable to get all the way home on her own. So I'd carry her as far as I could, rest and then continue. It's not easy carrying an 80 lb. dog uphill, but I can do it.
When carrying Mariah, about every other car or truck would stop and ask if I could use any help. I usually accepted a lift with the dog up the hill.
Well, Goldie, the subject dog of this weekend, exhibited the same behavior and--I ended carrying her home also. Now, mind you this was on a Sunday morning. No one stopped and offered to help Not one single person, although there was probably two or three times as much traffic on the road as there was a decade ago.
The difference in the people is that my rural neighborhood has become gentrified--lots of McMansions filled with people who are all but invisible. No waves from cars, stopping to chat or even a neighborhood potluck.
Let me reiterate that this is not a city neighborhood--folks live fairly far apart. What gives? Are our noveau riche folks that mean-spirited or are they just scared? As if an old man with a sick dog is a threat?
Anyone have any answers? Should I stop picking up trash along the roadside and stopping to help people who look lost? Is this now an "FU" society?
BTW, on a dark night at about 12 am this past autumn, I heard a big crash down on the main road. Some woman in a new Lexus had run off the road and plowed over a power distribution box and was now stuck on the remnants and in the soft mud in the roadside ditch. She managed to just clear the box and probably trip the breaker so it was okay.
I asked if she'd like to come up to the house and make a call. Instead of talking to me, she kept dialing her cell, which, of course said No Service (not unusual out here). Clearly, she was afraid of me, so I told her to stay put and I'd run back up to the house and call the sheriff. As soon as I started off, she got out of her car, with her high heels, furs, and two Pekingese in tow and started hiking down a pitch-black side road. I ran back to the house and called the sheriff. I went down to the main road and flagged his car down and told him that he'd better find the woman before she fell into a ditch or into a ravine. He found her about 200 yards away.
What is the matter with people?
