I can find no simple portraits of Trot, so will let these two pictures, taken during Alexandra's visit of spring, 2012, honor his memory.
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| Shirl, Trot, and Alexandra (Muțiu) |
We live in the country, though on a well-paved country road where cars often break the 40 mile-per-hour (~60 Kph) speed limit. It seemed almost cruel to keep Trot tied all the time, so on nice days this summer, we got in the habit of letting him run.
Yesterday, while I was at the market in Plymouth, Trot was out running, headed home from across the road, where some neighbors have a dog with whom he was always friendly. Trot, running fast, came from between a building and a tree into the path of a car driven by a good man, who immediately stopped, called the police, and reported the accident. I was at the supermarket in Plymouth when my cell phone rang, and Daniel Rusu, an MBA candidate from Cluj who lives with us, told me Trot had been hit, and was "breathing, but not moving." On my motorcycle, I rode home as quickly as I could, and found Trot wrapped in a blanket, and lying on his right side on a plywood sheet that those neighbors had provided. He was breathing, but clearly unconscious. His tongue lay out on the board, bloody, and not moving. I petted him, as Roxy Fera and Shirl were also doing. The police car was protecting Trot from oncoming cars, but, as I could see in the officer's eyes, it was time to move him out of the roadway. Calls had already been placed to the local animal hospitals, and a call came from Dr. Cody in Plymouth. He agreed to meet us at his hospital in ten or fifteen minutes.
Roxy brought my Santa Fe around, and we loaded Trot, still on the plywood, into the rear of the car. Shirl and Danny followed in Dan's car as we drove Trot to the Plymouth Animal Hospital.
Once Trot was in the hospital, Dr. Cody quickly diagnosed his injuries as extensive, including a crushed pelvis and bleeding in both his lungs and his abdomen. Dr. Cody told us that even if he did everything he could, Trot would probably not survive the night. After brief consideration of his plight, Shirl and I agreed to have him euthanized. So, Trot died while still unconscious, avoiding the pain of a crushed pelvis, most likely a blessing.
Trot was an energetic, warmhearted, friendly dog. He did not have a vicious molecule in his body.
A sad day, indeed.
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| Alexandra and Trot at the wood stove. |
Oh, that surely is terrible news... I am sorry for your loss, especially since I had met Trot back in 2009. Honestly, I noticed roughly the same phenomenon with my Cesar: he learned quite well all the streets in my neighborhood, so now when I take him on a walk I don't really have to give him any directions. The only problem is at street crossings - he doesn't know how to recognize danger, in spite of being more than 2 years-old. If I didn't hold the leash firmly, he certainly would be hit. What I wonder is how stray dogs manage to learn to cross the street (and it is more than one that I have seen). They know how to look in both directions, they advance up to the middle of the road and stop, acting almost like a human would. Probably they are more exposed to the urban environment and have to adapt faster.
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