R.I.P. Sticker the Toy Poodle

We got the most terrible news last night.  Marcus brother phoned to tell us that our beloved little dog, Sticker, got hit by a car yesterday and after rushing him to the vet they had to put him to sleep as he apparently had too much brain swelling to have been able to survive.  We are devastated.  Marcus brother was so worried about how our son, Judd, would handle the bad news as he adored his dog Sticker.  We left Sticker in their care when we made our journey over to Thailand as dogs are forbidden to travel from Thailand to Australia due to the rampant spread of rabies over here.  So they very kindly offered to take him in for us and care for him until our return.  And they did, they told me how he would travel with my sister in law to work most days and then have a sleep over occasionally with a lady she worked with as he was adored by everyone at her work.  He would have been quite happy living with them and I am sure there would have been plenty of cuddles for him too.  And I know how much my brother in law loves dogs, so I can only imagine how upset he would have been to have had to deal with the accident.
I must admit when Marcus first told me the bad news I was angry that something like this happened but that is just my way of dealing with grief.  Marcus was asking me last night why I didn't cry when he first told me and I had to explain that I am not the type of person that breaks down into an emotional mess at the first mention of bad news or death, it takes me some time and especially some alone time for the information to sink in and for me to realise the enormity of the situation.  I tend not to like to cry in front of people either, even my husband.  If we are watching a sad movie I hide my tears from him as I hate it when someone turns to you during a sad scene and says "oooh are you crying?", it makes me uncomfortable.  So I had to explain to him that my grief will appear over the next few days in bursts of sadness, anger, frustration and maybe even a tantrum or two.
I harbour no blame towards my brother and sister in law for this accident, because that is all it was, an accident.  Sticker always had a tendency of running out onto the road and going off on little adventures as most dogs love to do.  But I am very very sad that all of my plans for seeing him this coming April and cuddling him tight are now gone. I even thought to have him come and stay with us in our apartment and spending some good quality time with me and the kids.
Marcus is very upset, for a man who doesn't particularly like dogs he was won over by our little Sticker, he would snuggle him and pat him constantly and he never got upset with him.  He was the epitome of the perfect dog, he hardly ever barked, he was perfectly house trained (unless he was mad with me over something), he was gentle and kind with the kids, obedient and had the most softest beautiful fur and he never smelled like a dog. 
Which is why when we decided to move to Thailand we could only bare to re home Lance our other poodle and not Sticker.  We planned on having him back when we returned from overseas.  We even discussed bringing him back over with us if we signed on for another 12 months but we didn't want to have to put him into a kennel for 6-8 months upon our return so we agreed that he would have to stay in Australia and wait.

We decided to tell Judd the truth last night, he is a smart little boy and he would want to know where Sticker was when we went home for our trip.  So we sat down and I worked up the courage to tell him what happened.  He understood and then promptly burst into tears and fell into my lap sobbing, saying "Sticker, Sticker, Sticker...."
Oh my that just brought us all undone.  We took them outside for a walk and he eventually cheered up.  I had another chat with him at bedtime and we had some more tears and this morning he woke up OK and has so far only talked about it once.



The little guy on the left is Lance and Sticker is on the right.

 We will never find another dog like Sticker, he was one of a kind and I cannot believe that he wont he there wagging his little stumpy tail and jumping in my lap when we return.  RIP my little friend, I only hope that you didn't suffer and you are now in doggy heaven with all the other wonderful loyal friends that we have had over the years.