...of giving your heart to a dog to tear
-Rudyard Kipling

To make a sort of long story short, I had inquired about a dog in a rescue with intent to adopt (Roxy), but since she was being treated for pneumonia at the time, I was offered another dog, Johnny, and I accepted excitedly. Everything was all ready for his arrival and I was absolutely out of my mind joyous. The next morning, I received a text that started with, "I don't know how to tell you this," and nothing good has ever started that way. Apparently, Johnny had very suddenly and absolutely randomly passed away during the night.

I didn't deal with this very well, as I had already been thinking five steps ahead about "my dog". I wouldn't have thought that a dog that never even set paw into my home could do that much damage to my heart, but boy did he. He had had a very sad life in a filthy crate for almost all of his six years, and everyone was excited that he was about to have a happy ending with me.

After processing this a bit, the rescue said that if things turn out alright with Roxy, she would still be available to me. I was not as surprised to find out a few days later that she had passed away, too, although I was surprised by the cause - heart tumor. Not the pneumonia.

So I lost two dogs I never had. And also the lady fostering Roxy for the last few months of her life (she was a senior dog) was devastated, so I drew this for both of us. 🐾