Dolce - 2009 - 2023

I've really not been ok about making this official on my website for the longest time.

But i'm doing a lot of updates and i've reached July 2023 and it is time to immortalise the news.

Dolce was humanely euthanised in July 2023. 
There's no polish or glossy way to describe it. It was and still is (as of writing in Nov 2025) gut wrenching.
I posted on social media at the time so i'll include those words now.
Maybe i'll come back and add more later.

 

6th July 2023
Dolce had a cough for the last few years but at the beginning of this year I thought his cough was different. I took him to the vet and then my personal life imploded.

Dolce had suspected GOLPP - Geriatric Onset Laryngeal Paralysis and Polyneuropathy. This isn't specific to Lappies, any dog of any breed can get it, but usually heavier and larger dogs.
It's also not believed to be hereditary, though searches do suggest some dog breeds have a predisposition.

What surprised me was how quickly it progressed.

He was deemed not a candidate for tie-back surgery due to previous scarring on his lungs (believed to be responsible for the original cough).

GOLPP dogs have a very real risk of suffocating or 'cooking from the inside' if they have a breathing crisis where the larynx swells shut and cuts off their air supply.
During the warmer months he couldn't go outside or he'd be heaving and struggle to breathe.

But then it started in the cold weather.

I was sure he wouldn't survive another summer but I was worried he wasn't going to make it to the June Open Show where I hoped he'd be able to see his breeder for a final goodbye.

But he made it. He was in excellent spirits always and because there was food he was putting on all his best moves. Hard to imagine less than a month later we're here.

Two weeks ago I gave Dolce his 'best last day'. We'd eaten lots of treats, had so many cuddles, I bought him a 24 pack of Nuggets and took him to Bunnings to get lots of pats from the public whilst sitting in a trolley being wheeled around like royalty. He loved it and I cried and cried. Thank you to the kind lady i met that day who stood with me and comforted me while i bawled my eyes out. Dolce, the whole while mostly oblivious.

I took him to the vet who suggested a last ditch medication to try. The change in 24hrs was remarkable. The guilt that I'd almost let him go I tried not to deal with. I shared a video on social media of the day before the vet visit. He sounded awful. He slept so soundly the day we started those drugs. My poor boy was exhausted from the effort required just to breathe.

2 days ago he had a rough day. I hoped it was just one day but yesterday he woke up and was still in rough shape. The medication was no longer working. I had an appt for Suprelorin (it was wearing off and contributing to his deterioration as he was determined to follow the girls everywhere and hunt scent like a teenager) and I was going to ask about our options. I was also searching frantically for more info on the drug he was on. He was on a low dose, but higher doses came with some shitty Quality of Life side effects and were just a band-aid. He was terminal and I couldn't put either of us through the torment and distress of him struggling to breathe for one more minute.

He'd followed me around the whole day before, unable to settle, unable to cuddle, unable to breathe. I'd been annoyed with him being underfoot until i realised he was seeking me out because he was distressed. Then i gathered him in my arms, sat down on the couch and sobbed into his fur, while i stroked his head and whispered into his deaf ears how sorry i was and how much i loved him.
Yesterday his feet were scraping and he struggled to lift his front legs into the car. I'd been lifting his back end for a few months.

I wanted to remember him with his dignity and a spark in his eyes. I owed him everything I could. Not one day in his life did he ever let me down.

He was my hero.