Man Takes His Terminally Ill Dog On 12,000 Mile Cross-Country Road Trip, Is The Best Owner Ever
Dog is man’s best friend — plain and simple. Unfortunately (and this is hopefully news to no one), dogs don’t live as long as humans do, and there comes a point in every man’s life when he will have to bury is four-legged bud.
Neil Rodriguez, a New York City resident who adopted his furry best friend from a shelter at just eight weeks old, recently took the now terminally ill 16-year-old pup on a cross country road trip as a final bonding activity before he says goodbye. Rodriguez drove 12,000 miles and explored 35 cities with his pit bull-lab mix, Poh.
From the New York Daily News:
Rodriguez said Poh’s big adventure was hatched after vets estimated that the near 16-year-old canine could have just days or weeks to live.
“They were like, we can’t tell you [how much time he has left] but you could have days. He could be gone any day,” his owner said while describing the dog as suffering from numerous tumors as well as kidney failure.
“I did not want to leave my dog knowing that he could go at any moment,” he said.
On March 6 the trio packed their bags — which included a daily IV drip for Poh — and headed down south until cutting west across Georgia and along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Once reaching Arizona Poh appeared remarkably well so their travels “ballooned from there,” Rodriguez said. That took them up through California to Seattle and back again.
Rodriguez chronicled the trip with his pooch by posting awesome photos on Instagram, some of which are below.
You can view more photos here. Now excuse me while I leave work early and take my dog to the park..
[via New York Daily News]
Why not save a bunch of money and buy him a steak, sure he’d like it a hell of a lot more than sitting in a car for 12,000 miles
10 years ago at 3:23 pmMore memories for that owner I’m sure to go on a cross country trip then to feed him
10 years ago at 3:24 pmFuck this comment. I don’t know if you have ever been a witness to the death of somebody you love, but all manliness and masculinity aside, it’s heartbreaking. Nothing else matters when they’re dying. School, work, nothing.
Maybe when you are on your deathbed, your friends and family with say, “Eh, no need to spend time with the guy, let’s just buy him a lavish gift instead!”
Fuck you. Drink bleach. Lots of it.
10 years ago at 4:20 pmDude it’s a dog, you’re comparing a human being to an animal. Yes I get that you can get attached to house pets but to say that it’s even remotely close to the death of a human family member is insane.
You’re average Person treats animals better than fellow human beings nowadays and that’s not a good thing
10 years ago at 4:34 pmThere are some humans who deserve to be treated less than a dog
10 years ago at 5:05 pmIf you actually love your dog, you treat him as part of your family just like a human being… Not just a house pet.
10 years ago at 5:05 pmA dog will always be there for yours love you no matter what you look like, act like, how much money you have, or what you believe in. That is why you can compare a dying dog to a human being dying.
10 years ago at 5:42 pmI want to punch you in the fucking face
10 years ago at 5:15 pmA dog will be by your side no matter what. Their level of loyalty is beyond my comprehension. You can rub its nose in its own piss when it pees in the house and it will still love you. With a human you have to worry about being stabbed in the back or being cheated (or a variety of other mistrust issues humans do) but there is none of that with a dog they want nothing more than to please their master, get scratched behind their ears, and occasionally to piss on your floor. All im getting at is that my dog has been by me through the severe lows of my life. I introduce him to anyone important to me. And if he doesnt like them, I dont like them. So you need to piss off guy, because ill trust Archer before I trust a human any day.
10 years ago at 6:00 pmThis is actually really cool. Makes me realize, though he sheds and cockblocks me on a regular basis, brings nothing to the table but dead varmint and extra bills. I love my hound
10 years ago at 3:25 pmIf he is cock blocking you and you’re not just blaming him then you’re doing it wrong.
10 years ago at 3:39 pmIts a huge cockblock when he tries to get in on the action. Being the great owner that I am, I try to tag him in occasionally
10 years ago at 3:56 pmBeastialityStuff2015?
10 years ago at 4:16 pmI need to do something like this next year before graduation, it’s pretty much the same thing
10 years ago at 3:26 pmK
10 years ago at 4:15 pmNo it’s not
10 years ago at 5:07 pmNo attempt at humor here. No snide comment. Neil Rodriguez you are a great man and gave your dog an unbelievable gift. Godspeed …
10 years ago at 3:27 pmI will never understand people that like cats more than dogs. Props to this guy for givin mans best friend a proper exit.
10 years ago at 3:27 pmCats are just there. They do their own thing. They couldn’t give two shits.
Dogs, they’re only around for a part of our lives but we’re everything to them.
10 years ago at 6:10 amI think I have something in my eye
10 years ago at 3:28 pmIt’s these damn onion cutting ninjas again
10 years ago at 4:03 pmNinja has to be one of the top ten GDI words of all time, don’t use it again.
10 years ago at 3:40 pmI love dogs. Not a shark pun. There are a lot of parallels between fraternities and dogs if you do both of them right.
10 years ago at 3:40 pmUgh. I don’t find many things sadder than a dog on his last leg…. And I don’t mean that to be a pun….
10 years ago at 3:56 pmMy dog is 2500 miles away and now all I want to do is hug him…
10 years ago at 5:13 pm“‘This soldier, I realized, must have had friends at home and in his regiment; yet he lay there deserted by all except his dog. I looked on, unmoved, at battles which decided the future of nations. Tearless, I had given orders which brought death to thousands. Yet here I was stirred, profoundly stirred, stirred to tears. And by what? By the grief of one dog’. -Napoleon Bonaparte, on finding a dog beside the body of his dead master, licking his face and howling, on a moonlit field after a battle. Napoleon was haunted by this scene until his own death.”
10 years ago at 5:15 pm