There’s a dog (@topdogvienna) that I’ve been following on twitter for a few weeks now. Yeah, I know it sounds funny, but I didn’t start following the dog until this cat (@sockington) asked me to, as part of the dog’s last wish. I know. This little daschund has been really sick lately, and his (I think it’s a boy, not sure) human family knew they wouldn’t have much time with him, and as part of the pup’s last hurrah, they wanted to get 1,000 followers or more on twitter. I don’t even really know what that amounts to, but it’s a click of the mouse, so I figured why not.

Most of the updates (all written in the voice of the dog…there’s a ton of this that goes on on twitter. I think it’s mostly cute) have been about whether or not the dog ate, and how much, and a lot of “napping” updates. Just simply, cutesy stuff. There weren’t that many, and I didn’t really think too much of it.

Until today. This morning, the tweets informed me that the dog’s people had to call the vet to “schedule my rainbow bridge crossing,” as they put it. Now, I can’t explain why, but this practically had me bawling when I read it. Somehow, this little daschund from California crept into my heart and I began looking forward to the cutesy tweets about what dreams he had the night before, what he was thinking, and where he was napping. The tweets went on to say that there would be no more posting after this Thursday afternoon. So. Sad. I don’t even want to imagine what it will be like when it’s time for me to say goodbye to one of my kitties.

In a way, I’m glad that so many people were able to share in the last few weeks of this pup’s 13 year life, in a limited but kind of cozy way. And I’m glad that I was one of them.

Someone dedicated this song to @topdogvienna today, and it’s one of my favorites, so I thought I would post it here for good measure. I know it’s sappy! But come on! I signed up for this.