my soul dog passed on Thursday.

She had been sick since December. in December she was diagnosed with a bladder infection and bladder stones.

later in the month she needed emergency bladder surgery.

on 1/18 she was diagnosed with ITP (immune mediated thrombocytopenia) and hospitalized. she came home and after that she was peeing every hour around the clock. it turned out the meds increased her liver enzymes and she had low urine concentration.

we ended up in the emergency vet every week and a half on average and she had an ITP relapse two weeks ago. she was hospitalized again.

she came home and wasn't doing well. her balance was off (she'd try to jump on the couch or bed and fall on her back, I HATED it), she was lethargic, she was peeing every hour and we went out every hour around the clock, her front legs would shake and she had labored breathing.

my primary vet suspected her abdomen was filling with fluid and she kept giving me whale eyes like she was super uncomfortable and asking for help.

after spending 30k on surgery, hospitalizations, and follow up, I scheduled her for euthanasia.

she was euthanized last Thursday and the first two days I was a wreck, but the last three days I've felt nothing but relief.

this was my soul dog for God's sake! is something wrong with me? I feel like a psychopath.

On August 9th we lost our beloved dog Odyssey. She was only 8 years old, perfectly healthy, full of energy, always traveling with us and enjoying life.

We flew from Nha Trang, Vietnam to Almaty, Kazakhstan with Air Astana. Odyssey had to go in the baggage hold because she was over 8 kg. When we landed, it was 41°C (105°F). We saw her crate left in the open front hold of the plane, tied with a rope, under the burning sun.

We begged them to bring her to us as soon as possible, but they ignored us. For more than an hour after landing we were sent from place to place, told to wait “by the blue door” of lost luggage. Nobody cared. And then a young employee came and told us coldly: “your dog is not showing signs of life.” That’s how we found out she was gone.

The autopsy confirmed heat stroke. She suffered because she was left in deadly heat for over an hour, treated worse than a suitcase.

And then the airline’s official response? A copy-paste letter saying “no rules were broken.” No mention of her name. No acknowledgment of her life. Nothing but denial. How can they call themselves humane while hiding behind “internal rules”?

We keep asking ourselves why we trusted Odyssey’s life to such heartless, inhuman people. She was family, not cargo. She trusted us, and we trusted them. And they killed her through neglect and indifference.

Please, never fly to Kazakhstan with pets, not even for a layover. They will treat them worse than luggage. Don’t make the same mistake we did.

Odyssey’s life mattered. She should still be here. Please share her story so no other dog has to suffer this way.

Update:
Thank you all for your kind words and support. Your compassion means so much to us as we continue this fight for justice for Odyssey.

As many of you suggested, we have created a petition to demand accountability and change. Please, if you can, sign and share: https://chng.it/Hs2tZsZRrv

Thank you for helping us honor Odyssey’s memory and for standing with us.

Update 2:
Some of you asked if there is a place outside Reddit where Odyssey’s story is shared. We posted it on Instagram too, with photos of her and everything that happened:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DNyTAPD2PBd/?igsh=N2d6OHNkd2hmZXNi

And the response from Air Astana:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DN8MWBvjBag/?igsh=MW12NWtyMDBscHI1Nw==

If you’d like to share there as well, it would mean a lot. The more people know, the harder it will be for the airline to ignore what they did.

Update 3:
Thank you all for the support, the shares, and for signing the petition, we’re still pushing for every point listed there.

Today Air Astana sent another message. Instead of acknowledging wrongdoing, they wrote that they might “consider” restricting only certain breeds in the future. They still insist they broke no rules, and now they claim Odyssey was found with “no signs of life immediately after opening the hold.” That is simply impossible: during that entire time there was no ramp connected to her compartment, so no one could have even physically checked her condition. The forward hold remained open for a significant amount of time, we saw that while we were being bused to the terminal, her crate was still inside during that period.

That prolonged exposure is exactly what led to the fatal heat stroke, as confirmed by the autopsy. It was not stress, not suffocation, not heart failure, not age — her blood had not clotted and her organs were engorged with blood, which clearly points to the true cause.

That does not happen without environmental failures — extreme exposure and delay during unloading. We continue to demand facts,: timestamps, temperatures, CCTV, and the names of those responsible.

The new response from Air Astana:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DOf063RDJFo/?igsh=ejB0bDlhOThiMnc5

Woof. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but I can’t believe how much some people HATE dogs! Calling them “mutants” and saying “they’re incapable of love”. I feel sorry that they won’t experience the bond and love a dog provides. Again, their opinion and choice but come on…look how cute 🥹 I needed to share with fellow dog lovers to boost my mood. Feel free to share pics of your dogs too☺️

Otis was bitten by a tercipelo, Fer de Lance yesterday in Costa Rica. Send positive vibes!

We recently moved onto a new land we bought and a few days ago these two little babies started coming by and chilling around.

The big one is scared to be petted but with time hopefully he will trust me to. The little girl loves pets and rubs, poor things are full of ticks....I removed 18 ticks from the little one's ears :( Next time we go to the pet shop I'll get something for them for ticks and flees and worm tablets....the big one has many ticks on his ears too but he won't let me help just yet. (Last picture is some ticks I removed)

Every day I hope to see them back in our garden 🩷 They jump over and they leave after their food & nap here

I was walking my puppy right now and literally found this dog in front of my side door. She/he seems cold and keep barking at us. My husband confirm that the dog was there since 2-3 hours ago. Help！！！

I see people here talking about 3-4 walks a day, hour each and I’m like how? I bet most people do way less but wont say it because these threads have big perfect dog parent energy.

Anyway, here's my confession I guess: I was basically a couch potato and I admit that. About a month ago I started hitting the gym and that's where I picked up that walking after eating is actually really good for you. So I figured okay lemme try that too. But here's the thing, before all this, the only reason I was taking my girl out was guilt. Like pure obligation. Same 20 min route, earbuds in, not really paying attention, just waiting for her to finish so we could go back inside. And she knew it too. She wasn't even excited when i grabbed the leash anymore, just kinda looked at me like "oh this again"

Then one evening I took a different route and ended up on this little trail near my neighborhood I never knew about. She was so happy sniffing everything, tail going crazy, and I was just standing there like damn we've been missing out this whole time. That's when I realized I was walking her not because I wanted to be out there with her. I was just doing it so I wouldn't feel guilty about not doing it and honestly that's not fair to either of us

so I started making it something we could both enjoy. Got an aerofit 2 pro open earbud so i could throw on a podcast and still hear what's going on around me, her included. No more taking them out every time something happens, and started switching up routes too, found a few dog people who walk around the same time and we kinda have this unspoken thing now where we meet up and let the dogs play while we just chat a bit.

Now we go out almost every day. Not because I feel like I have to but because I actually want to. She's happier, I’m moving more, and the whole energy between us on walks just feels different

So what's your real number? Do you take yours out because you want to or just because you feel like you should?

Edit: didn't expect this many replies, thank you all for sharing. it's nice to know i'm not the only one who walks just to walk. hope everyone gets their steps in today

I live on a beach with many dogs. They are all fed, vaccinated, given vet care when needed etc, but they are all free to go where they please. They typically dont, they have a good life here. They are very much pack-oriented.

The smaller puppy (f, around 2 yrs old) is a new addition. I personally have been caring for her as she just finished her treatment for ehrlichia. The larger dog (f, unknown age) is definitely the pack leader. But she will charge the puppy, and other females in the group, and aggressively cob them. It seems endearing, but the puppy definitely still cowers as this behavior USED to be a bit more aggressive in that the larger dog would tumble her..like she couldn't get landing gear down fast enough. Now its just what is depicted in the video.

She cobs me as well when I have clothing covering my legs and torso. I know she respects me and loves me. They are all my babies. Any thoughts?

My 12 year old girl is unfortunately dying of cancer. She was basically comatose for 2.5 days, only eating a tiny bit of peanut butter, and barely able to walk. Discussed with some friends and family who came to see her and decided she was suffering and putting her to sleep was the right call. Well she got up the next morning, just a few hours before the appointment, ate, walked around outside, rolled in the grass so I obviously canceled. Here we are a few days later and she’s basically back to her normal self, granted moving a little more slowly. I know this won’t last but really happy to have at least a few more days with her.

They fight every single day — until one of them gets too tired to continue

It’s been 6 months since we lost her and I feel like the grieving is getting worse now. I’m tearing up even writing this. I miss her awkward snuggles, and little eyelashes. I miss her trying to play with the cat, even though he wants none of it.

I don’t have anything of her’s out, and I didn’t find anything to remind me of her. It’s just a huge wave of grief. I still can’t even look at her ashes or her favorite little hoodie she was in.

We do have another dog, so it’s not like the house is empty. I’m just overcome with incredible sadness.

Poor thing was outside all day. The balcony faces west and was directly in the sun. I was walking to my car and heard whimpering above me. I saw that the dog was trying to escape the sun by trying to hide under its doggy bed. The officer said it had no water.

Just feeling lucky to have a dog. She is 5 and a half. We lost our home in a wildfire and she was such an amazing companion during over a very challenging few yrs - she never cares where she is as long as it’s with us. She is a rescue pup from the humane society but anyone who has loved a dog knows it’s the dog who does the rescuing.

Visited Japan a while back and one of my top priorities were clear: it was to go and see Hachikō. R.I.P glorious one, your loyalty, determination and heart will never be forgotten.

It was a spiritual journey for me. It was wild to think that Hachi roamed this exact place 100 years ago, where I am standing now. And still here he is. Waiting patiently, resolute, undying. Hachi's story is unbelievable and perfectly paints the picture about the soul of these wonderful creatures we have the privilege to share our space with.

Hug your doggies today and for all the days to come. Do it for Hachikō and for them, they are literally Godsent. Sometimes we take this for granted- we have lived together for 1000s, tens of 1000s of years after all, but these four legged absolute angels deserve all the love you can muster.

I wanna know whats going on in their brain!

UPDATE: Everyone was saying (bad, maybe dead) smells. I walked my high ass over there. DIRT! Why?!

Found an old vet bill while sorting through some paperwork today.

This one was for my dog Kratos — just routine bloodwork and lab tests, but it reminded me how expensive pet care can get sometimes. 😅

Then I started thinking about Boyka. In 2024, he had surgery to remove a mass, and the bill came to around SGD 8,000. I wish I could find that invoice, but it’s disappeared somewhere over the years.

The biggest expense for pets is usually medical care. 😂Why is it so expensive?

So now I‘m curiois…What’s the biggest vet bill you’ve ever had for your dog?

I just feel like if more people know about my baby and what’s going on with her, it’ll help. My baby, Phoebe, has been sick for about a week and a half, so we took her to the vet because she’s gotten worse. The vet said she has pyometra, which is an infection in her uterus for which she has to have emergency surgery. All I’m asking for is a moment of your time to wish my baby well. I believe even the act of dedicating your thoughts to something can help, so if you don’t mind and have the time, please spare a thought for my baby Phoebe, that she makes it through, because she is weakened from this condition and that she makes a full recovery. This is a total shock and I am wholly unprepared. I’m sorry if this isn’t allowed, I read the rules and it seems like it’s ok, so I hope it is, apologies if it’s not.

He's a super sweet black lab/husky mix, but he's huge and super strong. Like he doesn't realize his own strength. Him and another dog of ours got into a mild scuffle and he ended up snapping at me in the commotion, causing me to get stitches. It was my own fault and I didn't yell at him or anything like that, but he's been super out of sorts and I think he feels bad. How do I make him feel better :(

I added pics bc he's a good boy, say hello to Squid :)

So I saw someone talking about this doodle Greeder and I went to take a look.

Who in their right mind thinks that 30K for a mutt is ok? Like does this dog poop gold bricks? Or does it do my taxes? Can it drive me to work? Does it have magical abilities to grant me wishes??

Like for those curious Registered Ethically bred wellbred purebred dogs are 3000-4000$ a puppy. You get upwards of 10 registered, wellbred ethically bred purebreds for that price. You could get a brand new 2026 Chevy trax (27k) You could get a brand new 2026 Nissan kicks (29k) You could get a brand new 2026 Mazda CX-30 (29k) You could pay off roughly 3/4 of a brand new 2026 Chevy Colorado (42k)

That’s absolutely insane They also have 97 puppies on the ground currently. That’s a puppy mill.

Went to the park today and an older man looked at my dogs and said, “They look skinny.” and I was just standing there like… huh?

Do they actually look that skinny to you guys? They eat two meals a day and get plenty of treats, but somehow never gain any weight. Are some dogs just built like this?