Harper crossed the rainbow bridge on Monday
TW: Blood
Our dog Harper crossed the rainbow bridge on Monday 8/17/2026. I've dealt with death of pets before but Harper's death hit me different than the others I have dealt with in my life time. We got Harper way back in May of 2017 and was born 3/7/2017. She was just a puppy when we got her and like all puppies she was vocal. She cried a lot and barked a lot when she was left alone. She was the same breed (Havanese) as the other two we had at the time. We also called her Harpie and my dad called her twisted sister. Harper loved being around us she was always on my dad's lap or she was around me if I was near her. What she loved more than anything else was being outside she always wanted to be outside. She would go out and just sit on the back porch for a long time or she would go outside to bark all the time at the other dogs in the development when they barked. She didn't have little dog syndrome but she thought she could punch above her weight.
She was also a nervous dog. She barked at every little noise she heard and when we trimmed her she shook constantly even after we had been doing it for years with her. Like the other dogs we had she got into things or made messes in the house but we still loved her so much. Harper also was something of a pot stirrer amongst our other dogs. Sometimes she would go out first then wait for one the other dogs to go out and get up in their grill when they went outside. She fought with the other dogs (not always her fault) with the other dogs we had. Still for all of that we loved her dearly. When we came home if she was inside she was one of the first ones at the door waiting for us to get in or be the first ones to try and get out.
A few years ago mom decided to bring a fourth dog into the house. Harper and the youngest dog sometimes went at it mostly due to food and with the newest dog being a much larger breed it often was a struggle getting them apart when they start fighting. Sometimes they just fought when they didn't stay in their lane (the other Havanese did this too with each other Harper fought with our two at times so this wasn't something that only happened when the youngest dog came into the picture). Sometime Monday one of dogs started to cry. Harper went over to see her along with our youngest dog and they started fighting. Mom called for me and when I went into the living room there blood all over the place and Harper was the floor seriously injured from the fight. Mom took her to the emergency vets and they said they was going to okay she had three puncture wounds and they would operate to close them. Mom had come home and was going to head back a little latter that night. When she was there they said they were going to keep her since her breathing was labored when she called me and was going to bring her home the next day. Mom came back home and asked me if I wanted to head to the emergency vets. When she came back home she said that the emergency vets called and said that Harper took a turn for a worse and there was a chance she wasn't going to survive. Mom told me they were performing CPR on her. I went over the emergency vets hoping that there was going to be a miracle and tell us that she pulled through.
They put us in a room when we got there and then vet came in saying that Harper passed away. The told us that what he thinks what happened was that a blood clot likely got loose that they wouldn't have seen on the xrays and was ultimately what killed her. They asked us if we wanted to see her and we agreed to. They wheeled her body covered in a blanket and we cried when the tech left. We petted Harper and said our goodbyes to her. I told mom that she was now keeping dad company in the afterlife.
What bothered me more about this than our other dogs was that with the other dogs that we had that died over the years we had them put down when it was their time. They were sick and we didn't want them to suffer anymore so putting them down was the right thing to do. With Harper dying it was just so senseless and traumatic. Why our youngest dog tore into her I don't know. None of this had to happen Harper should still be here barking at every little thing and wanting to go outside all the time. Looking for us to pet her and wanting extra treats in the morning.