A dying dog was able to play in the snow for a final time after a Utah ice rink delivered buckets of snow to her home – bringing joy to the winter loving pup in its final hours.
Marianna Wilson and Elijah Saltzgaber were heartbroken when they made the difficult decision to put down dog Maggie, 11, after a battle with cancer.
All her life Maggie loved to be in the snow, and the pair weren’t prepared to let her go without giving her one last weekend of wintery pleasure.
This included lots of her favourite meals, camping and belly rubs – but they had no idea how they wound get hold of some snow in September.
Until Salt Lake County Ice Centre answered their pleas and transported buckets of ice shavings over to their home for Maggie to play in once last time.
She died just hours later.
The pair from Salt Lake County said: “We are devastated and already feel the enormous void of her absence.
“As difficult as the decision to end her suffering was, we are comforted in knowing she departed with grace and dignity.
“We wanted to share in one last weekend filled with paddle boarding (her favourite), food, camping, playing with her ball, more food and belly rubs.
“Our outing was incredibly bittersweet. Seeing her big brown eyes take in all the stimuli of nature had us doubting our decision.
“Could we wait another week? Another month? Ultimately, all our bargaining and second guessing led us right back to our want to free her from the pain of her cancer.”
Maggie was diagnosed in July and died a few hours after her snowy outing earlier this week.
Salt Lake County Ice Centre were only too happy to help.
A spokesperson said: “It’s not always about skates and hockey pucks at County Ice Centre.
“Today was a bitter sweet day, as we had an opportunity to help make a difference for a very special dog, Maggie.
“This morning we filled bins, buckets and the back of the van with ice shavings from the rink.
“Maggie enjoyed her last morning with her two favourite things, snow and her owners.”
