The Josh Innes Show - The Death Of A Pet Is The Worst Pain

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

My dad's dog died last night. Scooby was 8. The way he died was such a sad thing and I can't imagine how my dad and Cindy must have felt. I get that my perspective is different because I don't have kids. But, losing a pet is a really rough thing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right. Let's see here. I've been talking a little bit lower and slower here because I'm trying to avoid getting hoarse. Like I just had vocal issues. The weather kind of fucks with me and everything. So I try to keep it kind of low and slow. You know that I'm a lover of dogs, obviously. And you knew that if you've listened to my podcast or my radio shows for any period of time. You know that Luther was our favorite. And he was great. And I keep seeing these videos now that pop up on Instagram. about soul dogs. They're like, this is your soul dog, and you know who your soul dog is. And that'll be Luther. I'm never going to have another dog that's like that, because I don't know that you can. Like, I think part of a soul dog is that it's kind of the first one. And I never really had a relationship with pets before. Like, we would have some, you know, when I was a kid.

But I didn't really have a relationship with them. I mean, shit, we had a parrot. That annoying motherfucker flew out of the house and got stuck in a tree. That was Hollywood. My God, that bird was fucking annoying. So, like, birds, we had different animals, but none that I ever felt a connection to or a bond with, you know. But that was Luther. Luther was the, Luther was, you know, our sole dog, if you will.

That was my first real love of an animal. Because even before Luther, I wasn't a big animal guy. Like, I didn't hate dogs, but it's not like I coveted or sought out dogs, you know. But anyway, so sad stuff. My dad's dog died yesterday, and I still have to talk with him. haven't talked with him yet, but I found out about that last night. And then he texted me, but I was asleep already. And I wasn't going to, like, you know, text him back at five in the morning today when I got up. So I still have to call him. And apparently he didn't take it very well,

which it's kind of surprising to me. Like, it's not something I expected out of my dad, if that makes sense. What I mean by that? I don't know. But I didn't expect that. But let me play a few commercials and we'll get into it. all right so um so yeah scooby my dad's big great dane the story is sad and the story is that the dog had been kind of clingy the last couple days and um and they're just sitting in the house and he's in the um so he goes over and he um he's in the kitchen and lets out a big howl and then just falls down and dies and they tried to revive him like in a way it's such a sad thing but in another it's kind of like almost like macab in a way like amusing in a way because they're trying to do like CPR on the dog and stuff and and they're trying to call an emergency vet and they can't get a hold anybody but it's like eight o'clock on a Sunday where you're going to find the emergency vet and uh like that's it's so fucked up like like like the idea that that like your dog's just standing there lets out a howl and then just dies and I think the dog may have a fucking heart attack that's what my at least my dad's thought

is that he may have a heart attack and I'm like God it sucks man like the hardest thing and you guys know this the heart and we talk about it all the time on here but it's it's tough to love a dog because you know you're going to outlive the dog like my solution would be don't get a dog until you're like 80 then there's a good possibility that, you know, the dog outlives you and you don't have to deal with the pain. I don't have kids. I'm never going to have kids. At least I don't intend on having kids. So I'm not going to know what like the paternal or, you know, that feeling will be. But I can tell you that my dog, you know, like when Luther died, it was the saddest I've

ever been. Because I don't, like, I'm not someone that's, what's the word I'm looking for? Like, I try to avoid emoting with humans. I don't know when that started happening. It's just kind of how I am. Like, I'm not a person that emotes. I try not to, like, have, like, you know, like very intimate relationships with people. I don't know. I'm kind of fucked up in that way.

Like, I didn't grow up being part of a big family because I didn't see my mom all that often. I didn't see my sister all that often. I lived with my step siblings. I was kind of off in my own world. So I didn't have that. Like, I'm not someone that, hey, we're getting together. It's Christmas morning. Everybody's together.

And, like, when I see people that have great relationships with, like, their family members and stuff, I don't have bad relationships, but, like, really close relationships. I just, I don't have those. That's just not how I am. I think part of it's because when I was 22 years old, I left Baton Rouge, and that was, you know, 20 years ago, damn near. Not 20 years ago, but, like, 16, 17 years ago. So, you know, that's just kind of how it's always been for me. Like, I've never been all that close to anybody. So I was very close to my dog

It was very close to Luther He was our buddy Me and Jilly was our buddy So like anytime now I hear about someone's dog dying like when I heard that last night I was crushed for my dad But I didn't know that my dad Cared all that much if that made sense

Like I didn't know that it heard him all that much Because I never see that kind of stuff from my dad But according to my stepmom The Zeppelin's dad did not handle it very well I just here's what I couldn't imagine Because like when when Luther died We knew he wasn't doing well We took him to get this procedure, like to have them look at his chest.

The guy comes out, he tells us that Luther doesn't have much time. So it would actually be more humane of us to just put him down as soon as possible because he could just die at any time. And I at least had that option. I could make him comfortable. I took him to the vet. Me and Jilly did. We gave him the shot. And we just laid there with him until he died.

And I think that's the best way to go because, man, like if you had to wake up to seeing your dog dead, and I know a lot of people have had to live that life. Holy shit, man. Or, like, like, I feel so bad for my dad, not just because, you know, the dog died and that's a sad story in it of itself. But, like, it would be one thing if, like, you know, you have to take the dog to the vet and he's rushed in there and they can't do anything for him and he dies. Like, I sat at the veg, the emergency vet in St. Louis, and we watched this family. And it was the saddest shit. It was this family.

I think it was a Mexican family or a Hispanic family. And they had this big dog they brought in. And I forgot what exactly happened. But I think what it came down to is this otherwise healthy dog somehow ended up twisting a stomach. And they couldn't do anything for him. And they had to put the dog down right there. And it was the saddest thing I'd ever fucking seen. You know, like that hurts.

I watched, and this seems ridiculous because it's a cat, but I watched this black family come into that same place. Because we were in there for a long time with Luther. And I watch this black family come in with a cat, this man and his wife, and they had to come in and put the cat down. And if you really want to get humbled in life and start to kind of reevaluate things, go sit at the emergency vet. Like this veg allows you to just kind of sit in the main area back there where they do all the work on the dogs. You're not like in a waiting room or anything. And, dude, it'll humble you and it'll make you evaluate or reassess a lot of shit, man. because you'll see that and it's like fuck dude this like like it it can get it's not can get sad it is sad it sucks

and so I'm thinking about what my dad must have been going through because like there's nothing you can do like at least in my case I was able to bring Lutheran you know we were able to be there with him and he was a sweet boy and he got to go peacefully like imagine if this dog did die of a heart attack like he's just in the kitchen and then falls over and you're like what the hell's the problem and you're trying to bring him back to life you're trying to help him and you can't like that's like that would like that's crushing how do you recover from that like I'll talk to my dad today I'll call him like how do you recover from that how do you bounce back from watching your dog just keel over and die right in front of you like how does that like how do you reconcile that

How do you go about your day? Like, I would be paralyzed by that. I was crushed when Luther died and I had to wake up the next morning and have no one to go for a walk. That was the part that killed me the most. And that's where I really broke down. When I talked about it on the radio, that's where I really broke down, was what purpose do I serve? My purpose was I would get up in the morning. I would take this dog for walks.

But then what? Like, what purpose do I serve now that he's not here? but like I can't imagine sitting there you're watching your stories dog lets out of howl just falls over and dies and you're trying to bring them back to life or even with a I mean obviously with a human that would suck too like you sit there with a person they have a heart attack you're trying to bring them back to life and like there's nothing you can do it's got to be the most helpless feeling like I felt helpless with Luther but I was also in control of all right let's try to set up a time And we did it that day because I didn't want him. I didn't want to have the possibility that he would, you know, one day just be sitting there and be in terrible pain and die. I wouldn't want that for him. That would be terrible. But this poor dog keels over and dies.

And then you have to be the one that they're trying to bring him back to life. Like, God. I mean, ugh. I felt terrible for my dad on that one. It was a wonderful dog. It was like a horse. This fucking dog was like a horse. And then they got this mouth-breathing, like, you know, bulldog that's still alive.

Like, it's pretty crazy. That dog's been looking rough for a while. But anyway, RIP, rest in power, Scooby.