TWI #24 Goodbye Kane, The Glorious Bastard

We say goodbye to our dog Kane, from the late-night call and the hardest decision through to the memories that still make us laugh. We also talk honestly about telling Josh, coping with the shock, and why bringing Kane home in ashes feels both brutal and comforting. 

• the 2am voicemail and why we know it’s serious 
• Kane’s seizures and the decision to put him down 
• waking Josh early to talk and grieve together 
• favourite Kane memories, including the “tennis ball” photo 
• Kane as a protective walking buddy at Lilydale Lake 
• the 27 kilo lap dog who ignores personal space 
• getting nipped twice and what we learn about dog safety 
• re-training, reactivity, and how age changes a dog 
• ashes, lead, paw print, and building a small tribute 
• hinting at the next chapter of the trilogy 

Transcript

Welcome Back And Setting The Scene

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Hello there, welcome back to the Team Wigged Podcast. I'm your host, David Morgan, and this is part two of the shit show trilogy that was the last couple of months. The last episode I talked about my son Joshua and his dislocated knee. And um yes, we will bring part two of that one later on when we have more information. Still not a great deal. But today we are going to talk about something else that happened in the past couple of months, and was a complete part of another shit show. So Josh's knee happened

The Call That Changes Everything

SPEAKER_01 1:05

on eight um April the 29th, and then um on uh May the twelfth, it was a Tuesday morning. I remember I woke up about two o'clock in the morning, I don't know why. And I've missed a bunch of calls and I missed them from Josh's mum Karen and her daughter Jordan, so my stepdaughter sort of I still get along with her, so I'm not about to say she's an awful person. And I'm like, what the hell are people calling me for? So I've listened to Jordan's voicemail and uh cane's in a bad way, and it doesn't look like we're gonna make it. And that kind of really sucked, and I didn't get back to sleep. He passed away. Well he passed away, he got put down, yeah. His body temperature went sky high, his heart rate went sky high, and it was just the best thing to do for him. Um his seizures were getting worse, he'd have a seizure, then not wake up, and then have another seizure without waking up, and yeah, it just was not fair to him. So I was up all night, and normally Josh and I would get up about 5 30, quarter six the next day, so I could take him back to his mum's place. I was wondering how the hell

Telling Josh And Grieving Together

SPEAKER_01 2:25

do I broach this subject? So I decided, you know what? I'm gonna wake Josh up at five o'clock, we're gonna sit there, we're gonna talk about this, we're gonna cry it out that way he doesn't go back to his mum's place where Kane was, and then get the bad news then. So yeah, I woke him up, we had to cry, we had lots of hugs, we talked about the good times, and then I took Josh to his mum's place and I went to work because I figured you know what? It's just the best thing to distract myself because otherwise, yeah, just wouldn't have been good. So, talking about Josh and talking about

Josh Remembers Growing Up With Kane

SPEAKER_01 3:05

the kid with the dislocated knee. Hello, sir. Hello. How you doing?

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Good, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Now, I told you I was gonna do this podcast about our dog, and you said you did want to be a part of this.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

So tell me. What do you think about Kane?

SPEAKER_02 3:23

He was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

He really was. I still remember when first of all, your mum and Jordan said, you know what, we should get a puppy, and I said, No, we should get a rescue dog. So both of them had the day off. I got sent a photo of Jordan holding a puppy, and at that point I knew I'd lost the fight. I had no choice, and less than a week later we went and picked up the dog known as Kane, the glorious bastard. Now, that was in 2012, you came along in 2013. So you two grew up together.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

I still have a photo of you as a baby in a bassinet, and Cain has dropped a tennis ball on the bassinet expecting you to throw the ball for him. Even back then he wanted you to play with him.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

That I still love that photo. It's just so cute. Him thinking that I can throw it when I was how old do you think I was?

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Maybe nine, ten months old?

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Yeah, how how did he think that I could throw that? It was my little baby arms.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

I don't know. I still remember bringing you back from the hospital bringing you home from the hospital, holding you in my arms, crouching down, and him coming along and sniffing at you like he wasn't sure what you were. I didn't and he'd never seen a baby in his life. And then you let out this cute little baby noise and he jumped back. Like, yeah, this thing makes noise and trust me, as it gets older, it's gonna make a lot more noise. Sorry, Kane.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Oh, you wouldn't know about that since you had uh three younger sisters.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yeah, but I'm used to that, but I'm not used to introducing a dog to a baby.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Yeah. How did that go?

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Yeah, well, Cain didn't eat you, so that was a mission success.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

That was a win win.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Sorry?

SPEAKER_02 5:21

That was a win.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Yeah, it was a win.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Since I didn't get eaten?

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Mm-hmm.

unknown 5:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

So how old was Cain?

SPEAKER_02 5:30

He was about fourteen.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Yeah, fourteen, that's what I thought. Yeah, 2012 to 2026. So, what were your some of f some of your favourite memories with that dog?

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Um the one that you told about with me and the bass net.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

That wasn't a memory of yours, you wouldn't have remembered it.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

No, but I just love that photo. But I also remember this one time where you went off to work and I was lying in your bed. Mine knew it was at Lilydale.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Why were you in my bed?

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Because I was just chilling and Kane that decided to hop up. He he was li he like I was lying on the side of the bed. He was lying like right next to me, and he just decided to like roll onto me, and he almost like he was almost falling off the bed. So I was trying to number one, make sure he didn't fall off the bed, and number two, I wanted him to be safe.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yeah, look, he didn't believe in personal space. He was a twenty-seven kilo lap dog. He thought he was a chihuahua and could curl up onto your lap or roll onto you on the bed, or yeah he didn't really believe in a lot of

Training, Nips, And Hard-Won Lessons

SPEAKER_01 6:55

personal space, did he?

SPEAKER_02 6:56

No, but he was crushing me and I got off the bed so he had more space to not fall off the bed. And I was trying to make I was trying to push him back onto the bed so he didn't fall off.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

See, I remember when you were a little one, like a couple of maybe two years old, and I used to take the both of you for walks around Lilidale Lake. And I remember if anyone got close to the stroller, Cain would put himself between you and the other person. And I always thought that was very cool. He protected you. Not that there was any danger, but yeah, he was very protective of you.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

He was just making sure that I was safe.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Just like I was making sure that he was safe and not falling off the bed.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

See, I remember the I actually he bit me twice. One time he stole my lunch, and I chased him around the backyard, and he wouldn't give it back and he ate it, and big deal. So later on that afternoon, I made uh got his dinner, not his dog food, and I decided not to give it to him, and I ran around the backyard with it. And he nipped me playfully. So I thought, you little bastard. The other time he bit me, which was a nip, was uh I remember we were walking a little at our lake, you weren't there, and um it was a case of this other dog was off lead come rushing at him, and I'm like, I wouldn't do that. My dog is not gonna like this. And this dog went for Cain, Cain went for this dog, and I grabbed Cain by the back of the harness. Cain's head spun around, didn't know what was going on, and nipped me. And as soon as you realised what he'd done, the eyes opened up real wide, the ears went back like, oh crap, sorry dad. And it's like I understand why you did that, dog. I don't blame you, so you're not in trouble. And I learned a valuable lesson then. When you're separating dogs, don't grab them by the back. Because if they don't know what's going on, they might think they're being attacked, then they will bite you. Maybe try and lock your legs around and I don't know, because this dog just the other dog just kept running around us and trying to get to Kane, so But a good thing was when he was starting to get a bit older, he uh he came into contact with like little puppies.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

And uh the best thing was he didn't give a damn about them.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

I know, he had to get retrained 'cause the dog trainer place that which the your mum took him to Yes, that didn't work out so well, so I retrained him and he hated the world, bike riders, other dogs and everything, so I had to retrain him. Then he just got to the point where he just did not give a shit.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Yeah, like this There is one time where me and Dad were going to a pet stock to just get some treats for Cain and there was this little I don't know what type of dog, but it was like a puppy. He was try he was uh trying to get into Kane's face and wouldn't know what Kane did. Basically nothing.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

He just didn't give a shit, like eh, whatever little one. I've lived longer than you've been alive, so just piss off. I'll take in toads bigger than you.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

I just gotta say, I love this one photo of Kane where he's like upside down and he's all and he was like smiling so goofy. Like that was so cute.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

I found some good photos to put on Facebook as a tribute to him and Instagram. Yeah, that one's on there. Yeah. The one where he's climbing up the back of a chair looking over the desk that I was doing some work at. Like, oh Dad, come on, hurry up and let's play. Okay, cool. Yes, I miss that dog.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Yeah, so do I.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Anything else you'd like to talk about before we end this?

SPEAKER_02 10:51

He was amazing. I would not have wished for any other dog.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Look, I must say, I'd never had a c uh border collie. Never in my life have I had a border collie. Your mum had border collis, and that's why they had them. I like border collis. Smart dogs, bit too smart sometimes, little bastards. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Honestly, the problem with them is that they're always energetic.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Well, that and the long fur and the how much fur was always around my house?

SPEAKER_02 11:25

I have no idea. And literally the day before that he had the seizures, he was running around chasing balls. I know. Yeah, well.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

He had a good life and hey,

Ashes, Keepsakes, And What’s Next

SPEAKER_01 11:40

he gave us 14 of the best years.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Alright, what do you reckon? Should we end it there?

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

I thought so. But uh now, leading on to my next podcast, the end of the trilogy. Ma uh Friday the 22nd of May, we got his ashes. So I have his ashes here. My boy is home. I've got his lead. Got a paw print, so I'm gonna make some sort of little display now that I think we're ready to display him. So yeah, I may post a photo of that at one point, but yeah, we'll see how that goes. And on that day also was the start of a two-day wrestling show. And that leads to my next podcast. So on that note, I will see you all very soon.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Goodbye.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

See you later.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Well valiant friends, till we meet again, green.