My kid's horse died when we dropped her off at a friend's house to be babysat the day before we were leaving for vacation in Mexico. So, here's this 1000 pound horse, way, way out in a pasture, in deep snow. We had to build a sled, roll her onto a tarp, roll the tarp onto the sled, hitch to pregnant mares to the sled (Worried about too much exertion causing miscarriage!!) (But, of course, they were the only two that could drive) help them pull the sled/body, I don't know, a quarter mile through two-three feet of snow, stopping to dig out the front of the sled countless times. Then, leave dead horse by the side of the road, covered with a tarp, for the six days it took the renderer to get there. Luckily she stayed frozen...Decide if we should tell Kelly before the trip, and ruin it, or not tell her and her not be able to say goodbye to Jenny- we voted for tell her. (She really milked it, too, on vacation- told _everyone she came in contact with!) That friend, coincidentally, has always had Danes, and they've always just been buried at her house. But that was on a farm.

Oh, nice- while my same friend was on vacation, a mutual friend of ours, a teenager, was babysitting the farm, and the current Dane bloated- stomach twisted on itself, expensive surgery is the only fix. So babysitter calls me frantically from the vet's car- vet has come to the house, diagnosed the bloat, put the dog in the car with an IV running so they don't lose a second while babysitter tries to reach owner for permission to operate. Can't reach her. Estimate is something like $1200. This is not a rich person- she doesn't even work outside the home- depends on husband's salary. I told the vet to go ahead- luckily, I was positive that's what my friend would have wanted, and I was right. Dane made it through fine.