Kansas detective bids heartfelt goodbye to his beloved partner and pet dog: 'See you on the other side'

At times, we find ourselves faced with the difficult choice of letting go. Detective Tony Hawpe, a longtime Newton police K-9 officer, realized this when he had to say goodbye to his longtime work partner-turned-family member, per The Wichita Eagle. The loss was a bit more personal as his partner later on became his beloved pet Bella, a 9-year-old Belgian Malinois. She had to be euthanized on June 27 after she was unable to fight a medical condition.

Bella retired from service in January and had a violent seizure last month. The same day, she had to be put to sleep as she was unable to be retrieved. Hawpe shared the news through a Facebook post. In the lengthy note, he opened up about his experience of going to Newton Animal Hospital after the seizure and the efforts undertaken by the staff and doctors to save her. The symptoms of Bella along with her tests made Dr. Shane Tonn come to the conclusion that there might be a tumor in the Belgian Malinois's brain which was slowly growing. On the day of her seizure, the tumor might have grown so much that it cut off the vessels present in the brain.

Hawpe finally understood why Bella was behaving bizarrely after she was spayed. She had become uncharacteristically aggressive in the last year towards Hawpe and his family. He told the outlet, “I had hoped her retirement was going to be lazy days and hamburgers (she did get plenty of both), but it has been a struggle the entire time."

There were days Bella was perfect being goofy and asking for pets, but as soon as someone would get affectionate with her, she would turn aggressive and begin biting. "Then she would walk around with her tail between her legs and refuse to obey commands. This dog was my partner, my ride-or-die best friend, someone who had been with me through some of the toughest parts of my career and life. Our relationship was damaged. I was sad, and to be honest, I was angry sometimes," said Hawpe. 

Despite such behavioral changes, Hawpe accepted this as his fate and decided to bear with Bella's aggressive behavior, but still strived to give the best life possible to his pet. The day her seizure happened, he took her to the hospital where the team sedated her in hopes of medically awakening her after getting her situation under control.

Unfortunately, that never came on to pass, and after four hours of constant trying, Hawpe came to the conclusion that letting go was the only option. He could see that even if Bella would come back from seizures, her quality of life would be severely impacted and therefore, after taking into consideration the fact that his beloved partner had some good years, he decided to put her to sleep.

Hawpe also mentioned his last words to Bella on his Facebook page, “I love you. I’ll see you on the other side.” After knowing that the tumor was the reason behind Bella's behavioral change, Hawpe wishes he wasn't so angry about the whole situation. Now, all he wants to do is move on with the memories and inspiration Bella had given him in his life.