this morning we finally had to put him to sleep.  he’d been getting worse and worse for the past week, and last night he kept pacing around and around the house, finally climbing the steps up to the bed, where he just stood there and looked at me.  i finally put him back on the floor and it was indescribably awful to watch him stand there at the water bowl, unable to take a drink, obviously wanting to, but he just couldn’t do it…

it’s been a pretty bad week.  but after he ate or drank nothing all day yesterday, last night i finally said to myself, tomorrow must be the last day.

even though he wasn’t our dog for an entire year, we loved him so much.  he was so full of energy, always excited, always ready and alert and such a good dog.  amy thinks he must have been between 15 and 18 years old.

my funniest memory of him is last christmas, when everybody was here for dinner.  mom had put a great big piece of ham in a plastic bag in her purse to take home.  the purse was hanging near the ground and shadow, always determined, got into the bag and pulled out the ham, which was almost as big as he was.  i looked down and he had it in his mouth.  when i reached down to take it away from him, he bit me.  he had a mighty strong bite for a dog with no teeth.

we sure will miss him.

oh boy.  good dog.

gh