One year ago today was one of the worst days of my life.
At 3:00pm the prior day I got a call from the vet. I interrupted a customer meeting to take it fearing the worst. For 2 days, our GSD mix Snickers wouldn't sit or lay down. I really thought the 12-year old dog was having hip problems, and some pain killers/cortisone might relieve the pain.
We really expected to have Snickers around for at least a couple more years after having to say goodbye to Tequila. Snickers was the dog that was smart, but played dumb to keep our expectations of him down. He was never needy, and was happy to play or not, walk or not, or get petted or not.
I listened on the phone as the vet explained the situation - lungs filled with fluid. He couldn't lay down, because he couldn't breath.
Tequila wasn't real happy with us the day we brought Snickers home, but it had such an eventual calming effect on him. Tequila was Marley's (from the book/movie) twin up until that point. And Snickers really helped us get through having to put Tequila down at the end.
Tequila was a purchase from a private breeder. Our first dog. Snickers was a rescue. Some evil person decided that throwing this adorable puppy out a moving car in a rain storm was okay. Luckily, someone connected to us, and the witness of that event put us all together.
I grabbed my keys and took off to the vet, and after a detailed explanation of the issue we determined it best to help Snickers via euthanization. We may have been able to spend a couple more days with some severe treatment, but he wasn't going to get better and he was really suffering.
I think I went into severe depression after this event. I can remember not really wanting to do anything, and coming home numb to an empty dogless house wasn't helping.
However...
All of this lead to finding Radar just a couple of months later, and I am now back to normal and thinking about adding a Radar companion. I thank this community whole-heartedly for helping me understand my new family member and giving me the opportunity to salute my old friends.
