Sad News
But not entirely unexpected. I had to have my sweet but very elderly dog put to sleep today. I came home from work, took her out for her walk, and her hind legs collapsed under her. I got her standing again, but she clearly couldn't walk well, and she wasn't her usual mellow self, and - it was clearly time. She was seventeen and a half - seventeen years and 9 months, actually - and I'd seen it coming for a while.
(edited because I wanted to post more pictures - thank you, kahva, for taking them!)
The first picture is her not long after I moved, sleeping in the sun on my office carpet. The next two are from kahva, who took some lovely portrait shots - in the first one, she looks like her old self, ready to face the day; the second gives a sense of how sweet she. She was a Sheltie mix, according to the pound's best guess, with what my in-laws called hybrid vigor. She earned her Canine Good Citizen award, thanks to Lisa, did obedience and agility and rally-obedience (kind of like Simon Says for dogs) with Lisa, and went for long walks with me, exploring the parks and the enormous cemetery and (out of season) the harborside walks and park. She was slowing down long before we moved, and by the time we got here, she was content with a slow circuit of the parking lot, stopping to sniff everything and make sure nothing important had moved since the last time. The kids here were convinced she was a wolf, and I kept having to explain that, no, she was a fairly ordinary dog, just one who was very, very old. She let them pet her with good grace, and that was that.
She was a really good dog - smart, sweet, incredibly good-natured. I'll miss her a lot.
(edited because I wanted to post more pictures - thank you, kahva, for taking them!)
The first picture is her not long after I moved, sleeping in the sun on my office carpet. The next two are from kahva, who took some lovely portrait shots - in the first one, she looks like her old self, ready to face the day; the second gives a sense of how sweet she. She was a Sheltie mix, according to the pound's best guess, with what my in-laws called hybrid vigor. She earned her Canine Good Citizen award, thanks to Lisa, did obedience and agility and rally-obedience (kind of like Simon Says for dogs) with Lisa, and went for long walks with me, exploring the parks and the enormous cemetery and (out of season) the harborside walks and park. She was slowing down long before we moved, and by the time we got here, she was content with a slow circuit of the parking lot, stopping to sniff everything and make sure nothing important had moved since the last time. The kids here were convinced she was a wolf, and I kept having to explain that, no, she was a fairly ordinary dog, just one who was very, very old. She let them pet her with good grace, and that was that.
She was a really good dog - smart, sweet, incredibly good-natured. I'll miss her a lot.