sadness

Last night Sam had a really bad night. He'd thrown up a couple of time, including in his bed which dogs really hate to do, and then had a really hard time breathing for almost 40 minutes. He was really straining. Steve and I realized that it was not getting easier for him and in spite of our hopes and his "good" moments the bad moments were probably starting to really outweigh the good ones.

This morning we took him to the vet. They were very kind. He fell asleep in my lap and when they administered the euthanasia he very quickly and quietly slipped away. It was so hard to make that decision. He was 16, he was getting older, weaker, sicker, but there was a little part of us that, I guess, still wanted him to keep going.

I'm glad that Steve and I could both be there with him so that he was with people who loved him. I'm glad that it wasn't paiinful for him and I'm so glad for the 14 years that he was with us. He was such a sweet little dog.

I'm sitting here crying and missing him and thinking about how hard this is going to be on the girls when they get home from school. I see a sad night ahead.