Wow, we are still a little bit in shock that our buddy is gone. It all seemed to happen so fast. He went in to see the vet because he was sick, she gave him a shot, put him on pills, said if he didn’t improve to bring him back. He seemed to start getting better right away, his appetite came back and he seemed himself for about 5 days then he had a relapse. I took him back, he got another shot and the vet took some blood tests. This was Friday afternoon. Saturday the vet called to say the tests were showing that he was a sick little dog. He seemed to be feeling okay so she said to just bring her a urine sample and she would do some further testing.

Sunday, June 8th. We woke up and Shooter seemed fine. Around lunch time we could see he had taken a turn. He was not well and we just knew it was near the end. We started to prepare ourselves for when we took him back to the vet Monday morning, he may not ever come home again. Shooter must have heard us talking about this (although we were in my office so he couldn’t hear us) because around 3 he went outside. Did a tour of the yard, went for a drink at the creek and then sat in the sun on the front deck (all with Barry helping him, he was struggling a bit). At around 4 I picked him up off the deck and brought him inside to his bed. Sat with him for only a few minutes, rubbing his back and telling him I loved him. His breathing was laboured, I knew he was near the end. His breathing calmed, he had a couple of very mild convulsions and he was gone. We laid him on the floor on his blanket and tucked him in with another like we did every night. We all sat around him patting him and telling how much we love him. A few hours later Barry took him out to my office.

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Today, June 15th, we laid him to rest with his buddy Max at his side. In the photo of inside the casket you can see lil Max is in the little box, his 2 favourite toys and his bowl. The dogs seemed to say good bye, especially Lily, she laid down next to him and sniffed him one last time before we screwed on the lid and then we dumped a couple of scoops of dirt on top. Barry will carve a seat out of the log next to the grave so I can sit and visit with them. We will also have a plaque made and attach it to the “bench”. It was very good for all of us to have the closure. We know they are safe and together, it is comforting.

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They are just to the right of the log which spans over the creek. I will post a photo once we have it all finished with the bench carved into the log and plaque. Barry wants to tidy it up, I will plant some wild flowers.

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RIP my buddy, I miss you.

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