Sweet Henry

We took Henry to the vet on Saturday, 2/15, to have him put down. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I have never had a dog long enough to get to this point in life and it was simply awful. He was 15 years old and at point in his life when it was just time. He cried every time he tried to sit or lay down, had lost his hearing, was shedding like crazy, losing weight incredibly fast, and had a hard time holding his bowels. It's just so sad because I believe that his brain was fine, in great shape really, his body just couldn't keep up.

We took him in and they gave him a sedative which really relaxed him and then gave him and overdose of a barbiturate (I don't know which one) that simply stopped his heart. It made me sick, I had this moment of panic when I wanted him back so badly after it was done. Just horrible.

That afternoon, I went to AC Moore and gathered supplies to make a shadow box for Brad (and myself) which now hangs in our room. I'm not surprised that I miss him, I'm just surprised at how much I miss him. I thought I was more ready for it than I was, I guess. I still get teary each time I was by the shadow box or find myself looking for him out in the yard or in the house. 

Skylar seems to be doing ok. I have heard of dogs dying from a broken heart when their partners die so we've been paying extra special attention to her and I think she's ok. She is definitely sad and she sort of wanders around the yard looking for him, but she is eating and getting around ok. She is 13 this year and is in great shape (surprisingly). My only issue with her is that she gets smelly like an old dog so I've committed to having her groomed every couple weeks so we don't have to deal with that part. I hope she's doing well, I don't think I could go through that again for quite some time. I know we'd like to get dogs again in our lives, but it will be a long time from now when the children are MUCH older. 

The Shadow Box of my boy in his prime. I also did a salt dough footprint of him. This is the foot that has the missing toe nail/part of toe from when he had cancer in Colorado. Had to capture that :) Such a good good boy.