Some of you may remember about 18 months ago when I first posted about her arthritic back issues. Many of you were very comforting and supportive and I appreciate you all for that.

Today, at 6pm, she found relief from her pain. It was one of the most difficult things I ever had to do, but I did have to do it. She was existing, but not living. My vet, who I trust explicitly, agreed that it was time for her to leave.

I had her for 13 years and 7 months to the day. We spent the day going to all the parks she used to like the best, with me pulling her around in her modern day counterpart of our little red wagon, now made of canvas instead of metal. Then we came home and took a nap for an hour or so, and sadly I then took her for the ride from which she did not return.

Knowing it was right for her eased the pain for me. My vet commented that she had "dead" eyes. No sparkle, no life in them at all. So she went to sleep in my arms one last time. Now I wonder how I am going to go to sleep tonight without her snoring in her bed next to mine.

I plan to do a road trip in my little trailer for about a month and get away from the dog ghosts that will be in this house, after which I will start looking for the next perfect for me dog. I will ALWAYS have a dog.

I just wanted to update all of who who offered your support when this first came around and thank you again for it.

It all came back to me as I read your post, I went through the same, mine, he made it to 15 years. In my family we always had dogs growing up and more than one at a time but when you have only one dog that's your own it's too much to go through so I couldn't do it again.

Eddie, I feel your pain. I lost my two German shepherds within a few months of each other some years ago, and I still miss them.
Then in June of this year my beautiful little kitten died of stomach cancer.
I still have two cats who are around 9-10 years old, and when their time is up I can't imagine what life will be without any pets.
But they can't be replaced.

I'm sorry to hear that Eddie. I know from experience what it's like to lose a dog you've had for a really long time.

Cocoa was a beautiful chocolate lab female puppy we had gotten when she was 8 weeks old and my son was about 3 years old. They grew up together. She was a member of the family.

My son and I still talk about the fun trips down to the lake and taking her out in the canoe. She had great canoe manners until she would see a duck. She would jump in and swim after the ducks until she got too tired to swim anymore. Then we'd drag her back into the canoe.

She made it to 13 or 14 years old before her hips started failing and she went deaf. We all cried when we had to put her down.

You've got to get a puppy. No one ever loves you as much as your dog.

This is the first time since 1999, outside of 3 months at the end of 2006, that I haven't had a dog. There is supposed to be one snoring 8 feet to my left.

But there isn't.

Awwww! I am so sorry. Losing a dog is a horrible experience...

...Deb

Sorry for your loss Eddie. RIP Scruff.

My condolences sir. Our dogs always know how much we love them. Hopefully your road trip will help you in coping with your loss.

Sorry Eddie...I miss my dog as much as anyone who has ever passed away. I cried for three days. Time will lessen the pain but I not sure anyone ever gets over it totally. Well...if you are a dog person.

Billy

I feel your pain Eddie. We always have had a dog and it is always a terrible day when they die.

We lost three Shih-Tzus in a span of three weeks; the youngest one of Cushings disease and the other two older ones from cancer. This was just before Thanksgiving three years ago. We all were sad but my wife was really shock up. That was until we got two Shih-Tzu puppies.

You will never forget your dogs, even years after you replace them. But getting new dog ASAP does help ease the pain.

Immediately after a road trip!

+1 We got our Aussie this summer a week after the border collie passed. You are correct Mario.

Feelin for you Eddie, hang in there man.

Dogs are amazing. Sorry for your loss.

Eddie,

Sorry to read Scruff is gone.

When is the right time to let go is one of the most difficult decisions a pet owner has to make. Our Vet says it is just as difficult for her and herr staff as it is for you.

I have also heard this very thing. In fact, the story I read was discussing suicide rates among the vets and their staff and it listed having to put dogs to sleep as one of the main contributing factors. Many also suffer from PTSD as a result of their line of work. Highly emotional just watching someone suffer the agony of loosing a pet.

Sorry for your loss Eddie
//I'd rather lose to that team down south (again) than hear that news.//

I'm currently trying to convince the wife to be proactive. Our 'pup' is over 12 now, and it would probably be better to get another puppy now, while Harold can still help train, rather than later when there is no other good example.

I know Gracie (our previous weimaraner) helped a lot with the teaching process for Harold.
So I'm trying to prep.
FWIW, Harold is a weird looking Chinese hairless (the irony), so any next dog is likely a step up
hope I brought a smile during this sad time.

Thank you everybody for your kind, supportive words. I just talked to a friend and as I told her I have never felt this bad and I was in Vietnam.

Well, I decided that I needed to fill the silence in my house, so while I will never replace Scruff, I can share her space with another dog. I found this chunky little lab mix on a shelter web page about an hour away, and brought him home about an hour ago. He is going to work out just fine. Just from what I saw at the shelter to here he is already understanding he is home now.

So, the chunky 45 pound lab mix is now named Chunk and is sleeping under my desk as we speak.

He's a bright eyed looking little guy. That's a sign of intelligence.

I'm glad you found a new friend. Even though my neighbors lab stays here 90% of the time I'm going to get a lab puppy so old Hank can help train him about life in the woods.

So many critters, so little time.

From the blur in the photo I assume Chunk's tail was a waggin' when the photo was taken. Cute.

He is a happy guy. At the moment he is a little peeved because I am watching TV in the bedroom and I have to have him in the cone of shame for a few days after he was neutered. They got him in from a kill shelter in Kentucky on Thursday at 7:45 and by 10 he was neutered. Obviously the stitches itch and he wants to lick, and equally obviously I can't let him do that. So cone of shame it is for a few days while I sleep.

He loves it outside and the first couple of times he asked me to take him he kind of stood on the porch like he was asking me for permission to go down into the yard. Thus last time he did not. There is a ramp off the porch and thus far he has come up the steps 4 times and the ramp just once. I get the sense that once he learns the house rules and develops the confidence of knowing that he is home, he is going to be a fine companion. The shelter is an hour away and he rode in the car with no motion sickness issues. We don't know about housetraining because they didn't have him long enough to observe, but they did say he didn't mess his crate last night. We'll see. If he pees, he pees. No big deal. Food on my feeding schedule starts tomorrow. Right now he is sleeping soundly at the foot of the bed, unhappy as you can imagine because of the cone. LOL!

Here's a little video from when we first got home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLtbfMuXpro&ab_channel=EastSideEddie

Nice looking dog you have there Eddie. I think you made the right choice!

Congrats sir! I think we only had 1-2 weeks between one dog and the next here too.

I had about 2-3 weeks between dogs. I was miserably lonely and all the pound had was pit bulls. (Nothing wrong with the breed. I wanted something I could pick up and carry in a health scare. Previous dog would go up stairs but not down.)

I ended up with 2 20 pound dogs.

Your dog is lovely. Congratulations!

...Deb

Thanks to all for the kind words. Chunk, by behaviors, seems like he may have a little bit of pit in him but he is mostly lab and some border collie. We all know the problem with pit bulls is the owners, not the breed. This guy is a total velcro dog so far. He wants to be stuck to me at all times. However, he is still in that state of transition to where he likely doesn't know that this is now home and not another stopover on his way to another shelter. He is starting his 3rd day here and seems to be understanding that he can go into ALL the rooms, that he has a yard to himself, that the dogs next door are not going to leave tomorrow and he'll never see them again...

We did some leash walking this morning in the yard and he seems to be rather smart and quick to pick things up. He has started finding the comfort level to lay in other rooms where I am not with him. He hasn't really learned his name yet but I use it in every sentence I speak to him so he hears it a lot. He lays in the living room among a pile of toys but has yet to show any interest in them. That may come with time. I expected him to come into the house and mark all of Scruff's beds to state that they were his but he has not peed or pooped in the house at all. I expect he may at some point but thus far he has not. I left him in the car yesterday when I ran into Petco and had the phone recording video. He did not fuss at all. I saw his tail move to the side where I exited the car and he watched out that window until I came back. It was 5:35 and not a sound. He rides well with no motion sickness. I think all he really needed was a sense of stability, but I can say for sure that this was somebody's pet, not a feral pack dog. He is too well behaved and affectionate. I do have some work training ME to understand that this dog is NOT Scruff, that Scruff was short and Chunk is tall and can counter surf, and that this is starting over with a new dog personality. But thus far he his a happy, affectionate dog. He is about 3 and healthy vs Scruff at 14 and ailing, and he will be much more active. That's on me to adjust to him and maybe get out of my chair more. I'll always miss that little dog, or course, but the facts of life are that we 13 1/2 wonderful years together, that she lived the life of a princess, and that she got old and her time was up. That doesn't make it easier to lose her, but it does mean that reality is that she is gone and I have to move on. The house was too empty. Now it feels full again.

Eddie,

I think Chunk is a lucky dog to have the owner he got and that you are a lucky owner to have the dog you got. Hopefully it's gonna' be a long and fun ride for both of you.

By the way, more photos would be nice!

As long as I remain aware that this is not Scruff V2 but Chunk V1 and let him be who he is, it will be fine. It is so easy to expect that a new dog will come in and do exactly what the old dog did with the same verbal commands while forgetting that the old dog took a lot of time and training to learn that.

I was having lunch with my best friend 2 years after I got Scruff. I was telling her how amazing it is that Scruff is becoming exactly what Twiggy was. She knew the same words, did the same things.... I went on and on. Finally she said "Are you done?" and I said "Huh?" Then she said "YOU trained both dogs! YOU trained them the same way. With the same voice inflections, the same vocabulary... of COURSE she is becoming Twiggy! It can't happen any other way with the same trainer." And I just said "Oh. Yeah."

We'll ramp training up when he is out of the cone of shame and has his first vet visit out of the way. Those sutures only happened Thursday so he still wants to lick at them. My vet will do e-rays of the hips because of the lab in him to make sure there is no early sign of dysplasia along with the usual 1st tune up stuff.

So sorry to hear about your loss. My condolences. It sounds like they were well loved.