A Sweet, Sad Day

This has been a "funny" last couple of days,....from one end of the spectrum to the other. The Starkey women in our family celebrate 3 generations of birthdays this month, Bailey's is on the 5th, Irene's (Larry's mother) is on the 15th and Chelsea's is on the 20th. As we were getting ready to begin the trip to celebrate Irene's we got a call that she had gotten ill the night before and had pneumonia. She was indeed feeling poorly when we saw her. On medication, she's somewhat better today so again, began a trip that had been planned out with the girls.
As I headed out the door in the morning, I let the dogs out and gave them their treats which they relish. Sam (right above), however, sniffed at it, turned up his nose and ran off in the opposite direction! I said "What's up with you??" But he seemed OK so I left on the trip.
We had a marvelous time. Bailey showed me her puzzles and how she puts them all together...

Emma showed her toys too....

and this little grin just made my day!!

Bailey takes gymnastics and can do the balance beam, so showed me how...

and Emma showed...her gums!

As I said before, it was a marvelous day....until late morning when my wonderful dog sitter (she lets our dogs out periodically when we am gone) Laura called. She said that Sam had been sick and offered to make a vet appointment for my return. I thanked her and silently worried. When I got back late afternoon as they were getting ready to close, the vet took x-rays and thought he might have an obstruction. They told me he was very ill and thought he might not make it through the weekend without going to Med Vet in Columbus. The hospital is open 24 hours a day and is a marvelous place. It has specialists of every variety that rivals a human hospital. It can take care of anything!....well, almost, (below, sculptures on the lawn outside). On the ride down, we held him, petted him and reminisced about the day we got him. He was such a sweet little puppy and from the day we got him, he followed me around. He would sit by my feet and keep me company if watching TV. He would hop on a favorite chair and wait patiently until I was finished on the computer always following me down the hall to wherever. He would watch me in the kitchen always careful not to be underfoot. He would be thrilled with a treat or going for a ride or seeing my face come home. Oh, that tail wagging when I came up the stairs! If I said the word "walk" or "boat" he practically did somersaults! He lay next to my bed each night and sighed as he went to sleep, sometimes even snoring....I loved that noise. If I decided to take a nap, he insisted on laying right next to me snuggled up. Larry said his favorite trick was laying on the top two steps in front of Scoobie when he heard his car come down the drive at night. That way he got petted first as he came up the steps. Ha!

When we got to Columbus, they did many tests again. The ultrasound showed a mass on his liver and kidney failure. They would put him in intensive care and watch him until specialists came in the next day to do probable surgery. That would give him a few months.

We felt it was best to make the decision to say good by. Soooo hard!! I was glad I had my camera with me, from the day with the girls because we wanted one last picture of him. Somehow, I really don't have many. He was a good and faithful friend. Most people would like to die the way Sam did. He was well loved, had a good quality of life (14 1/2 years) to the end. As far as we know, he had no pain and was perky till the end. My mom loved this dog almost as much as we did. I like to think she has my little buddy by her side right now....miss you guys...