Lady

Today was absolutely horrible. We put Lady, our 14 year old Australian Shepherd, to sleep. Kev and I adopted her in 1999 from the Ft. Worth Humane Society; she was 6 at the time. She was a sweet, wonderful dog. She never played much, but she was the nicest pooch you could meet. She had been suffering from pretty severe arthritis in her hips and back legs for the past couple of years. Initially, we had been treating her with arthritis medicine. She was doing fairly well until this summer. At that point, the vet put her on pain medicine to keep her comfortable. She seemed to be okay until the last 2 weeks. She started looking miserable, and that isn't fair. We made the decision to end her pain before we leave for Texas (tomorrow). We brought her home and buried her beside the house. In Gracie's eulogy (this will make you smile), she basically said 'Lady, you were a great dog, we love you, and I'm sorry my parents did this to you.' It's okay if we're the bad guys; at least Lady isn't suffering anymore. She has surely found Fred by now (our cat we lost in May), and they are probably giving heaven a run for its money. She will be deeply and forever missed.