Sad Day...

I got a call from Dustin at about 8:30 this morning while at was at work. He had stayed home from work today. He dropped Michael off at the sitters, took me to work, and went back home. We usually feed our dogs at night when we get home from work. Lately, we've been noticing some problems with our oldest dog, Pongo. Pongo is a 14 1/2 year old Dalmation/Lab mix. In the last few months we noticed that Pongo was having trouble eating. He got to where he was barely eating at all and lost a lot of weight. He has always been a thin dog (he has more Dalmation traits than Lab), but he started looking extremely bad. The call this morning was to tell me that Pongo had died. Dustin decided to feed the dogs this morning instead of waiting until tonight. He said that when he walked outside, Pongo came straight up to him and leaned on him. He sat down and Pongo laid down in his lap and never got back up. I've cried all morning and I miss my Pongo already.

Pongo was actually Dustin's dog that his Mom and Dad got him when he was about 6 or 7. Dustin's parents taught Pongo all kinds of neat tricks and have tons of stories about how he was when he was younger. I have only had Pongo at our house for the last 4 years or so...nothing compared to the time everyone else has spent with him. But I know I loved him just as much. The only Pongo I've ever known was this sweet little old man that tip-toed everywhere and always said hello when you came home. When we did notice that Pongo was getting in bad shape, we started trying to let him in the house more often, giving him baths, and fixing him special meals with softer food so he could eat a little better. We even let him sleep on the couch a few nights. We have been contemplating on whether or not we needed to have him put to sleep, but I just thought that as long as he wasn't in pain and suffering-I'd rather let nature tak its course. It did.

I feel like I'm babbling...but I'm at work, not busy, and can't get him off my mind. I don't k now what else to do. I feel better talking about him. I love him very much. I just wish there was something else I could've done for him. I can't help feeling guilty about how pitiful he's looked lately. Dustin and I were just talking about him last night. I just didn't want him to suffer. It's a same that you can care so much about an animal knowing that most animals will not out-live us and we will have to morn their death at some point. Great, now I sound morbid.

Sorry about the babbling...I'm just very sad about loosing such a great dog.