We will miss him forever!

Today was one of the hardest days I have had in a long time.  Today was the day we said our final goodbyes to our Sammy.  We adopted Sammy back in August 2004 and he fit into our family perfectly.  He was such a great dog, well trained and so laid back and easy going.  As we added kids to our family he become their protector and of course their friend.  He was a great big brother.  He loved to go for long hikes, he enjoyed swimming and more than anything he loved to sleep on the couch (even though he was not supposed to be on the furniture). In the past 6 months he has been by my side on those lonely nights after I put the kids to bed but couldn't fall asleep myself yet.  He would come downstairs and just lay on the floor by  me while I watched TV or played on the computer.   He also loved to lay in front on the heater in my office while I worked, especially when I was eating my lunch at my desk (he always knew mama would feed him some yummy if he starred at her long enough).  Over the past year Sammy started to slow down, developed more ear infections than ever before and started to develop many lumps on his body.  His entire face turned grey which really made it hard to deny his old age.  He seemed happy still but did start to show some pain.   I decided that I didn't want to see him suffer at all so we made the appointment to assist him in his passing to the better side.  My sister joined me in bringing him in today, I was prepared as well as I could be but it is still not easy to say those final goodbyes, to tell him what a good boy he was one last time.   I did bring home his collar and plan to print a canvas of him and hang his collar on it.

After I picked the boys up from school and we got home I knew I needed to tell them before they started to look for him.  I explained that I took Sammy to the vet and that he was in some pain and uncomfortable and that we decided it was best for him to go to Heaven where he run free and happy.  Colton immediately broke into tears and I felt so guilty.  I couldn't believe what I had taken from him, this was his buddy and now he was gone.   After lots of talking and hugging and crying together Colton and I both decided that we are happy that he is pain free and we will get through this together.  We also decided that we will do some fostering of dogs in the future as our way to honor Sampson.  Colton is such an amazing kid, he has handled this better than I could have ever imagine, makes me such a proud mama. 

One cool this we did find out today is what kind of dog Sammy was.  When we adopted him we were told he was a black lab mix but we didn't know what he was mixed with.  Well the vet today scanned his microchip and then had to call just to be sure he was registered to me (kinda weird, not like I would steal a dog and then pay to put it down).  Well when she called she was told that he was registered to me and before that was registered with the American Kennel Club.  Yup, we owned a registered Purebred dog and didn't even know it.  Sammy was a purebred British Labrador.  Kinda cool to find out his breed, even if it was at the very end of his life with us.  We love you Sammy.  You were an amazing big brother, amazing companion, amazing protector and such a loving sweetheart.  We will miss you forever.