[saying goodbye]

This week we said goodbye to our sweet boy Dozer. He had begun having bad days, and then the bad days starting becoming more frequent than the good days. We could tell he was uncomfortable, and couldn’t stand the thought of that.

Tuesday evening we had a local vet come to our home to put him to sleep for us. I am so grateful to the doctor for being willing to do this – it really made everything much more comfortable for all of us. Dozer was stress-free because he was in his own home with his people, and with our other animals. And we didn’t have to load him up in the car and take him to a strange place. We were free to grieve in the privacy of our home, and spend as much time as we wanted with him. The vet was extremely nice and onobtrusive, and the process was as smooth as could be. We buried him in our yard, next to our first dog.

Earlier in the afternoon, we took the dogs to a local lake for a bit. Dozer didn’t have a ton of energy, but he perked right up when I got their leashes out, and he seemed to enjoy the car ride. We spent some time at the water, then went for a short walk. It was a nice outing, one last happy memory for all of us.

The house is quiet without him. Blue, while overall seems to be doing well with the transition, does seem lonely sometimes. Those two dogs were best friends, always together. They were inseparable from the day we brought Dozer home three years ago. I worried how Blue would do without her best buddy, but so far she is handling it well.

I took this on our walk that afternoon.