My first baby…Casey…came into my life in December of 1991. I fell in love with her at first sight. My soon to be husband told me we couldn’t have a puppy now…too many things going on. Little did I know that he planned on surprising me with her 6 weeks later on my birthday!

Casey was an extremely loyal and loving dog. She tangled with a racoon and nearly died. While recovering at the vet she wasn’t eating…the vet was perplexed…we told him that we trained her only to eat from us. He didn’t believe it. We went over and gave her the food and she gobeled it up. The vet was so surprised! That’s a loyal dog.

At 9 years old she started to pant a lot. We took her to the vet and they took blood to run some tests and told us we would know in a few days. Early the next morning (around 4 am) Casy collapsed. She weighed 100 pounds and I had to get her in the car along wiht my 5 year old and take her to the emergency vet (my husband was away on business). The vet kept telling me how much each test would cost and I told him that I didn’t care how much it cost…he needed to save my dog.

After several hours I was told that Casey had cancer of the liver. It had spread to her heart and that she was in so much pain the vet could not believe we hadn’t seen any signs before…that was our Casey. He told me I had to put her down immediately. I couldn’t waid until my husband came home. So I called Casey out of her cage at the hospital and told her everything would be OK. I told her how much we loved her and I held her as she died. It is the hardest thing I have ever done. But this was my gift to her. She was so loyal and loving I could not let her suffer. Her ashes are in my back yard.

We now have two Newfoundlands (one who we rescued from Maine 2 years ago).

Dogs provide unconditional love. They stay by you when you are feeling blue or not well. They are happy just to be in your company. If I could, I would have more than 2…but this fits for now. Love and cherish your dogs as long as they are here and when it is time to let them go, remember that it is our turn to give back and let them slip into heaven peacefully.

Sarah from NY