About an hour ago we lost our oldest dog, Maddie. She was 12 years old. Maddie was a schnauzer, a pretty silver grey color. She had a good life, at least that is what we tried to give her. She enjoyed chasing chickens that wandered from the neighbor’s yard into ours. When Maddie was tired in the wintertime, she would lay on her pillow next to the heater. Her best friend was Diego, a miniature Yorkie/poodle mix. Diego liked to sit on top of Maddie like a horse… Maddie tolerated it, as if he wasn’t even there. They played together, went outside together, and ate dinner together. Diego keeps looking for her tonight, I don’t know how to explain it to him… He’s laying on her pillow now.

My six-year old daughter Isabella is trying to stay brave, as are her brothers, Michael, 14, and Hunter, 12. They don’t remember a day without Maddie. She has always been there to greet them when they get home from school. Tomorrow will be very difficult for all of us.

Maddie’s last few minutes were peaceful; she had gone into congestive heart failure sometime today, and we took her to the vet tonight. She was having trouble breathing, and the vet heard fluid on her lungs. When he gave her injections to ease her pain and try to control her breathing, she had two spasms, looked at my wife Ashley, and expired.

I look into the sky tonight, and hope she looks down on us, happily playing, able to run again, and with all the kibble she can eat.

Goodnight, Maddie…

Kevin from AL