Reading about Sprite was so enjoyable yet so painful. In 1998, we lost our beautiful Bishon, ShaSha, after a 6 month battle with kidney disease. She was 11 yrs old and I was devastated. Sha was an unusual Bishon, long legged and very fast. She could catch squirrels and was always active and in great shape until she had problems with her kidneys. When she was diagnosed in May of 1998, the vet told us she could survive anywhere from a few months to 3 yrs.

When her kidneys failed in November of that year, she went downhill very quickly. We took her to the vet on a Sunday and much to our dismay, her regular doctor was on vacation. The vet on call told us to leave her there for a few days and he would see what he could do. He called us on Tuesday and told us he could do nothing for her and we should pick her up and because she was in no pain, allow us to spend time with us until she got worse. We picked her up hoping for a miracle and at least having the chance for the entire family to saygood bye to her. She was truly loved by everyone and that night beside my children and parents, my sisters and nephews came over to say farewell.

When everyone left, Sha took a terrible turn for the worse. We knew we couldn’t get to the vet at that time and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. She was in terrible pain that night and my wife and I couldn’t wait to get her to the vet to end her misery. The next morning–the day before Thanksgiving—we left the house as early as possible to take her. It was unbearable to hold her and have the vet inject her to put her to sleep. She died minutes later in our arms and we just stood there crying cuddling her for as long as we could.
ShaSha was creamated on the same date as the one on which Sprite died—Dec.8th.
Like Mark, it was so traumatic to lose our beautiful baby that the thought of getting another dog a few months later was out of the question for me. I go never see myself going through that pain again.So in February when my daughter Cara told me she wanted to go to Virginia to purchase a soft-coated Wheaton Terrier with her boy friend–I was strongly opposed. To make a longstory short. she went ahead and got Roxy–our wonderful Wheaton who we’ve had now for 9 years. Roxy is a great dog, very intelligent and sometimes very stubborn. We love her dearly and of course are very attached to her. Cara is getting married in May and now instead of alternating between her, her brother Chris (my son) and my wife and I, as to who she’ll sleep with at night, her choices are down to 2 bedrooms.

Life goes on and even though we punish ourselves in many ways by having these beautiful dogs, its hard to imagining living without them. They so much joy to our lives. I even think my parents look forward more to seeing Roxy when they come over our house than seeing us. Roxy lights up eveybody’s life and is so loving to all she comes in contact with–friends, neighbors, little kids, other animals and even complete strangers. Everyone loves Roxy and she loves them back.
Can you imagine what a doggie heaven would be like?

Ray from NJ