I must admit that writing this is an attempt to deal with and think through my thoughts and emotions.   This is so difficult.  Tomorrow my dog Sasha of almost 18 years will be put to rest.  Sasha is an Akita / German Shepard that I found at the ASPCA in New York.  I love Sasha more than most things in life and she has brought me joy, companionship and unconditional love to last a life time.

Unfortunately a combination of factors including her hind legs are all but gone, she has lost her hearing, she can not control her pee or pooping and we often find her sitting in her stuff because she can get up. Her quality of life is not good and the visit on Monday to our vet confirmed my biggest fears, that its time.  It is very hard to believe that this is the right thing to do for her. Knowing that her physical presence will be removed from my life for ever is unbearable to me, but those are my selfish emotions and it’s unfair to Sasha to think that way. Yes I will always have the memories but today as I write this, that doesn’t help me.

Mark, I thank you for providing an outlet for dog lovers to share these very difficult times and situations with others.  I hope this starts to bring some closure. My wife and I are going away for a few days to deal with our emotions, and look at our relationship and how this difficult time can bring us closer together. I will most likely have another dog in the future but I have learned that as dog owners we owe it to them to make sure we provide quality of life, which may include proper training, proper diet, enough exercise and so on. I say this because this is our responsibility and of course THEY DESERVE IT.

Once again, THANK YOU.
Warm Regards,

Adam from NY