Yesterday my wife and I had to put our dog Trixie to sleep. My mother-in-law bought Trixie as a gift to my wife in 1998 when she was going through a bitter divorce. My wife called her “My precious baby girl,” because Trixie would shadow her everywhere she went.

Trixie loved children and women and was affectionate and playful.

Toward the end, Trixie suffered from degenerative arthritis, a heart murmur and cataracts. We did our best to keep her comfortable and medicated to treat her problems. But in the past couple of days, she had problems going down stairs, so she had to be carried outside to relieve herself. Yesterday she lay in a room and did not budge all day and refused to eat and drink. We knew then that it was time to have Trixie put to sleep.

— John from Hancock, NY