My first dog, a Beagle named J.T. (after James Taylor) was the biggest chow hound you’d ever meet. JT loved cheese burgers and his all time favorite was a Steak Burger from Steak N Shake. A double steak with relish and onions was his order on a regular basis and he’d wolf it down in a matter of seconds! The dreaded day finally came one day as I had to make that final trip to the Vet to put him to sleep. Like you Mark, I didn’t want to go and didnt want to play God. I didn’t want to kill my little buddy, even if it was the “right” thing to do. On the way, we stopped by the Steak N Shake drive-thru for that last meal together.

Before we took that final walk into the doctors office, we laid out in the lawn to say our good-byes. I took out those two Steak Burgers and for the first time in Jt’s life, he actually turned down his favorite past time. Mark, this was JT’s way of telling me that it was okay and he knew it was time to go. This is something that I believe in my heart and this really helped with my pain following his passing. I think of JT often and when I read the Rainbow Bridge poem on the side of his earn, it takes a little hurt out of the loss of my friend, knowing that one day, I will be with him again.

Steve from MO