This is our story about a beautiful member of our family. Her name was Rosie, a Golden Retriever. She was with us for 12 years. We lived in Massachusetts at the time. She was a stolen pet and a friend of ours rescued her. He tracked down the original owners who lived in another part of the state. They sent him all her papers and veterinary records if he would find her a good home. He thought of us. She was so well behaved and gentle, quite lady like. She made sure each of us had equal loving time. She made loving her so easy.
A few years later we moved to Georgia. Those years, in particular the last few, were not easy for her. She suffered from arthritis, tumors and a myriad of ailments common with her breed. Through surgeries and spending a good deal of recovery time in a neck cone, so she wouldn’t pull her stitches, she never seemed to complain.
One day we noticed her limping and avoiding the stairs. We thought her arthritic hip flared up. We took her to our vet for x-rays to help in determining treatment. We were horrified to find her left leg bone, from the hip to the knee, was gone. It was eaten away by bone cancer. We asked the vet for some strong pain medication to give us time to say goodbye. It was November 2005 and she was relatively comfortable through Christmas. We couldn’t make it last long enough. My wife began sleeping downstairs on an air mattress with her so she wouldn’t be alone. We had a bonus of 6 extra weeks.
By January 2006 her condition showed signs of worsening and her mobility was taxed to its limit. Her final night with us was heart wrenching. Her cries would subside when I held her. We selfishly wanted to hang on to her. The next day I coaxed her out side. She went down by the deck to lay and never moved. I called my wife at work and told her it was time to let her go. My wife came home and I carried Rosie to my van. We brought her to our vet and held her while medical mercy was given to her.
We cried for a long time after, partly because we missed her and partly because of the guilt we carried. Allowing her to deteriorate due to our selfishness, for not letting her go a little earlier, haunted us. Her cries stayed with us for a long time. We gained solace when we visited the pet crematorium to see her prior to cremation. She was placed in a natural looking curled position, at peace and looking as always, beautiful. We placed her favorite toy under a front leg, close to her.
She is still with us in death and we look at her urn often, which holds a recent picture of her. She is still our sweet girl.

Ray from Georgia