So sad . . .

Got a note from Wendy today to tell me that she and Dave had to have Sammy put to sleep yesterday.    They have both been working so hard for so long to keep him comfortable, but by this time they no longer had any choice.  Here's her note:  

I don't know if you got Dave's text yesterday. In case you didn't, I wanted to let you know that we had to put Sammy to sleep yesterday.  He has not been very interested in eating for a little while and we have had to cook him chicken, eggs or steak to get him to eat.  This past Sunday he quit eating or drinking all together.  Dave thinks he may have had another seizure or something that affected everything.  After Sunday he refused to eat anything we offered him and couldn't stand on his own. We took him to the vet on Monday morning and he suggested we give it a few days to see if he perked up since it was so sudden.  But he went downhill pretty quickly and by Tuesday he was not moving at all and barely coherent.  His breathing was starting to be labored and we were afraid he was suffering so we made that hard decision that we had been dreading for so long.  We got him a doggie casket and buried him in the front yard under the apple tree today.  It has been such an emotional and hard two days and I feel like I have just lost a child.  He has brought so much joy and companionship to Dave and I both and we are very grateful that you gave him to us!! I will give you a call when I'm up to talking about it.  

They've been working so hard to keep him functioning and happy since he started having problems a couple years ago.  And he's done very well over all that time, actually.  But it just wasn't possible to keep him going indefinitely.  They got him back in 1998 when he was about a year or so old, so he was about 16 years old.  He was obviously at least part Akita, and their average lifespan is 10 to 12 years so he was more than old enough to have had a number of medical problems -- over the last few months, particularly.  But over all, he had an incredibly wonderful life.  He was originally found in an interstate rest area, and taken to the local dog pound.  At the time, my good friend Jan was the Animal Control Director there, and she convinced Mark and me to adopt him.  Not long after that, Wendy and Dave came down to visit and fell in love with him.  He was a very lucky boy.

 

This is Sam back when Mark and I first got him --  back in 1998.

There's Sam all the way in the back of this picture.

That black cat is "Frac" -- I was part of CAAWS back then and they had picked up a whole bundle of cats from a trailer park.  The person who lived there said he had no job or money and was going to have to move home to his parents over in Texas temporarily.  It was okay with him for us to take most of the cats, but he wanted Frac back as soon as he could afford to move into his own place again.  We agreed to let him take him back eventually, so we had him on a "temporary" basis -- for years and years.  He never did come back for him.  Just as well - we got pretty darned attached to him!

 

Then the dog in the middle on the sofa is Scott who was pretty darned ancient at that time.  And on his right is "Tom" - another adopted cat.

 

Then on the floor in front of the sofa are Maggie and Harley.  Then behind them is our very first pitbull, Josie -- the one who lived to be almost 22 years old!

 

And in the very back is Sam.

 

Not long after we got him, Wendy and Dave came down to visit and it didn't take them long to get attached to him! 

Here are Wendy and Sam sitting outside over at our old property.

 

 

I always liked this picture -- Dave "napping" on his floor with Sam a few years back.

This one of Dave and Sam was taken back in 2008, I think.

Here's Sam just a year or so ago with another dog that Dave had just gotten.

This one and the one below were taken in 2011 while I was up visiting in Ohio.

This one was taken in Dave's front yard back in 2003, I believe. 

 

He was a very sweet boy and his "mom and dad" certainly did adore him.