Last January we put down Dylan, our almost 13-year-old chocolate Labrador Retriever (and the best brown dog in the world).
About a year earlier I wrote a post about finally acknowledging that he wouldn’t be around much longer because he stopped running upstairs to the kitchen when he heard me making a meal (or doing anything with food).
Being a soft touch, I always “dropped” something I was making on the floor for him. But when he started staying on the couch in basement instead of coming upstairs to mooch food I knew his health had started to deteriorate.
As I had never put one of my dogs down before, I was petrified that I wouldn’t know when it was time to let him go.
I didn’t want to hang on to him if was suffering. And I obviously didn’t want to euthanize him while his quality of life was still good.
Most dog owners who have had to put down a dog will say that you shouldn’t worry because your dog will let you know when it’s time to let him/her go, and while that was true in Dylan’s case, it may not be true for every dog in every situation.
