Dog Heaven

Sweet Cody went to dog heaven Sunday morning, and we are heartbroken to have lost both Cody and Tanner so close together.

Quite unexpectedly Cody died in his sleep, seemingly painlessly, sometime early in the morning. I woke up around 2:30 am to cover up Anna Claire, and he was actually in their room, so I shooed him out and went back to bed. I heard him just a few minutes later moving around in the hallway "making his bed" as he liked to do. When Anna Claire and I woke up around 7am he had moved to his spot near the kitchen where I thought he was sleeping. He knows my morning routine, and he usually waits for me to get my coffee before asking to go out...which is what I thought he was doing.

A few minutes later Walter got up and realized something was wrong. To say we were in shock was an understatement. Cody had seemed very depressed since losing his best buddy back in September, but was otherwise, to our knowledge, healthy despite needing to lose a few pounds.

Nothing in his routine had changed...still lazy as ever, eating and drinking fine, letting Mallory brush him, howling like a hound dog at trains, barking at the neighbors' dogs, stealing the girls' lovies...nothing to indicate to us that anything was wrong. Walter talked to Chad who said it could have been a blot clot or sometimes large~breed dogs have issues with their spleen, but basically we have no clue what went wrong.

We miss Cody so much. It's so odd not having him as part of our lives anymore. I've caught myself a million times getting ready to tell the girls to pick something up off the floor before Cody gets it. He was definitely a sweet dog with great manners who even knew a few tricks! Losing Tanner was hard and we still miss him, but I think we believed we'd have Cody for years and years to come. Now, with no dogs in the house, things are so quiet {no, really}.

I thought I'd share the book that has been a huge help to all of us ~ Dog Heaven. I learned about it from Holly and later found out Michelle actually had it already. I bought it when we knew we were going to have to put Tanner down, so I would have it ready when we told the girls {they love it}, and we read it again when we told Anna Claire and Mallory about Cody {they've taken it pretty well, actually}.

We've been talking to them {when they ask} about how much Cody missed Tanner and how they are both together now in dog heaven sleeping on clouds, barking at geese and eating squirrel~shaped dog biscuits. Sweet boys! We miss them so much.

 

My First Baby

Our sweet and sassy Tanner went to dog heaven today. We miss him so much already. Tears are still flowing over here, and Cody is just beside himself. I don't think he knows what to do without his big brother.

Tanner's surgery last December had us hopeful, but over the last month, I think Walter and I knew things were not OK. After trying prednisone and an antibiotic for a little while to treat what we were hoping was either kennel cough or asthma, an x~ray last week showed cancer. Knowing that there was absolutely nothing we could do this time made us face the decision to have him euthanized sooner than we would have liked.

If there is any good news it's that, though Tanner has been uncomfortable for a few weeks now, he was never in terrible pain and still had that sparkle in his eyes and plenty of wag left in that crazy tail of his up to the very, very end. While that made it very difficult to say goodbye today, I'm grateful we were by his side the whole time, and I know we did the right thing {we will always be thankful to Chad for all the house calls he's made, the care he's taken with Tanner, and the advice and comfort he's given us; he is a good friend and a great vet}.

We spoiled Tanner rotten this weekend. He got lots of lovin' from all of us, we took tons of pictures of him with the girls, and I'm thankful the weather was cooler, because there's nothing Tanner loved more than sitting outside in the mornings watching over the backyard. He got to spend a lot of time outside this weekend.

Sunday afternoon he could not have been happier sitting in the shade in the backyard watching the girls play.

The girls...they know Tanner has been sick, so we've told them for now that he had to go to the doctor and stay for a while because he wasn't getting better at home. Our plan is to let them know this weekend {when we're more in control of our emotions so as not to upset them}, that he has gone to dog heaven because only God could make him feel better, and that heaven is so wonderful a place that once you're there you don't want to come back. They have an understanding of God, Jesus, and Heaven for their age, but not as it relates to death, so we're treading lightly here. I think as simple an explanation as possible will be best {any advice?}. This afternoon Mallory asked where Tanner was and I reminded her he was at the doctor. She asked when he was coming home; I told her we didn't know yet, and she was OK with that. I don't think this will be terribly difficult for them because they are so young, but I do want to give them an honest answer that's age~appropriate.

As for me, Walter, and Cody, I think we're all waiting for Tanner to come walking down the hall, to lick us on the arm, to rest his head on the arm of the chair to be petted, or to swat us with that crazy tail. He would wag his tail so hard he couldn't keep his back legs on the floor, and that earned him the nick~name Boogie~Woogie. Tanner was always the one who met me and the girls at the door every afternoon, and he was our watch~dog in the yard. He was the one who would come up and give the girls a big lick on the face. He was also the one who would pee all over you when he was excited to see you! He was our first baby and we will always, always love him.

Where Did You Come From?

Today Anna Claire realized she had a brother. I wonder what the expression on her face will look like when she realizes she actually has two?? After 3 1/2 months of living together, the girls still don't pay much attention to the boys, and the boys don't pay much attention to the girls, either. But today when I was giving Cody some much needed affection, Anna Claire could not take her eyes off him. It was like she had never seen him before.