On Monday afternoon (yesterday) at 2:54pm our faithful, loyal dog of almost 16 years passed peacefully away.

I had never experienced this before, and the agonising hour beforehand waiting for the vet to come, while we questioned whether we were doing the right thing, was unimaginably gut wrenching!

The three members of our family were gathered and many tears flowed. We said our farewells and spent time with him afterwards, then had a simple burial (a big hole - for a big dog, which we had prepared a few weeks beforehand).

Surprisingly the worst part was the waiting and afterwards I felt a kind of peace and healing. That's not to say that the tears are not far away but neither too are the many memories!

Sixteen years is a long time. But still, it is so hard to lose a member of the family.
.

Oh ((Megan)), I'm sorry. My daughter and I had to put down our Spooky dog quite a few years ago. She was 17 and just suddenly got really bad. She was suffering and we knew we had to let her go.

It's very hard, but I'm glad you felt such peace afterwards. Bless your Tony's heart.

Thinking of you as you grieve for your dear dog....

I am so sorry Megan.
.


It is always wrenching to lose a beloved pet. They occupy such a special place in our hearts and lives.

Tony is such an unusual name for a pet. How did you decide upon that name, Megan?

Hope you are doing alright. Tough to get over losing a beloved doggie.
.

When our son Jeremy was eleven, he desperately wanted a dog - as they do, amid great promises of doing all the work and training etc! So we agreed!

We went to our nearly stray shelter and chose a lovely young female Border Collie/Labrador cross (well that's what we call them here). Jeremy said he wanted to call her Jacquie, however we had to wait a few days until all her checks and injections were done. The shelter took our name and details and told us to come back on Sunday afternoon at 1pm - which we did - however when we got there, she had gone to someone else. Someone mixed something up and so our Jacquie was no more.....we were very disappointed!

On the rebound we did everything we had been told not to do and went to a Sunday market and looked at the pups there! Jeremy saw this little black, white and tan pup and asked if he could have him. Being the softies that we are, we said yes and he said very matter-of-factly "his name is Tony"!! Goodness knows where he got the name from but who were we to argue? So Tony he was. Maybe he had heard the name 'Toby' which is often a dogs name and misunderstood - I should ask him sometime if he remembers.

Anyway about the care and training promises and all that, well, we won't go there. Needless to say that I built a very strong bond with Tony over the years and seemed to be 'blessed' with doing nearly everything for him and with him!

We all do miss him though and I had a few tears again today!

A
.
that's such a nice story! Do ask Jeremy if he remembers why he picked Tony!

Do you have any pics you could share?
.

I do have some digital pics but not sure how to upload them onto this site. Will try and work it out! Most of the pics when he was young and bouncing around are on prints and I'd need to scan them. Guess I will do it one day.

I did ask Jeremy if he remembered why he chose 'Tony' as his name and he doesn't have a clue now.

I always like *people* names for my pets. I had wanted to name my dog Sophie before I even decided what kind of dog to get. No idea why, it just sounded nice. I had her 13 years, and she was a great buddy. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, having her put to sleep.


I feel for you and your family losing Tony. It took me several months before I could adopt another dog. But I knew the right dog would come along - and a couple did lol. I adopted Rudy then Millie - I didn't name her. Who picks a name like that? She IS a Millie tho.