Chino Buddy

Today was a very difficult day.
 The past month Chino has not been doing well. He has been progressively getting thinner and not gaining weight, eventhough he was eating. He is about 81/2 years old and that is fairly old for large breed dogs. This past week, he really went downhill. He had some sort of doggy stroke and became completely off balance. His head was tilting and he couldn't walk straight and was disoriented. Then for about a couple days, he seemed to be a little bit better and we thought there was some hope for him. I wanted to take him to the vet, but it would cost a lot of money to even figure out what is wrong and to merely extend his life a little longer, while he could be suffering and uncomfortable..

Brant and I got Chino together while we were dating in 2002..he was about 9 months old. His original name was Malachi, so Brant changed it to Chino, which suited him perfectly. He was such a good dog..and became very attached to Brant and vice versa..since Brant had him with him while single and living with roomates.  Once we got married in 2003, Chino and Tootsie became a perfect little pair. Tootsie was my (cockerspaniel) dog for 11 1/2 years. Once Tootsie passed away, we started studding Chino and we got Uno. They were inseperable. We loved to take them camping and they loved the outdoors more than anything. Before the girls came along, they got our undivided attention..then a little less attention after Tati and Hailey, but still loved and cared for.Once the girls got older, they got even more attention. They loved Chino and Uno both. Chino usually would let Uno get his way, but was surely the alpha male, when he needed to be. Chino was always kind and gentle to the girls and was the perfect doggy companion. Chino enjoyed running and dragging Brant along on the long board. He loved being in his cage; that was his domain. Chino didn't like being outside in the backyard away from us for very long, he liked being indoors..unless we were camping. Mostly he just needed to be near his family. 
 I always called him burr buddy, cuz anytime we'd pet him or massage him, he would make this burr sound, meaning it felt good.
  So, Today while Brant was at school, Chino was whinning most of the day and couldn't get up very well on his own. He was not comfortable. I felt it was about time for him to go, I hated to see him suffer..although very hard for me to come to this conclusion. Once Brant got home, we sat with him and talked to the girls that Chino was old and sick and it was his time to go back to Heavenly Father. We will miss him and will someday get to see him again. He will be happy again and will have Tootsie's company :)
This is very hard for Brant as well, since it was his first very own dog. Brant took him out near where he loved to be, when we would go camping. It was very hard to see them go, but I will feel peace, knowing he is no longer uncomfortable and suffering.

(sorry if this is too much information for some, but it is for my own journaling purposes and I figure not many people read my blog anyways).