today we had to make the very painful decision to put our beloved lab, stewart, to rest. he had been sick for the past week & yesterday we were told he probably had some sort of cancer. instead of doing further testing, we knew he had had a great life & did not want him to suffer or endure anything uncomfortable.
we adopted stewart in march of 2003 from lab rescue of florida. on his listing it said, "can jump 8 foot fences but is a snuggle bug." he was just that. every night he would lay on the couch in bry's lap & before we moved to indiana, he would sleep inbetween us each night & would snore all night long.
we believe stewart was probably around 12-13 years old. over the past year he has slowly had a harder time getting up. over the past few weeks he quit eating & became sick quite often. my fear was his pain. I did not want him to suffer for a second. last night, we carried him up the stairs to sleep with us one last time. he had a hard time getting comfortable and a few hours later I carried him down to the couch.
things we loved about stewart that we will never forget:
his affection, his appetite, his icky kisses, his long sighs, his snuggling, his grey face, his love for walks, his doggy dreams, his protective nature, his crooked toenails, his one white eyelash, his funny teeth, his love for carrying anything & everything in his mouth. I could go on and on....
below are pictures of his life with us.
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| first car ride! we adopted him from lab rescue of florida in 2003. |
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| first snuggle time |
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| going to the park for the first time |
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| playing ball at the beach! |
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| one of my favorite pictures |
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| he used to put a tennis ball in his mouth and bite all the way down. he had one strong jaw! |
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| young stew bear, 2003 |
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| family photo |
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| recovery from surgery, bear was always near my side to snuggle |
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| still recovering & bear was still there |
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| yesterday. you can see in his face he just did not feel well. |
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| my snuggle bug |
bear, we love you with all our hearts & will miss you terribly. may you be at peace now, pain-free, running through the ocean & eating an entire bag of dog food like you always wanted.
8 comments:
That is so very sad but I think you made the right decision. It looks like he had a long, happy life. Sorry to hear about you having to put him to sleep.
I'm so sorry to hear about your Bear. Love the sweet pictures.
Oh Tracey, I am so so sad for you, and you are in my thoughts. The pics of Stewart are so sweet, he was a big cutie for sure! xoxo Tania
So sorry to hear about your doggy! You are in my thoughts.
Stewie will be so missed. There is no better family for Stewart to have spent his life with! Love you guys.
lindooo,pretty beautiful!! hermoso lovee
eu estou muito triste com isoo
Oh Tracey... I'm so sorry. :(
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