I've been hesitating to write this entry, mainly because I didn't write one like it for my father-in-law a couple of months ago. Oh, well, I never said I was consistent.

Last week was a sad one for us. Bosco, our beagle, had stopped eating and we noticed that he was breathing really hard. Kathy also noticed a lump just behind one of his forelegs. He also did not want to sit or lie down at all. We took him to the vet on Monday. The vet said he had a massive fluid buildup around his heart, and frankly it was amazing that he was still alive. The vet kept him overnight and gave him some diuretics to get the fluid away from his heart. It worked, some, but not a whole lot.

We faced the prospect of taking Bosco home and giving him medicine every day, with him still being very uncomfortable and having trouble breathing. Sadly, we decided that the best thing was to put him to sleep, so Wednesday Kathy and I went up to the vet's office to say goodbye. Sweet little Bosco was still breathing really hard, and we held him and stroked him and talked to him. Then the nurse came to sedate him, and we held him some more. Even with the sedative, he did not want to lie down, and he tried to follow me out of the exam room when I went to settle our accounts.

Finally, the doctor came in and injected Bosco with the drug that would put him down. We stayed with him and watched him expire, then we took him home and buried him in the back yard. Poor Tangles was confused, I think. She could smell Bosco, but all she could see was the box that his body was in. I spent the afternoon digging the grave in the back of our yard. Finally, when it was deep enough, we brought Bosco's box out of the garage and put it in the ground. We said a couple of prayers in thanksgiving for all the joy that Bosco had brought to us, then Paul and Joanna helped me fill in the hole.

We've been able to bring Tangles into the house more, now that Bosco is gone. She doesn't seem to trigger Paul's allergies nearly as much as Bosco did. There's also the fact that we never were able to get Bosco fully house-trained, and his urine really stank.

He was a sweet, sweet dog who smelled a bit and liked to jump up into your lap when you weren't looking. I'm going to miss him.