Alibony: Our dog Alex [aka Big Al] with his bone in front of a fire. What more could a dog want? No payments required.

Bart lost his struggle with kidney failure and cancer at 1:30 a.m. this morning. He died peacefully at our bedside with my arm around him. I felt him draw his last breath, and could do nothing else for him but bury my face in his fur and give him one last final kiss.

Good Bye sweet Bartie…friend; loving companion; water dog; the World’s Most Beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog. I hope you find a good wading spot.
March 1, 1999 - January 16, 2007

It’s been a rough four days. Our dog, Bart, is on what I would call a slippery slope. There is no way back up for him, and every day he slips down a little more. But then he surprises us, and just this morning walked down the stairs with the rest of the dogs and nearly made it down the front steps. Rick has been carrying him up and down the stairs, both inside and out, for several days now. He really is not much more than skin and bones. Bart is dealing with kidney failure and cancer at the same time. To watch his courage in the face of what he is going through is inspiring.

Bart just doesn’t have enough energy to do much on his own. We spoon feed him baby food three to four time per day. We’ve been giving him subcutaneous fluids since Thursday, and I think they help him to stay hydrated and feeling somewhat more comfortable.

Why not just euthanize him now? you might ask. Well, we feel it’s not what Bart wants. We’ve gone through many deaths with our dogs over the years and have always gone by our ‘gut’ feelings. Each one has been different and under their own set of circumstances. Especially if we thought the dog to be in pain or under undue stress from his or her condition, then we would have to decide to act. Bart does not appear to be in any pain. He just lies there quietly. When we say his name, his cute little brown eyebrows still shoot up and he looks at us. He’s still in there. Everytime we pass by wherever he happens to be laying we give him a pat, some sweet words and a kiss.

It’s not easy. But as ‘parents’ it’s what we do. Sure it would be easier on us and more convenient if we were to just euthanize him now. Would it be easier on him too? We have no way of knowing. All we can do is hope we are reading him correctly and give him his wish to live out what is the rest of his life at home. With us. Where he’s been since the day he was born.

I am so sad. Last evening we had to put our Bode to rest. He had done okay over the weekend, but yesterday took a turn for the worse. He was having so much trouble breathing he could not lay down comfortably any longer. He wasn’t eating, nor drinking. His belly was distended and causing him much discomfort. We had to make the difficult decision not to let him suffer any longer. It’s hard to make that decision. Should we wait another day? But if we do and he’s much worse, is that fair to him? We did not want to see him suffer total distress, so we let him go. I will miss his sweet, smiling face.

When I find the words I will write him a tribute. I just can’t do it now. I feel emotionally and physically drained after the stress of watching him go up and down over the past two weeks, and over the past few days especially. Pretty much numb.

Rest well, sweet JoJo. We’ll miss you so.

It’s sad to report, but after a rally on his part over the Thanksgiving holiday, our Bode is back to not doing well. We knew it had to happen, yet we had a little hope he could hang on a bit longer. We can tell the fluid from the tumors are filling up around his lungs and his breathing is more labored. The same with his tummy. He looks more round than usual due to fluids. He can still give me that smile and wag that silly tail of his though. He’s not eating very much but this morning he did manage a few biscuits with gusto. Today he has a little bit of a bloody nose and that’s not a good sign. He hasn’t told me yet that he’s ready to go, so we’ll just keep on giving him lots of love and attention until we can do nothing else for him. It’s going to be so hard to say good-bye.

In his honor, I’ve changed my header to a photo I took of him last week. Isn’t he handsome?