Today, we took our 16 year old yellow lab dog to the vet…for the last time. She was the oldest Labrador Retriever at her vet’s practice.
It was time. Up until today, she always acted happy to be a dog and would be excited when we would get the leashes (and poop bags) out. Today, when I got the leash out, she just lay there looking at it, not even wagging her tail. Today she would not even eat chicken.
Our daughter, when she was 10 years old, picked a young yellow lab dog out of all the dog’s at the humane society dog adoption center. We called her Gypsy.
Gypsy was found, three days earlier, tied to the front door of the humane society when the staff showed up for work. They said when they found her, she was frightened, hungry and thirsty and estimated her age to be around 2 years. No one knows why she was left, but it was better than abandoning her in the desert to die.
Our daughter is now 24 years old and living in the Northeast USA, so she had to say her goodbyes via Facetime.
We were hoping Gypsy would see her new 18 acre “territory”, but it was not to be. The injection was done at 8:03pm April 23.
We had her pack mate with us at the final moments. He, too, got to say his goodbyes. He licked her muzzle, like he always did. Obviously there was no response.
So he is now, at age 12, “the senior dog present”.

From June 2021.