She Keeps Searching.

Sally (Blond) and Dune (Tri-Color) on their final walk together.

Sniffing the ground frantically, Sally diligently searches for some trace of her Dune. Dune went on a walk with her in the morning. The Owners unclipped her from the split leash, and then took Dune back outside. The Owners took Dune for a ride, and when the Owners returned, Dune was not with them. Now, Sally knows Dune must have gone somewhere, and she can find him if she just follows his scent... Which is on the places he marked on the block.

This is what is most heartbreaking to me. How do you explain to a dog that her love is gone? How can you tell her that he is not coming home, and she can't find him by searching? 

One of our family dogs, Dune, suddenly developed a lump in his mouth a couple of weeks ago. We took him to vet, and he said that they would do surgery as soon as they got a new laser. Take out the lump and check to see if it was cancer. Well, in the time it took them to get the laser in, it got incredibly worse. Until finally, when we were scheduled to take him to get blood drawn for his surgery... We had to admit that the lump had taken over his mouth and we had to do the most difficult thing and take him to his final rest.

We took him to the ASPCA that he was adopted from nine years ago, paid the fees, and watched him happily walk out back with the worker. Completely unaware that this was his last day. I was supposed to be there for my younger sister, who owned Dune, and help her through this difficult task. However, I was so much worse than she was... And still am.

I know that what we did was necessary, but I miss Dune really badly right now. He was as much mine as my sister's. There is a reason they call dogs "man's best friend." While my dogs Happy and Sally (well I'm Sally's legal owner, but she's really my wife's now) are in good health... And I am grateful to still have them. There is a big Dune shaped hole in my life now.

I am a Quaker who believes in the Divine, and that there is something to come. I'm hoping that Dune has plenty of balls to chase, friends to play with, and comfy places to sleep.