Today was a sad day in our home. Dixie, our Pomeranian, had been slowly declining for about the last nine months.  Last summer, as I do each summer, I cut her hair, but this time, it never grew back.  Over time, her weight went from 20 lbs, to a mere 9 lbs. Last week, Phil found her lying on her side, completely unresponsive.  Apparently, she had choked.  Fortunately, he was able to revive her.  This happened again yesterday, only the girls and I were present.  She was dead, truly dead, but between Phil and I, we were again able to revive her. A phone call to the on-call-but-not-even-our-vet vet made us face the fact that we had a 15 year old dog that was declining.  You can't fix old age. We knew that today a decision would have to be made, so last night, we tried to prepare the girls as best as we could.  But, really, how can you prepare a child to face this kind of thing?  You can't, really.  You can only hold their hand, pat their back, and hug them tight, as … [Read more...]