Hi – not long after I started this blog, I lost a dear friend. This loss has kept me from blogging for a couple of weeks. I had known him for 16 years, and our time together on this earth was very special, and things won’t be quite the same now.

His name was Snoopy, and he was my dog. I bought Snoopy from a puppy farm in Smyrna, Tennessee in November of 1994. He lived with me and was my best friend through homelessness during a divorce and other trials. He never gave up on me and always met me with a wagging tail. I have no children, but Snoopy in many ways was my child. My wife and I acquired a couple of other beagles, Bowser and Scout and for 5 years we have been a three dog family, with Snoopy being the oldest and in many ways the most special.

We are now down to two dogs, and the house seems a bit emptier than it had been. Snoopy developed a problem with his larynx and was having issues breathing. Our vet warned us that he could stop breathing and we should consider a date to have him put to sleep. Two Wednesdays ago, early in the morning Snoopy woke us up in convulsions, unable to breathe. My wife saved his life by doing exactly what the vet had instructed us to do, pull on his tongue to open his larynx again. We rushed Snoopy to the emergency vet where he starting acting like himself again, but the vet felt he wasn’t getting enough oxygen since his tongue was purple. We took Snoopy back home and stayed up the rest of the night with him until we could call our normal vet and schedule an appointment for doing the inevitable.

You see, the next time his throat would collapse would probably be the end. The look of fear in his eyes the first time was too much to bear, and death by suffocation would be a painful and fearful way for him to go. We decided the time had come to say goodbye to a wonderful companion and friend for all those years. We held him as the vet gave him the injection and made sure his passing was as comfortable as it could be.

So, I make this entry in my blog as a tribute to him, and hope that someone else will read this and by doing so may learn a little about who he was. We will miss him dearly and have cried many a tear. A friend told me the other day, that “They count on us to do the right thing”. I do hope and believe that I will meet him again someday – farewell my friend and rest in peace. I bet he is playing ball with the angels right now….