We had to put our beautiful Golden Retriever, "Jack" to sleep today. He had been losing his battle with cancer for the last three months and we believe he was hanging on only because he thought we wanted him to. The quality of his life had deteriorated so badly in the last week that he couldn't eat or walk without assistance. Still he would follow us with his eyes and try to wag his tail when we approached him - but he was just too weak.

What an exceptional dog he was, bright, beautiful, affectionate, loyal and intelligent. From the first time Annemarie saw him it was love at first sight between the two of them.

We brought this little golden ball of fur home with us and he captured our hearts. For almost two years he enriched our lives, but three months ago Annemarie noticed a strange lump in his belly. It turned out to be cancer. Despite a heroic operation it could not be totally removed and finally cost him his life. We asked him in October to please stay with us, at least through the Holidays, and he did. He made a gallant effort and stayed with us for three more months but the time passed too quickly and when it was time for him to leave us we weren't ready to have him go. I know that he was only on loan to us. Maybe God wanted him back. (But we wanted him too.) I hope that, if there is a heaven, Jack is playing ball with the angels tonight.  

I hope that when it is time for us to leave this painful world Jack will be there to greet us, his wet nose poking through those pearly gates, tail wagging, with a tennis ball or a stuffed toy in his mouth. I hope that God has made room for a creature so wonderful that he only lived, to love us and be loved by us.

We will miss you Jack.

Gary

"The perfection of life with a gun dog, like the perfection of an autumn, is disturbing because you know, even as it begins, that it must end. Time bestows the gift and steals it in the process."
   - George Bird Evans