Goodbye to an Old Good Friend

Today I guess is the day I've been dreading for a couple of months. Don just left to take Charlie to the vet to put him to sleep. I'm glad it didn't happen while I was gone, because Don is upset, and I can be here for him. We thought Charlie's sores were healing, but they just spread and his other eye is going blind now. If it happened as quickly as the first one, he would have been completely blind in a matter of days. The decision making moment was last night. Don thought his face was healing, and then he touched his neck and it started bleeding. He is obviously in pain, and he keeps following me all over the house looking at me, his eyes pleading with me to do something. I didn't want to watch them put Charlie to sleep, but I wanted to go to the vet with Don so he didn't have to be alone, but he said he could do it on his own. I'm sure me being upset wouldn't make it easier for Don. I still feel like I should have been there....I always want to be there for the hard stuff, but only if I make things better.

We've been through a lot, Charlie and our family. He has been such a great dog. Everyone who comes to our house has commented on Charlie's personality, especially our sons' friends. Charlie just fit. I'm not sure if any other dog would do.
When I was recovering from knee surgery both times, Charlie just curled up next to me without ever even trying to get into my lap. He also loved for me to scratch him behind the ears, and would run up to me and put his head down for me to do that for him. He also used to get out once in a while and run up to children and wait for them to go crazy over him. Once he followed some little girls home and we thought we had lost him for good. His family had bought him a new leash, a collar, had done their own vaccinations and then they saw one of our flyers posted and called us on Christmas Eve. They returned him, and the little girls cried and cried. We would have probably just given him to them, except our kids were so happy to have him back, even though they were all teens and older. Once he got out of the backyard and was gone for over a month again, and we found out another family had taken him in and named him "Angel" in Spanish. That time, I prayed that he would come home on Nathan's birthday to prove to Nathan that God answers prayer. Charlie barked at the back door at 11:30PM on Nathan's birthday! Isn't that great? Anyway, I don't feel like writing about anything else. I hope dogs go to Heaven.