Last night, my mother slept downstairs with Haley. She [haley] slept peacefully through the night at the foot of the air matress. (the past few nights, Haley has been pacing, laying down for about 10 minutes, then struggeling to get back up so she can pace again). When they got up this morning, my mother took her out side, she spent some time walking around the yard, and stopped to look out over the pond. She layed down there, and refused to get up when my mother called her.

My mother went to the car while our 13 year old German Shepard lay in the back yard looking out over the pond where she spent so much of her time swimming, and chasing ducks. She [mother] put a sheet over the backseat, and started the car so it could warm up. Haley came as soon as my mother called her, got right into the back of the car (with some help from my mother with her back legs), and was completely calm all the way to her vet appointment.

My mother said that the vet was very nice, and Haley was very good for her. After the examination, the vet said that it was both arthritus, and nerve damage. There are pills she can take for the arthritus (essentially the asprin that we were already giving her every morning), but that the nerve damage was irreversable, and would keep getting worse and worse.

This wasn't surprising news. The whole family knew what was going to happen. My mother stayed in the room with Haley's head in her lap. Haley was quiet, but shaking, and aparently it was all over very quickly. They asked if she wanted to take the body home, but my mother couldn't really have burried her by herself, and even if she could have, she's leaving on wednesday.

I'll miss my puppy