Rudy, my family's dog, came to live with us last spring. He loved it with us in Cleveland (except the cold). The kids loved him and he loved getting lots of rubs and food scraps spilled off the table. He even learned how to tolerate Anubus. In the last month he started getting pretty sick. His siezures happened much more frequently, his joints were sore, he was having a hard time chewing, just to name a few problems. I could tell it was pretty bad when he started doing a lot of things that were out of character. He was old, but it was still a really sad day a couple weeks ago when he was put to sleep. We prepared the boys as well as we could. They were all sad. When we explained that it would be better for him because he wouldn't be in pain anymore, Matthew asked if we could put Anubus to sleep also. Andrew was ok once we said that Rudy's spirit would still be alive. When they came home from school Matthew wanted to know where Rudy's body went and could we go to his grave to make sure he wasn't still alive. So, it was overall very sad for them, but they handled it very well and learned some emotional coping skills. There were a few days that were pretty sad where the kids kept forgetting that Rudy was gone and Anubus kept looking for him also, but we've mostly moved past that. They still occassionally talk about him- especially Owen who doesn't really understand he is gone- and we all miss him. It was great to have him with us, even for a short time.
