This morning on top of everything else...I had to take one of my beagles, Radar, to the animal shelter to have him put to sleep. He'd been very ill for the past month, losing almost 1/3 of his body weight. He'd earned his nickname, "Butterball" the hard way by always clearing his plate. My wife took this picture of him this morning, on his last walk home...
We had to put him "down" at 1 PM this afternoon. They kindly allowed us to stay when they gave him the shots...so that the last people he saw were those who loved him most...
From an email I just sent to a friend in California...
Radar was the "defender." I trained him to defend the house, the wife and the kids. He took his job so much to heart that when my wife and I would "play" he'd bite me because he was "protecting the mommy..." seriously, I have bit mark scars on my legs and ankles from where he'd bite me! Once, may years ago, when our eldest daughter decided that she'd pick a fist fight with Cheri, (and C and our daughter were wrestling on the ground...I had to grab him keep him from attacking our daughter...because he "was protecting the mommy").I miss him now...
He was a great dog, and did what I taught him to do...protect my family and home at all costs (he deterred at least 2 burglaries that I know of)...putting him down today was saddened me far beyond what I would ever have thought it would.
UPDATE: Here's a picture of Radar & Reilly, our other beagle in better days...
But I can't resist just one more...this is my favorite...
Reilly and Radar...
UPDATE Jan 21, 2014. I still miss him terribly...even more than 2 years later...
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