When Tressel almost died

We have known for a while that we'd have to put Tressel down. The vet told us that he will not die on his own but will eventually get to the point that we have to put him down as the pain will be too much for him and us to bear. Over the last few months we have been watching Tressel go from an amazing strong 120 pound powerful dog, to a pathetic creature in lots of pain. Especially in the last few weeks we have seen him decline. A few weeks ago when he started crying round the clock we felt so bad for him that one night I slept on the floor with him, one night the entire family had a sleepover on the floor and then another night dave slept with him on the floor. The girls also slept on the floor a couple of other occasions. Finally after so much lost sleep dave decided to let tressel sleep in our bed (which he was never allowed before and he lifted tressel into our bed . He still cried most of the night. We knew then that it was probably time since he was not consolable. So, we made an appt to take him in and have him put down. All the kids came with us. When we got there however, Tressel got his second wind.  He jumped out of the car, ran all over the parking lot sniffing everything and all the other dogs. He was wagging his tail and seemed so happy. I felt we couldn't' really follow through with our plan. I paid for the service but then we asked if we could talk to the vet first. We sat outside waiting to talk to the vet for about 30 minutes by which time our handicapped child was using all kinds of profanity and throwing a huge fit which added to the fun of the outing!  The vet said that dogs do often get a second wind, an adrenaline rush, when they come to the vet but that it was ultimately up to us. That being said, hew he asked us if tressel was still eating, which he was, and sat and observed him for a few minutes and said he looks like a happy dog so it was our choice what to do and if we wanted to take him home for a few days or weeks more we could do that. So we did. Our poor kids. we are all happy to have a few more days with Tressel. So far it's been 2 weeks and he is still declining. He cries round the clock and is not eating as well. I'm guessing it won't be too long now. Sad sad sad.

family pictures with tressel

family sleepover on the floor with tressel (we put jo in her real bed. After the picture, dave slept in between calvin and clare.

saying goodbye (the day before we thought we'd put him down) .I was pretty much sobbing as I took these pictures.

Our favorite dog friend Steve came over to say goodbye to Tressel.  Tressel was so happy to see him it gave him several days of a energy boost!

Still looks like a ferocious guard dog, right?

On our bed at last!

The girls sleeping on the floor (in their closet) and taking pics of each other laying by him