My best friend James was picked up by cops multiple times off the highway and his OG owners told them he didn’t want James anymore so he was sent to the vet and if he wasn’t re-homed in 3 days he would be euthanized… on day 4 my dad took our other dogs in and heard the story and brought him home without consulting the family at all… best decision he ever made! James was the smartest coolest dog ever, he would disappear for a few hours and come back with fish carcasses, deer bones and even once a deer tail! (How does a dog find a line deer tail?!?!) anyways I grew up with him and when he was 9, he slowed down a bit. No health issues but just not nearly as adventurous. Still wouldn’t turn down any opportunity to play with a snake or animal but become more of a lap dog. When he was about 11, I moved across country for 9 months and didn’t have any concerns about not seeing him or anything. Fast forward about 4 months in, I flew back for a wedding and he was whining and even peed from excitement (which wasn’t common for him to loose control) I spent a bunch of time playing and running around with him for those few days and then it was time to fly back. I had a late flight and had school early so I knew I was going to be tired. At about 6AM I got a call from my sister along with a text that said “ANSWER ME NOW” so I knew something was up. I answered and she said “James died last night” along with my whole family in hysteria. I was DISTRAUGHT for days. What happened was at about 3 AM, my mom woke up and went to sleep in the couch (my dad snores) and he was sleeping in her spot in the couch so she woke him up and moved him to her feet which is a very common routine. My mom is a VERY light sleeper so if he moved or whimpered she would have woken up, a few hours later my dad woke up to take the dogs on a car ride and James just fell asleep and didn’t wake up. Of course it was so sad but after the fact I don’t think he could have passed in a better way. I like to think his thoughts were “well I’m comfortable laying next to my mom, just saw my best friend. I think I’m satisfied in this life” We would never have had the heart to put him down in a timely manner so he would have been suffering if we had to make that choice. He was the best boy. [link] [comments] |