Bye bye, Ty.

my favorite picture of Ty

In a strange and unexpected turn of events, we had a rough night after a really fun afternoon.  I had noticed Ty hadn't really been eating the last day and a half, but otherwise seemed ok.  Even this afternoon he was outside on the deck in his usual spot watching in the door to see what the kids were up to.  But once we got outside he was clearly under the weather.  We brought him in with us this evening for some extra TLC.  He was acting very strangely, standing and falling, breathing very hard. 

He got lots of cuddles and loves from the kids.  Natalie wrapped him in one of her favorite pink fuzzy blankets, and we headed upstairs for a bath.  He seemed to perk up a bit; his eyes looked better and his ears were up.  I thought this was a good sign.  We heard a crash just as Natalie was getting into bed and I thought he had gotten into something in the kitchen, which oddly made me happy because I was thinking maybe that was a good sign.  Eric yelled for me to come down and we held him tight as he took his last few breaths.  Our best guess is that he had a heart attack.  

Tomorrow will be hard.  There are two little people who think their dog is sleeping soundly downstairs, sick but on the mend.  He will be missed.  Ty was a good dog; so gentle with the kids for a high-spirited dog.  I can still remember our first meeting with him almost one year ago when it was really Ben who decided he would be the dog we brought home.  In the morning we will bury our friend.  Our kids' first dog.  There will be tears and lots of reminiscing about happier memories: how he insisted on flipping all his food out of his bowl before he could eat it, how quickly he could tear the cover off a tennis ball, how he could fetch until your arm was too tired to throw anymore, how he was so nervous the day we brought him home but how quickly he fit into our family.

Good bye, friend.