Rest in Peace, Dear Sampson

Today, my dog died. He was laying in the back office, when I heard his nails skittering on the hardwood. I went to find out what he was up to, fully expecting to find him trying to catch a fly or something. He was spread out on the floor, rapidly breathing, eyes dilated and not seeing me. I called my husband immediately. I had no idea what to do. I quickly cleaned up a bit of dog poo, I thought he had had a seizure of some sort, and then I tried to rouse him from his stupor. He was not responding. I called my husband and told him to hurry. I placed him on a blanket and dragged him to the elevator. My husband arrived shortly, he ran all the way home. We took him to the veterinary hospital, they took him right away and eventually the vet told us that he most likely had a cancerous tumour that had burst on his spleen. Internal bleeding. The x-rays confirmed this and we were left to decide as to what measures to take next. Stabilize him by transfusion and then surgery at a specialist's office in Burnaby. My husband went to call his friend to have him bring his dog down as there was no blood available at the dog blood bank. Two minutes later, the vet rushed back in and said that Sampson was not going to make it. We ran in to his side. I put my hand on his neck and he placed his paw around my wrist, gasping for air. We made the decision to euthanize and that was that. We spoke to him, nuzzled him and told him that mummy and daddy loved him so much, he was a good dog. I chanted as much as I could. And then he was gone. I had to be dragged away from him. I collapsed outside, sobbing.

We are numb. We've been crying all afternoon. I can't believe he's gone. I can't believe he's gone. He was gone within an hour. My big bear. He had a lot of nicknames. Baby Bear, Baby Boy, Big Boy, Hammers (as in dumb as a sack of hammers), Papa, etc. I knew that this day would come. But not today. Not today. He had a good walk this morning and now he's gone. A part of my family has died today. My husband is walking around in a daze.

We loved him so much.