My faithful companion of half my life (nearly to the day - 13 1/2 years) went to sleep for the last time yesterday.

About 3 weeks ago, Dakota all but stopped eating, which at first we didn't think anything of, as he has randomly not eaten for a day or two throughout his life, depending on weather, how he was feeling, etc... Anyway, he lost a large amount of weight during that period, and after about 7 days of not eating properly, we took him to see Dr. Doyle at Big Rock Animal Clinic in Okotoks, AB.

Prior to taking him there, Dakota had started losing control of his bladder and was urinating an incredible amount, and far too often, so that was our other indicator of something being wrong. Dr. Doyle did blood tests and I personally hand delivered the samples to the clinic in Calgary. Dr. Doyle gave us some antibiotics in the meantime saying that Dakota had a slight fever but overall seemed to be in good spirits. The following day, armed with the results of the blood tests, he informed us that Dakota had an infection of some variety, was anemic (low on iron), and had a form of diabetes. He also suspected a tumor in the petuetary gland in his brain, which may have been causing him to pee so often/much.

We put him on some diabetes medication as well as continued the antibiotics, and continued to do our best to get him to eat. Dr. Doyle more or less told us to feed him whatever he would eat as at his age, what harm would it cause him? During all of this, Dakota's breathing was becoming more and more laboured, to the point that he started bleeding a bit from his nose at times.

Unfortunately, he never really responded to the medications, and never really started eating again. We had to make a big decision as to what to do, as we didn't want him to suffer and it wasn't fair of us to let him suffer. Due to my birthday being on Saturday, we opted to spend the weekend with him and took him in to see the wonderful Dr. Doyle for the last time yesterday at 4:30. Prior to taking him in, we took the kids and the two dogs for a walk along the river and took a few photographs. Dakota took his last breath in my arms at about 4:45PM (12/17/2007). He will be loved and missed forever, and will always hold a special place in our hearts, particularly mine.

I love you boy, may you rest in peace and chase rabbits to your hearts content in the fields and meadows of doggy heaven.

One very sad Dad,

Jeremy