I have been going through and cleaning up drafts

Previously written in August 2009.

So we have been thinking about getting a new puppy. My Sidney is 7 years old this Saturday (the 15th) and I want another dog for him to play with while he is still young. Its also a good idea to get another dog while he's young as it makes the transition easier for him.

And I am thinking ahead. It will kill me if anything happens to Sid. He is such a wonderful little dog and I love everything about him.

So, I had been contacting breeders and not really having much luck. At first I was thinking of a Shih Tzu, Shetland Sheepdog, or Standard Poodle. Points can be made for all three breeds.

Finally narrowed it down to another Shih Tzu as they are the loveliest little dogs. All three breeds require a lot of work on the coat, but maybe the new one will go to a groomer (still deciding).

I put down a deposit for a male puppy and then waited; . . . . . and waited and waited. The females didn't come into heat for some reason and when she finally did have puppies we had already gotten another dog.

I had mentioned it to hubby at one point that I has always wanted a Standard poodle and he reminded me of that. Standards are $1500.00 and I just didn't have that kind of money at the time. Which is how we happened to buy a miniature poodle that I named Emma.

They have their own blog under the "Blogs I Like" header to the right.

I apologize for not keeping this blog up. I have been guilty of that with all of my blogs actually. But I have made a promise to myself to get back in the groove. I found I have so many things I want to write about.

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Fast forward to Tuesday March 10, 2015


The reason I brought this post out from the dust was because on Monday February 9th, 2015 I had Sidney put to sleep.

I was right. It hurt so bad. I felt like my heart was broken. The only good thing is that he is not suffering anymore. I don't know for sure what was wrong with him, but there was something. I could see it in his actions and his demeanor, and especially the way he stuck to me. He had lost his site quite suddenly and was doing somewhat okay but suddenly he started to cry EVERY time he was more than a few inches from me. That was not like him at all. He used to bark when he wanted something.

Then he fell part way down the stairs, so I used to walk behind him and help him. One time he came up the stairs and only made it halfway. I heard him falling and thank heaven he didn't break anything. I started putting barriers up to keep him where I was, but sometimes he'd get past and down he'd go again.

If I was going downstairs and coming right back he had been trained to 'wait'. He would lay down at the top of the stairs and stay there until I came back. I didn't want such a short legged dog going up and down the stairs any more than he needed to. he had NEVER ignored that command. Until this one day. I was heading back towards the stairs and I heard him fall. He hit every step on the way down. All 15 of them!!!

I was so scared for him. So sad for him. I started to think about his quality of life. The noises that he was making were nothing like I'd ever heard from him before. I started to watch him and noticed that his tail was always down now; he never wagged it; he cried all the time; he slept on his tummy with his head between his paws (he never did that before); he didn't even pay attention to Emma any more. She tried to get him to interact with her, but nothing.

I think in those last few days after I had made the decision I saw that tail come up and wag once and that was when I asked him if he wanted to see Dr. D--------. He knew.

When we got him there he was given brownies. I thought that was so cool. And so did he! He always had a good appetite. And here he was getting the 'NOT ALLOWED FOR DOGS' CHOCOLATE.

We talked about him and he lay there the way you see him in the picture; all regal and stuff. Talked about some of the things he did. He used to go down a slide, and get slippers, and he could say 'mama' (all on YouTube) and he never had a mean bone in his body.

Then I asked if we could do this. The Dr. started the needle and within a couple of seconds he was gone. He just lay his little head down between his paws and that was it. My Sidney is gone. From my house but never from my heart and my memory.