Guess I’m not moving for the next 15 minutes.
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Well, despite a fairly dicey Christmas week, my daughter has lived into 2026.
She’s still in the hospital, but she looks far better than she did. I have no idea how much longer she will be with us, but making it through the week is cause enough to be grateful.
Somehow, her brother has become “the healthy one” 
Give your furry (or feathered) friends a pat of gratitude for me and wish them health and luck for the coming year. 
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Sending as many positive vibes your’s and Willow’s way as I can.
Cat on my lap is not happy with the big squeezy hugs:
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Hehe, thank you my friend. We can use some!
Went to see her today and she looked pretty terrible. Doc says that it’s a two steps forward and one step back thing sometimes
We left feeling less that optimistic.
Sweet dog. Hard to see her suffer.
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I’m so sorry. It’s so hard to see our family suffer like that.
Sending your family our love.
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Sorry to hear Deacon. Hard journey. More positive thoughts sent Willow’s way
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Sorry to hear Deacon. Hoping for nothing but the best! This was our first Christmas with out our Boxer, He crossed the rainbow bridge last June. We knew last year(2024) that it was his last Christmas with us. Luckily our 2 other dogs are in good health and delt with his passing fairly well.
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Did you call him George too?
Wheels
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Actually, yes. I did call her George 
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Today, our daughter has left this world.
And a little piece of me has left with her.
These last few years, I have generally refrained from participating in many discussions. I have come to feel old and tired…my only allowances being the holiday flight and this thread, as I’ve come to appreciate our pets as the, unintended, distillation of the best of us.
So, if I may beg your indulgence, I’d like to present a life, special to me, in five images.
- This day, we brought our daughter home from the animal shelter. In so doing, we had cemented our place as true (if latter day) Kentuckians, as our girl was half Treeing Walker Coonhound…a true Kentucky breed. After climbing a not inconsiderable staircase for a dog of 35lbs, she plopped down on the bed we had just bought her, unbidden, as if to say, “We are home. You may praise us now”.
- Willow standing at our porch railing; mistress of all she surveys…at least until she meets her (little) brother.
- Willow, at peak “Coonhound”. This is one of those pictures you only appreciate in retrospect. At the time, I thought nothing of it. But, looking back, and particularly in comparision to the same shot above, I am struck by how beautiful a dog she had become. Strong, from runs with my wife, she has filled out, and seems to accept her lineage as a “working” dog…serious, and deadly in her own way, if only by intention, to the occasional neighborhood fox.
- In time, though the local foxes had less to fear, Willow remained wonderfully healthy and active throughout her life. But, as her breed description had long ago proclaimed, she was, at heart, always happiest in the company of her family.
- The last picture of Willow in the hospital. She went from running around in the pre-Christmas snow to her final rest in the matter of a week, for which my wife and I will be forever grateful.
She was an amazing creature, and I feel, probably unsurprisingly, that the light of a dim world is somehow made dimmer by her leaving us.
We will always miss her.
Thank you for listening…
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What a beautiful description of a kind, loving being!
She lives on in our hearts and memories.. maybe, perhaps even longer than any human, if the bots scrape and save this beautiful eulogy. Which wouldn’t surprise me: your love and her personality speak through this, and it goes straight to the heart.
Wishing you space and strength in dealing with the dog-shaped hole in your life.
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I’m sorry for you family’s loss, Deacon, and I love this beautiful tribute you’ve put together for her. It’s easy to tell she knew she was truly loved and lived her best puppy life. Thinking about you all right now during what I’m sure feels like an especially dark time. And you’re right- our pets really are the best extensions of ourselves.
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My heart goes out to you and your wife. I have tears in my eyes as I type this because I know exactly how you must be feeling.
The tears you are no doubt also shedding now are those of sadness, but as you process and comes to terms with this, let them become tears of joy for a life well lived with the love of a family that all the furry and feathered companions we welcome into our hearts deserve.
The world is diminished by the parting of such souls. Let that be a lesson to us humans and make us strive to bring back some of light and joy they provide the world so we can honour the unconditional love that they have given to us.
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Sorry for your loss Deacon. Animals leave such a big hole when the leave us. Wishing you guys the best, I know the feeling you have right now and don’t wish it upon anyone.
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So sorry for your loss brother. What a beautiful eulogy, she must have been very special.
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Too sad for words, tears only
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Sorry for your loss. It is always sad to see them go. 
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Sorry for your loss mate, that was a beautiful eulogy for a well loved and cared for dog.
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Safe passage across the rainbow bridge, Willow.
I feel your loss, @Deacon211.
When Bertil was sick from xylitol poisoning I realized I would one day lose him and that it would hurt something fierce…
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@Troll and we were all worried for him!
Thanks everyone for the sentiments…it helps feeling like she is not forgotten.
Ralphie remains, and is taking this better than we had expected. He is only a few months younger, however, so this just seems like a forced march which we must follow to its logical end.
But, for this gray winter’s morning, he is OK…and only slightly curmudgeonly…and that’s enough right now.
OK, enough of this.
Let’s see some happy furry or feathered faces from my “pets from another mother” as it were. 
And thank you again.
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