This is George. We've had him for 15 and a half years now- found him on the side of a country road when I was 4 years old. He's a good dog and liked doing dog things- chasing anything that moved, riding in the car, rolling in the dirt, and kids.

He also liked a lot of those bad things dogs do- like chewing up the blinds on our windows or getting trash everywhere. And peeing on people.

George has had congestive heart failure for 2 or 3 three years now, and it's been getting steadily worse. He's been on several medications for a probably a year, and that's been the only thing keeping him well. Within the past six months or so, he's lost a lot of weight, his back legs constantly shake, he can't control any of his bodily functions, and his heartbeat is extremely irregular.

This morning, as I cleaned yet another urine stain out of the carpet, I was about ready to strangle him with my own two hands. But then I noticed that there wasn't just urine- he had vomited several times as well. We thought perhaps he had eaten something bad in the woods the day previous, but an hour or two later he was still vomiting.

We'd been talking about having him put to sleep for some time now and we feared that time had come.

I called the vet and made him an appointment for the early afternoon. I said that the dog was old and sick and we thought that -maybe- we should be considering putting him down. That done, we took him out into the yard and fed him the biggest, juiciest steak we had.

The vet diagnosed him with kidney failure and put him to sleep on the spot. I wasn't able to stay in the room with him, but my dad stayed by his side the whole time, and said that he went peacefully and wasn't scared.

It's going to be hard to adjust to not having George around anymore. His food bowl and bed are still where they've always been, and I know that I'm going to have to get rid of them eventually, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it yet. I've had George longer than I can remember- I've never known life without him. As much as I'm going to miss him, I know what we did was for the best, and I'm certain he's enjoying whatever afterlife exists with my grandpa.

I love you, George. You were a good dog.