Garth

Our Farm Dog

Garth

April 3, 1997 - December 15, 2011

Garth was 14 years and 8 months this month. He had a great summer and fall continuing to do the things he loved like play with his ball, come in the house for naps, bark at Grandma's dogs and romp very slowly on the lawn. Just this week he got very sick. He became too weak to come up the stairs, so we carried him up. He lost his appetite and even the tasty canned food wasn't interesting. His breathing was ragged, and yesterday he couldn't get up. We talked to the vet and made an appointment. When the time came, I rode in the back of the car with him to keep him company. He slept all the way there. Rich came out to the car and gave him a sedative which put him into a very deep sleep. A few minutes later he came out again and gave him the euthanasia solution that stopped his heart. It was a very peaceful ending for Garth. We brought him home and buried him in our pet cemetary next to Mocha. We're going to miss him a lot. He was like Old Reliable on the farm.

Here are some more pictures of Garth, two years ago, playing with Shyla and Grayson's dogs.

There's so much to say about Garthy. I will have to do a seond part to this post later.