All Dogs Go To Heaven

It's a sad day in our house.  This morning Joe and I took Zeus to the vet after making the tough decision to put him down.

Our sweet Zeus was a 10 1/2 year old Great Dane.  And yes, he was sweet to Joe and me.  To his owners he was loyal, loving and silly.

Sitting on the couch.

The problem with Zeus was that he had a lot of anxiety and was very territorial.  There were times when people walked into our home or yard unexpectedly for Zeus so he bit them.  You could argue that we should have put him down years ago but if you are a dog owner you probably know that decision is not easy to come by.  So each time it happened we vowed to be more careful.  Keep him away from people, keep the doors locked, etc., etc.  I even spoke to two Great Dane rescues months ago but they couldn't help us and one even told us putting him down might be the best decision.

Young Zeus

Keeping him away from Louis has gotten harder as Louis has grown.  Louis can open doors & baby gates.  And a few weeks ago Zeus bit Joe's dad when he walked into our backyard.  We took that as our final warning sign.  No more accidents.  It was time.

We took Zeus on his final walk last night and had lots of cuddle time.  Of course he got lots of complements on his beauty walking last night.

He enjoyed his car ride this morning.  The vet gave us time with him before they sedated him.  They gave us time again as he got sleepy and eventually fell asleep while Joe and I said our goodbyes.  We didn't stay for the euthanasia as the explanation on it sounded too sad to bear.

So we left our sweet Zeus behind and now he is in doggy heaven.  Solomon still isn't sure what is going on.  He wants to go on a walk & car ride like Zeus and keeps looking for his brother.  I gave him Zeus' collar which he smelled and licked for a while.  The Great Dane rescue told us change is really hard on old Danes.  We will see how he does without his brother.

My favorite story about the dogs is that when they were taken to Wayside Waifs at 1 1/2 they separated them.  The dogs stood on the concrete kennels looking out through the fencing at each other.  They were so bonded they had to be adopted together.

I'll end the post with an old picture of Solomon giving Zeus kisses.  I think he is much happier now in doggy heaven.