Well, here we go with a sad dog tale.

A print we did of Jettson, from the photo below, being hungry.

We came home from the redeye flight back from Seattle Flatstock, picked up our old man and best friend Jettson, from my in-laws who have always graciously watched him,  and we soon realized it was “The Time We Are Never Allowed To Speak Of”.

We called a home visit vet from the amazingly wonderful and supportive Gentle Journey Vet (whom I cannot recommend enough) to come see him, and after spending the whole day and part of the night in our arms, being petted, loved on, cooed at, and eating a final meal of 2 cheeseburgers and a 4 pack of chicken nuggets, we had to say the hardest goodbye to our best friend Jettson. He came into our lives as the most starved and frightened dog that I have ever seen, with burned ears and a trust hidden so deeply far away I wondered if we would ever be able to unlock his love. Jettson definitely did learn to trust and let us baby and care for him for 12+ years. He was not only our best friend but also my co-worker for the past 3.5 years since I quit my last day job in March of 2006. He never complained or once called in sick. He even came into the office here before me on many mornings.

I feel terribly today because we had to make the humane decision for him. But, being that he was going blind, had doggie Alzheimer’s, bad teeth and neurological problems that were both making it very difficult for him to eat and drink, as well as making him fall down a lot on walks or in the house, which in turn also made him using the stairs alone super treacherous, we knew that he was having a lot of trouble with every day life. And, given that he was a high-risk cancer survivor for the past few years, it’s very likely that the neurological issues he’s had for the past 9-12 months were a brain tumor or a mini-stroke. Though I wanted him to be with me here forever, it was time to let him go and not suffer anymore.

Anyway, jettjett I love you. We’ll miss your crazy ass forever.

Our formerly abused and starved hungry little hippo in better days, going for the gusto:

Starring role in a commercial (first pooper):

And some shots yesterday, while we both cried our dumb eyes out all afternoon and evening saying goodbye:

We love you Jettson, forever. Please come visit our dreams.