Goodbyes Are Hard

I don't even know where to start with Kirby. He has been a part of my life since I was only 5 years old. He was my best friend growing up, I didn't really have many friends growing up but I spent every second I could with him. I read stories to him, dressed him up, made birthday party invitations for him, I even took him in the bathroom with me when I was scared. He was the best dog a child could ever ask for. 

     

He was 16 years old when he passed away last night of severe kidney failure. He had had it for a year and in the X-Rays it was half his body and his stomach was hard. He was in a lot of pain. That was the reason we had to put him to sleep, he had such a great life with us, he's traveled so many places and lived the best life he could possibly live. 

In the tent in the family room

It was 8 o'clock Friday night when I heard the doorbell ring, I was in the basement, I went upstairs and saw a girl bawling her eyes out looking in the window, I opened it and she kept saying I'm SO sorry! I'm SO sorry! And pointed at the end of our driveway, I saw Kirby laying in the middle of the street not moving and just froze. This girl was 16 years old and wanted to die, and I kept telling her it's ok, he's 16 years old. The mom went down and said he was still breathing. So she brought him up to me and gave him to me and we hurried to the car, I had to call my mom and dad, they were on a walk at the time. Kirby was in shock, his eyes were moving back and forth, he had a broken leg and a   fractured leg, both front, and cuts on his head and leg. I got in the car with pajamas and no shoes and we picked my mom up on the way, we drove to the emergency dog hospital in Orem and had to keep him awake the whole time. I just stared at him seeing how much pain he was in, not only from the broken bones but I knew there was more inside going on. I knew it was going to be time for him to go the whole way there, but you always still have that little bit of hope inside. We got to the hospital and they took him in, took his blood work and X-rays, the good news was nothing was wrong with his spinal cord, the bad news was his liver was in fatal condition. Even if he hadn't been hit by that car he may have lived for another month in just pain. It was hard but we all knew what we needed to do, I couldn't stand seeing him in all that pain, it hurt me so much inside, my chest hurt and I wanted him happy. This is my second time putting a dog down for old age, it hurts but you have to think how much better they will feel up in heaven running as much as they want and not hurting anymore. If this didn't happen, who knows how much pain he would have been in the next month to a year. He was the happiest old man I knew.

I have billions of pictures that I would love to show you, but not enough time to load them, so I have to minimize it. So every post I do i'll have a good memory of him with a picture.  

I dressed Kirby up in EVERYTHING. 

For my dads birthday May 10, 2013

Also, he was deaf and 90% blind. I'm so happy he's in a better place, it's still really hard when I think about it, but he had a life well worth lived. He was a great dog, and will be missed by his whole family.

May 2013 Vernal, UT

Also, I had a dream last night and right before I woke up I looked down from my bed and saw Kirby shufflin around on the floor (his clumsy self) and I said "Hey Kirby" and he looked at me, and I saw "Did you hear me? You can hear?" and he tilted his head and then I woke up. Love ya boy.