The long goodbye - part 2

I woke up early the morning of the final day to cold and pouring rain.   Kodo was slow to wake up, and when he did he needed to go out for tummy issues again, though he didn't stay out long.  I am a little sad that the weather was so bad, since he much preferred sleeping on his patio but he doesn't like staying out in drenching rain- look at those eyes!

 

Still no interest in chicken or the nice canned food, but once he came back in and flopped in the kitchen I set up a camp chair next to him and petted and plied him with hot dogs which his eyes were still lighting up for.  He also showed a lot of interest in my breakfast yogurt, so I gave him some of that as well.

He seemed tired but restless- jerking awake from sleep a couple times as if he had twinges of pain- but mostly stayed sleeping for the morning with a few breaks to rush outside again. At least he got dried with his favorite towel when he came back inside- he always loved being dried and smiling up at us from under the towel.<3 nbsp="" p="">

Brian got up, and we took turns sitting with him and snuggling him while the other ate lunch and got things ready. We had pulled out the puppy blanket and first stuffed toy that came home with us from his breeder 10 years ago.

We had decided to head out around 2:30 (appointment was 4:15), stop by Arby's to get him roast beef, then go down to his park.  We had originally planned to do a little walk down by the river in the place he always loved best, but between the weather and his tiredness and struggles to move we decided we would change the plan up and planned to park in the park instead, leave the tailgate open, and sit in the back and feed him roast beef and let him smell all the park smells.
Brian took him out front while I pulled the car around and got the seats up so we could get him in.  He started wandering up and down our front sidewalk with Brian, just sniffing and checking things out.

We got to the Arby's drive-through, and he actually picked his head up and sat up once he smelled the roast beef in the bag!


When we got to our park, the usual roads were blocked off with signs saying "closed for wildlife management".  We couldn't get near any of his normal spots because of the closures, so we parked in the Frostville Museum parking lot right next to the park, pointed the back of the car toward the woods and opened the tailgate facing the green field and the rain.  It was about 3pm when we parked.  We moved to the back with the bear and broke out the Arby's roast beef sandwich.  K's eyes immediately lit up.  We weren't sure if his tastes had changed since the Arby's outing on Sunday, but he was still as excited as ever.  He ate like a champ.  He had snarfed the sandwich within the first 10 minutes and we still had plenty of time to feed him some hot dog bits, which he devoured with no problem as well.  So we set an alarm for 3:35pm and decided to take it all in.  We sat there in the back, both of us by his side petting and hugging him, savoring the time.  There was something perfect about the moment.  The rain was coming down, but it was a calm rain.  I think all three of us felt the weight of the moment...but it was peaceful.  We took pictures and videos.  We reminisced and hugged and tried to soak in every last bit of our remaining time together...and then the alarm rang.

We drove to the vet's office for our appointment. We had opted not to do an in-home visit since we wanted to get HIS vet.  She gushed over him from his very first appointment and has always loved him and been his buddy through all the years. Also, unlike other dogs who get stressed at the vet, Kodo always thought it was an exciting adventure with all the smells and people and other dogs.  Today was no exception.  While we were in the lobby, K saw another teeny pup that he just had to greet.  He was tired, but he always managed to find the energy to get a sniff or two in.  It didn't take long for them to call us into the room.  As we were walking to the room Kodo's back legs had given out as they often do.  We had to use the harness to get him back up. They first needed to do some blood draws for the canine cancer research lab.  When they brought him back we tried to offer him more hot dogs, but this time, he turned his head away - telling us, we believe, that he was done and ready to rest.  He lay down, laid his head in our laps and went to sleep quickly, quietly, and peacefully while we held him and told him how much we loved him and that he was the best dog that had ever lived.  And he truly was.