Yesterday Red passed away of old age. He had been acting strange the day before, pacing his kennel and flinching when I went to touch him, which is very unlike Red. Normally Red prefers to sleep most of the day away or to come out with a tail wag and a quick hello before going back to napping. I sat with him for a while and felt his head and petted him. He didn’t seem to have any physical pain anywhere, but he was clearly anxious about something. He didn’t eat his food, which his friend Jack next to him appreciated as Jack got to eat an extra breakfast. The next morning Red appeared to be fine and back to his old self. Sara gave him some lovin’ in the morning, but by the afternoon he had passed.

It’s so hard to lose a good friend, especially a dog like Red. Red was a tough old man, who loved to be on the trail and run, or would come up and snuggle us. I will always remember Red with lots of love. With a hundred dogs of all ages, it’s inevitable that a dog will pass away, just as our friends and family do, but it is never easy.