A dogs passing is so hard because they are such wonderful companions and love unconditionally.

Do not let your thoughts rest on the final moments, but on the lives they lived and the joy you all had together.

In January, our almost 9 year old lab underwent surgery to remove a benign tumor from his left eyelid. That was the beginning of end.

I will go back to when Brutus was 3. We regularly took him to a local high school to play with a few friends and play catch. The school also has a pond it is was one of his favorite places after some time on the football field chasing tennis balls. Then we had the heat stroke. It wasn't that warm upper 70s. He played ball like normal. He trotted down the gravel road to the pond like normal. Once he went in the water, he became unresponsive. I was able to pull him out of the water and he just laid down on the sand and was unresponsive. I left him with my wife and son and ran to get the SUV. I picked up the 90lb, wet, sandy dog and rushed him to the emergency vet. We made the decision to try to save his life - a $5,000 decision. In the end, he was almost normal but we knew the heat stroke would shorten his life.

From that day on, I teased my wife and son that his new name is "Out of Pocket Maximum".

Back to January 2017. He came out of surgery just fine. We took him home and all was well for a week. We were giving him the meds the Vet gave us. After five days, he stopped eating his dog food. We took him to the vet and they told us he was in liver failure. We received a cocktail of meds to give him and Science Diet Liver Dog Food. We went through the next week visiting the vet every couple days for fluid IVs and follow ups. He would eat a little but rarely the same thing twice. The liver failure cause him to be nauseous so something would smell good to him but it made him want to throw up after eating it.

In a three week period, he lost 23 pounds. He went from a healthy playful 90lb lab to a 67 pound skeleton of the dog we loved. Finally, it was time. We could see it in his eyes. He was in pain. He was starving. He just felt bad. That last ride to the Vet was about the worst ride of my life. He still hung his head over the side of the truck bed and hung his tongue out like normal. But I knew it was the last time.

We arrived at the Vet and were taken to an exam room we had never been in before. There was a blanket on the floor. A wooden bench built for two. The normal exam table. But the room was twice the size of a normal exam room. Brutus, my wife, my son and I waited on the Vet to come in. She came in and checked him out. She told us that we were correct, the time had come. She told us that we could take him home but very soon he would continue to be in pain, starving and soon his body would start to shut down. She said it is best to not put him through that. We agreed, and she took Brutus to the back to weigh him and put in an IV line. She brought him back to the room and we sat on the floor with him. The Vet explained that the first shot was to put him to sleep. The second was an overdose of barbiturates that would stop his heart. He laid his head on my lap before the first shot. As he went to sleep, he slipped to the floor. The Vet gave him the second shot and then listened to his last heartbeat. She confirmed that he was gone and told us that she would give us a few minutes to say goodbye. She came back 10 minutes later and hugged us all and cried with us. We left Brutus with her. About a week later, they called and we were presented with a beautiful wood box with his ashes inside.

The pain of losing a dog is only relieved by knowing that during their life, they loved us completely. Four months have passed and I still miss Brutus. He is a very important part of our family and will always stay in our hearts.

I will finish with a joke. I need to laugh before someone comes in and sees me crying.

Lock you dog and your wife in the trunk of your car. Come back in an hour. The dog will be happy to see you. Your wife will not.

I have not seen A Dog's Purpose yet. I will wait for DVD. I can't be a blubbering idiot in a public theater.

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The only thing I can add to what you said is just that not only will you know, they will tell you.

You can see it in their eyes.

Yup; was a day I didn't sleep well, was up around 4 AM and just "knew" - by 9 AM I had picked up my son from HS and took her to the vet, where she was diagnosed with blood cancer which had metastasized greatly/entire organ system involved. Choice was to perhaps let her hemorrhage in the next few days or just take care of her right then and there.

Not a hard decision, but tough emotions of sadness. Death comes to all of us, eventually. The good does outweigh the bad.

I think everyone "knows" when it's time. It still doesn't make is easy. Pets are family members and it sucks every time you have to help a loyal member of the family. Putting your buddy in a better spot is fucking awful. My heart goes out to everyone that has had to do it

Knowing hen it is time does not make it any easier. My condolences to any going through this. I LOVE the graphic on page one! They give so much which is why it hurts so much.