We will miss you, Bailey!!

Digging the Grave

Measuring the hole

Our sweet Dog, Bailey

We had to put our dog Bailey to sleep the end of January. Luke has had Bailey since he graduated from High School. He was a gift that Luke's parents had promised him if he got a 4.0 his last trimester of his Senior Year. Surprisingly, He did it!:)

It all happened so fast. We didn't know anything was wrong with him, until Luke went to call him to come in for the night, and he didn't come. Luke kept calling him and he never ran up to the him. Luke decided to walk into the backyard to see if he could find him and he was just lying on the grass. Bailey was finally able to stand up and hobble over to Luke. Bailey got down the stairs and into our bedroom and we went to sleep. Then in the middle of the night, we heard a big thud and apparently Bailey had tried to stand up and fell over into the wall. Luke went to work for awhile the next day and I tried to get Bailey to stand and to go outside and he would not even lift his head, much less stand up. Luke got home from work and took him to the vet, and called me and told me that we were going to have to put him to sleep. He said that the vet thought that he had arthritis and dislocated his spine and he had no feeling in his hind legs, that there was nothing that could be done, because he was too old and too big.

I could tell that Luke had been crying and then I started crying. He has been such a great dog. He was so good with the kids and so obedient and loyal.

I wanted Luke to talk to the kids when he got home but Rylan sensed something and so I had to tell him. He was very sad and started to cry. Mason didn't really understand. He still says that Bailey is taking a long nap.

We decided to bury Bailey in the Backyard instead of having him cremated, mainly because it is so expensive to cremate. The saddest part was seeing Bailey just lying there on the grass, tail not wagging, no life left in him. I think that was what got all of the most. We had a little memorial for him and the professional shoveler Luke is, dug him a 3 foot hole in the frozen backyard. He made him a gravestone "B" out of Rocks.
We will miss you, Bailey!