Shiner Bear

Shiner Bear was 9 years old and she was the sunshine in our lives. While we have several other dogs, and they are all special in their own way, Shiner was extra special to us because she seemed to be closest to us - the sound of our voices was enough to make her wag her tail even though she was snoozing.

In addition, she had medical problems throughout her life. She had two artificial hips, an artificial knee as well as other problems. Despite that, she was a fun-loving girl who swam in the pool nearly every day.

Around Thanksgiving, 2001, she was diagnosed with bone cancer and the doctors wanted to amputate one of her rear legs. After soul searching and several conversations with our veterinarian, we decided to leave the leg alone and let her live out her life. We decided that as soon as her quality of life deteriorated, we would euthanize her.

That day came on February 23 when the cancer appeared to paralyze her hindquarters. She was no longer able to wag that precious tail of hers. All she could manage was to drag herself to where we were sitting, and gently place her giant paw on our hands as we wept beside her.

Even though it was her last ride in the car, she was excited about going. We held her in our arms until she breathed her last breath and she went peacefully to sleep. Since that moment, the ache in our hearts has been nearly unbearable.