May 15th, 2012 our beloved Brandy went to heaven. My husband at the time and I had been putting it off for a while and it was one of the hardest choices the two of us have ever had to make. As you see; Brandy had become part of the family. She was 13 years old and in our lives longer than any of our children. She was our first child and we had grown to love her like one. She was spoiled rotten and truly loved by the whole family. She was the sweetest and caring dog we could have ever asked for! Brandy and our 6 year old Autistic son, Kai had a special bond. I do not know what it was, maybe Brandy could sense Kai is "different" then the norm, but she was always super gentle to Kai. Brandy would respond to all Kai\'s calls to her and even responded to Kai\'s limited language demands such as "down" or "sit". (In Kai talk). It was amazing watching the two of them interact and I believe Brandy was good for Kai. She even slept curled up next to him most nights, which made the other two children really jealous! Brandy was the perfect dog. She was not only gentle with Kai, but all our kids. She even let them ride her! She never snipped nor bit, even in her old age. She knew how to shake, sit, roll over and play dead. She would even sit for hours with a milk bone on her nose... and not eat it till you told her it was ok. Brandy loved being outdoors and chasing the kids about the yard. She also loved other animals and had many cat and dog friends. Brandy loved car rides and got all excited anytime someone would mention going for one! She always thought she was human and loved people food more than her own! (Hey she even snored just like her "daddy" )Saying goodbye to our beloved friend was so hard on us all but it had to be done. Brandy had gotten a large number of tumors in her old age and one of the tumors on her stomach had grown so big, it was almost as big as her head. It had been causing her pain and she in return would lick the tumor. After weeks of licking the tumor, it split open and infection came in. The day we finally put Brandy down, she hadn\'t eaten in two days and could barely no longer move by herself. She was yelping in pain and spent almost the whole day lying in one spot. My husband and I basically had to hold her head up so she could drink from her water bowl. She was in rough shape. My husband called our vet, who told us it would be 4 days before we could get her put down. We knew Brandy would be suffering those four days and we could just not wait any longer. By that night her breathing was so shallow and raspy we were not even sure she would make it through the night. My husband called a close family friend and he gave us a number of his neighbor who is a vet. The vet held the clinic open for us and we loaded Brandy into the back of the truck and laid her on her bed for one last car ride. The vet said Brandy was in such bad shape and so dehydrated when we brought her in that it took two full shots to put her down. Ray and I held her paw while he did it, stroking her fur. She died peacefully without pain with a smile on her face. I think she knew it was her time to go and accepted it. We were glad she was no longer suffering. The vet made us a paw print of her paw to take home... and we said our final goodbyes. .

Little Butterfly Wings:
The Wonders of Motherhood
Weekends Were Made For Fun
All Dogs go to Heaven

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Heather Joyce:
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Sugary Fancy :
Organic