As you know, two days ago we had to have our Golden Retriever/Chow cross dog put to sleep due to his being unable to stand any longer.

We have two other dogs and a cat. Sweetie is a Shepherd mix and came to live with us a year ago. She chose us.

She and Muggsy got off to a bad start, with Muggsy being territorial and from that time on they would get into a tiff at every opportunity. We had to keep them separated most of the time.

We also have a full-blooded cocker spaniel, who is just a few months older than Muggsy was. She was actually the one we expected to go first as she had anal gland cancer, which is very aggressive.

Our vet recommended we take her to North Carolina State University Veterinary Hospital for treatment and she is in remission, but we know the extra three years we got for her can be gone with the first signs of a recurrence of the cancer. We have no intention of putting her through surgery, radiation and chemo again. She’s too old and has had enough done to her.

Since she and Muggsy were puppies together they formed a bond. He was forever licking on her and she’d let him. She had a terrible recurring problem with ear infections, which is something dogs with long ears are prone to have. He would lick her ears and she’d lie there quietly enjoying the cleaning he was giving her much more than the ones we gave her.

We finally had her ear canals removed so she would be out of pain and she was already deaf from so many infections. Still, Muggsy would lick her back and she loved it.

Friday and Saturday have been hard days for Silky. She goes to all of Muggy’s special places and can’t find him and then she wants to go outside to see if he’s out in the back yard.

She knows, and she’s grieving too. How do you help a grieving dog? We give her extra attention, but it’s not our attention she craves.

In a few days or weeks her urge to find him won’t be so great, but it’s so heartbreaking to see her this sad.

Until then we’ll spoil her more than she already is and try to help her get over the hurt we all feel.