by cheryl
My husband and I got Luther from the SPCA in 1990 when he was just 6 weeks old. He was a german shepherd/husky mix and he was so adorable. He could fit in the palm of your hand. Over the next 8 and a half years he became such an important part of our family. He learned so may tricks. He would get whatever toy you asked him for, he would sit, speak, smile, sing, and I even tought him to nibble my nose on command. He would sleep with us, lay on the couch next to me, and sit on my husband's lap. He was always where we were. For 8 years and 4 months he was a healthy dog. Then suddenly in February of 1999 he collapsed. He was panting, he couldn't walk, and he was barely responding to us. This was at midnight so we took him to the Emergency hospital. At first they thought it was antifreeze poisoning. But the tests were negative. They kept him overnight and the next morning we took him to our regular vet. It was his heart and the vet told us to take him to a cardiologist. We were concerned about putting Luther through all this if he was suffering and was going to die anyway. But he looked better that morning and we had to give him a chance. So we drove to the cardiologist (about 2 hours). The doctor did all his tests but noone knows what caused this. Luther was in severe arrhythmia. The doctor said the Emergency hospital did a good job treating him. But Luther was very sick. He gave us presciptions for people heart medications. We got them filled and took Luther home. He was O.K. for about a month. Then he began having little epsidodes where he would get really tired and he had trouble breathing. These would usually be gone by the morning. But then on May 5, 1999 at about & P.M. he had another episode and we knew it was bad. I asked my husband if we should take him to the vet. But he knew Luther had enough and if he was going to die, my husband wanted him to be with us. Luther knew he was going to die. He walked passed both of us where we were sitting so we could pet him. Then he laid down under the coffee table. I was watching him taking a breath every now and then. Then he took a deep breath and he was gone. I went and hugged him and told him we loved him. I am so glad we were there when he died. Looking back on it, if we knew his episodes would keep recurring we probably would have put him to sleep in February. But noone knew what would happen and we will never know what caused his heart problems. All we due know is that Luther was an amazing dog and we will never forget him. Eventually we will probably get another dog. But Luther will never be replaced.