Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Our male dog died two days ago.  I'd brought him into the vet in the morning, and they decided to do Xrays and after several hours they called back and said he had advanced lung cancer.  He was near death.  So we cried and talked it over and my husband, our younger daughter and I went over and said goodbye to him, fed him biscuits, and then he died.  The assistant who always took care of the dogs when they were boarded cried along with us and told him what a good boy he was and how much we loved him.  We're having him cremated and his ashes returned to us.  It was all so shocking and sudden, except we knew he was old and he was very gray and slow.  He ate right up to the end.  He must have been so weary.  When I brought him in he didn't show any interest in other dogs, cats or people in the waiting room.  He seemed defeated.  Like it had been a struggle to be "himself" and he was beyond hope for himself.  We don't know what our female dog is thinking, though we believe she knew he was sick.  Perhaps she smelled the cancer.  They've been together since they were seven weeks old.  I hope she'll rally and have some good time left.  But she is just as old, and we have to hope she stays healthy for a while, and adjusts to our new, one dog household.  We hope that for ourselves as well.