As I'm sure countless others of you are aware, the one really bad thing about owning pets is when the day comes you have to put them down. It's a heart wrenching, guilt ridden, exhausting endeavor and no amount of knowing it was the right thing to do makes it any better. For the 3rd time in the last 25 months, we had to put one of our dogs to sleep this last Saturday. We got Ollie, our 3rd Golden Retriever that we have owned, through the Golden Rescue fund here in Atlanta two years ago when our 2nd Golden, Scout had passed away. The day we met Ollie, we knew he was the dog to have. He was so kickbacked and relaxed and had the absolutely best disposition of any dog we had ever had. Brendan walked up and played with the tags on his collar and Ollie just gave him a look of "whatever kid, I ain't moving". He became a permament fixture on our couch almost immediately and we never had any kind of accident or behavior problem. We know we will never have a dog this absolutely good and trained ever again. 
About a year ago we discovered that Ollie had a chronic kidney problem. With medicine and a special diet we were able to keep him around for almost another year. We will miss him horribly, he was our friend and companion. No matter how many times you go through it, it always feels like the first time and each time has it's own pain and mourning. Kudos to Shireen for actually going inside and doing the last 3, thus why I think the next one will be a puppy, we need a break from this exercise for a few years and with Gordie being young, obnoxious and in incredible shape, hopefully we won't have to worry about him for the next couple years (although he did learn the couch thing from Ollie, see picture). So here is our tribute to our pal and friend, may we have many more like him.
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