I do not envy you.. I had to due this a few years back with my golden retriever/lab mix. I had him since I was starting kindergarten and had to put him down shortly before leaving for college. I knew he was getting bad, but didn't know how bad until one night when I headed to bed. He always came up a few minutes after I did and laid at the end of my bed, but one night I woke up and he wasn't there, which was completely strange, so I went to look for him and he was laying at the bottom of the stairs. I hollered at him to come up and he tried but couldn't make it up the stairs, so I slept with him on the floor at the bottom of the stairs all night. Took him in the next morning and they told me it probably wasn't going to be long, but gave him medicine to feel well and sent him home. Seemed fine all day, but again that night he just wasn't himself, so we slept again on the floor at the bottom of the stairs and the next morning I called the vet and told him he wasn't getting any better so we made the decision that he had suffered enough and it was time to put him down. He just looked in pain and tired. I know this is going to sound completely corny too, but after talking with the vet about it, I laid down with my dog again and talked to him about it and asked him what he thought and he looked at me in a way as to say he was ready to go. So I took him to the vet and petted him while they put him down, it was real quick and smooth. Took him home and buried him that day. Had to have taken me an hour to dig the hole because I balled like a little school girl and couldn't seem to figure out how to use the shovel. Have held off getting another dog since and probably won't for awhile still, just can't quite replace your first dog.
