It’s been over a month now and we’re missing our best, four-legged friend terribly. We made the impossible decision to put our 16 1/4-year-old Shih-Tzu, Jack, down in August.

We moved into our house and brought Jack home two weeks later. He belongs here with us. He’s left a significant hole in our hearts and in our lives.

The Perfect Dog

Jack was the perfect dog. He was very chill, didn’t bark, loved table food, he especially loved the ends of toast and pizza crust. For years we even designated a chair at the table for him. Spoiled! He loved to hop up on the bed and lay on it while we tried to make it, and was notorious for tearing the heads off his stuffed toys within the first hour of receiving them.

We had a great life with Jack and were especially fortunate that Kelly’s parents and sister’s family would watch Jack when we hit the road to “dine, drink & discover”.

Jack’s new toy haul

Here’s a video we took of him after stocking up on dog food, treats and toys one day. Dusty put it all on display to see what Jack would do. He wanted the heads off those toys in a very bad way!!

Caring for senior Jack

The last year of Jack’s life was rough and unfair for a dog that brought so much joy and happiness. It consisted of a Cushing’s Disease diagnosis, seizures, medications twice-daily until the end, and eventually complete blindness and deafness. This made it no longer feasible to ask our family to help with him because he just required too much care. Obviously travel was put on the back burner. Now that Jack is gone, we have gained our ability to travel more.

Freedom after Pet Loss

We are still getting used to, and starting to enjoy, how much more free time we have throughout the day now that we’re not caring for an aging and ailing dog. Now that Jack is gone, we’re free to Dine, Drink & Discover, as Dining Duster does. Would it be weird to bring Jack’s ashes with us on the road or are our memories enough? Asking for a friend.