Saying Adios to an old friend

This is our rental house on Aldama 2005 -- Beau, Susie and Rey

Christmas 2003

Beau in our casita where we lived while remolding was going on in the big house 2006

I said goodbye to our oldest dog, Beau, this morning. He has been getting worse and worse over the last year and Roy and I have been talking about when we would let him go. I was ready sooner then Roy, but hey you get there when you get there and I'm glad we had him for so long. Roy finally understood that Beau was suffering and we needed to be able to let him go and end his suffering. So today at 11:25 am, August 6, 2010 I said adios to an old and sweet, loving friend.

Beau took very good care of us while we lived in Bellaire, Texas. He loved to sit at the glass front door and wait to terrorize the mailmen when he came up to deliver mail. When we lived on Aldama, here in Ajijic, he loved to stand on the roof and command respect from the passersby. When we drove here to live, Beau was our "big black dog" who protected us from the crooked traffic police who tried to shake us down for money.

We will miss him and his fierce loyalty and love! Everyone needs to have a Beau in their lives and we are so grateful that he came into ours. I will miss you my friend.

We think Beau was maybe 16 years old. He was a lab/chow mix that Roy adopted from the Houston SPCA when Beau was 6 months old. Roy and I have been married for 11 1/2 years and I think that Beau came to live with Roy and Lauren when Lauren was 12 or 13 and she is 28 now -- so that puts Beau around 15-16 years old. That's a very long life for a big dog. AND he was never sick a day in his life.

Beau's hips started getting bad about a year ago until finally he wasn't able to get himself up when he fell down (which he was doing a lot towards the end). He lost his hearing a couple of years ago, which was a blessing because we live in a town that loves to shot off cohetes whenever there's a reason, e.g. a visit from La Virgen de Guadalupe, La Virgen de Zapopan, Las Fiestas de San Andres, La Virgen del Rosario, funerals, parades, birthdays, Las Chivas score a goal, you see what I mean. The doctor explained to me today the reason Beau walked around a lot (which was incredibly painful to watch) was because he was getting dementia.