“I’m so sorry,” the vet said as he saw the tears streaming down my face. “But your dog just cannot live on its own anymore; he’s hurt and he’s very old.”

“I understand,” my dad said, fighting back tears. He had owned this dog since about the dog’s birth and loved him a lot. Sebastian was my dad’s dog but everyone still loved him and took care of him. Sebastian, my dog, was a golden retriever-husky mix. He shed so much that sometimes we had to vacuum everyday! He was very skinny and was extremely old for a dog like him. He even had a hard time walking, so we had to put him down and out of his misery. I knew that this was going to be very hard for me and my whole family and there would be a lot of grieving.

My dad and I then left the vet; a long and quiet ride home. When we got home I ran straight to my room and cried for at least two hours straight. I just couldn’t believe that my dog was going to be gone soon. Dinner was also silent and I knew what everyone was thinking. After eating and doing all the dishes I went to go play with my dog because we only had about two weeks left with him.

He continued to get worse, and we had to watch him at all times. I felt so much pity towards him. He looked so hurt that a tiny piece of me was kind of glad that we were putting him out of his misery. I knew that I would miss him a whole lot, but he was going to a better place. The day came to put him down and my dad told me to say my last goodbyes to him. The next thing I knew, Sebastian was gone.

The one thing that I will always remember about Sebastian is that he was always a happy dog and made me happy too. He was a food fetching dog also. The day we had to put him down was one of the saddest and hardest days of my life.