On July 24th he didn't get up for breakfast and we figured he was having a sleep in as he often did, but when he wasn't up by the afternoon we went looking for him. He wasn't on his bed in the kennel or even under the bed in the kennel. We searched the backyard, down the side of the shed, in the shed, around by the water tank, in our new garden beds. He wasn't anywhere to be found. But we did find a hole going into our neighbours backyard. We left a note for them but couldn't get in touch with them for days. In the meantime we notified the pounds, the rangers, all the veterinary surgeries near by and put up signs at the shops, parks and big intersections. We even visited the police who were going to try to help us get in touch with our neighbours the next day, but finally after eleven days, we caught them at home and found they had no idea what had happened to Alan and there was no way he could have gotten out of their yard.
For what felt like the millionth time but was probably more like the fifth, we searched our backyard for him and finally found him. On July 23rd after a day of naps on the couch, cuddles with his favourite person in the sunshine, an early dinner and bedtime with Denny his best buddy, he had curled up inside the mattress of the dog bed and had gone to sleep and not woken up again. We're relieved that he died peacefully doing one of his favourite things (sleeping), and despite us not finding him for so long, when the vet came to pick him up he looked just like he was having a nap and didn't even smell anymore than usual (he was a bit of a smelly dog). He has now been cremated and sits in a lovely wooden box with his name engraved on top. We miss him dearly and it seems so strange to not hear his constant farts, snores or snorts or see him waiting at the door or hopping up on the couch for a cuddle. But after at least 13 years on this planet - we'll never know how old he really was - we are thankful that he wasn't in pain and we didn't have to make any difficult decisions about his life.
Of course, the family member who misses him most is Denny who has not coped well at all. He wasn't bothered by Alan's body, but he hasn't known what to do with himself without his best buddy by his side. He hasn't been eating even though he's hungry, or sleeping even though he's tired. He wakes up with panic attacks at 4am each night. He can't be more than a metre away from one of us at anytime and has been sleeping with us on the floor of our room for the first time in his life. We're hoping as time goes on he'll settle a bit but our vet agrees that until he has another doggy friend by his side he's going to have a hard time. We have a lot to think about at the moment but will probably start visiting shelters in the hunt for a new family member in a few weeks.
