Saying goodbye to someone we love is never easy. Whether it’s expected, in the case of a terminal illness like MLD, or unexpected, as was the case with our dear 7-year old French bulldog Sherlock this past week.

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After a week and a half of on/off appetite, throwing up and being generally lethargic some days, we headed to the vet. Surely, it had to be something weird he ate that was stuck in stomach because he would eat everything in sight! After his xray came back all clear we took him home and changed his diet to chicken and rice. Should his symptoms continue then we were to head back for bloodwork.

That evening Dave’s Mom took Eva (our oldest) for the night and thankfully she did because in the morning we found Sherlock had passed away in his sleep (and Eva was normally the first awake and would always get the dogs). We’re not sure whether it was cancer or maybe heart failure but either way it was crushing nonetheless.

While it was the hardest on us and Eva, I hope that having this close, and unexpected, experience with loss will help her when it comes time for Livvy to leave us as well.

I broke out sobbing in front of Livvy that morning and she actually laughed at me, thinking I was just making a funny noise to be silly. But I made sure to talk to her about Sherlock being in heaven and how we will get to play with him again when we go there. That prompted a really big smile (this isn’t the first time we have had a private conversation with her about heaven).

I assumed Keira would be mainly oblivious and possibly ask where he was. When she didn’t, I explained to her that Sherlock went bye bye to heaven and showed her the adorable paw print and picture frame that was given to us by All About Restful Pets (more on them in a second). Hours later she remembered the paw print and picture, looked at it and said “Bye bye Sherlock”. It took everything I had not to tear up right then and there.

But back to All About Restful Pets. They are who my mother called for me that morning when I told her the news sobbing. It is a company owned by her friend Bonnie which goes to people’s homes to put pets down peacefully and/or take them away for the family to be cremated (or whatever their wishes may be). She showed up at our house within the HOUR! And this was during morning rush hour in the fifth largest city in the nation. I was beyond grateful to have her there and help us through this process. For anyone in the greater Phoenix area, I highly recommend them.

Sherlock is greatly missed, and we can tell Watson misses him too (even though he is generally just a grumpy old man) so we have been giving him extra love and cuddles.

Rest peacefully little Sherlock! We love you!