I watched her get slower, thinner, weaker. I watched her stop eating. I held her and kissed her and told her she'd done her job here - she taught us selflessness, unconditional love, and responsibility. She kept us safe and watched over us and guarded my bedside after every surgery and each treatment. She made us laugh and she chased rabbits and gave big kisses. I told her it was okay to go. We did the humane thing, we held her as our vet administered a simple shot allowing her to go into a deep sleep before the final shot was given. Surrounded by love she died peacefully and with dignity, when the pain and illness became too much to bear, when we knew there'd be no rebounding because her ki