Day 26 / 106 - Sierra

On Friday morning, we made the hard decision to euthanize our faithful [almost] 9-year-old boxer/yellow lab mix.  She was well-loved.

2008

She had been suffering for a few weeks due to a soft-tissue tumor on her right front leg.  In surgery Friday morning, the vet discovered the tumor was a high-grade sarcoma and the cancer was extremely aggressive.  We decided prolonging her suffering was unnecessary.  

2009

If you are a homeschooler with a beloved pet, you know that that animal is known quite well by your children.  Even though my children only had nine years with Sierra, it felt more like eighteen years due to the fact that they were with her all day, every day, for the past nine years.  They were her primary caretakers, and they shared in all dog-keeping responsibilities.

2010

I easily could have included hundreds of photos in this post.  Instead, I searched for one from each year of her life, each year that we've been on this journey.  The above Narnia picture is one of my absolute favorites.  It shows up on a much older blog post.

Side note -- At times Sierra was terribly behaved.  We attribute some of her behavioral issues to incidents such as these.  She was not a dog who liked to be dressed up, yet she often was.

2011

The picture below was profiled before.  I'm not sure what pioneer animal Sierra was forced to be in this picture, but I'm convinced she was fulfilling her role nicely.  

2012

Occasionally, Sierra journeyed with us on field trips including this one to the Big Muskie. 

2013

2014

Since Sierra was our pet during the Information Age, our devices are full of pictures and short videos of her.  I'm not sure if that makes her death easier or more difficult.  But during her short lifetime she brought us much joy, and she's definitely worth remembering.  

2015

2016

Last spring, my daughter was playing around with a new tripod as well as some settings on my camera.  She snapped the above picture.  The picture below was taken on Tuesday.  My children continued to comfort Sierra with kindness, as well as providing much care for her up until the very end.

2017

We will miss her.