Sam, Maddie, Mallory and their neighbor friend Nate.

Before Maddie was born we went out to get a dog for our family. Our number 1 priority was to get a dog that was great with kids. We went to an animal shelter to look at another dog, but while we were there we met Licorice. We were told he had been there quite awhile, so time was not on his side. To be truthful he wasn’t our first choice, but while we were about to take another dog on a walk, he looked at us with his sad brown eyes and we were melted on the spot. After the shelter workers told us he was always great with kids, we knew our doggy search was over. Licorice became Angus and we could never have asked for a better dog.

Over the past 6 months Angus has started to slow down. His arthritis was causing him major problems. He began to try to make leaps from our staircase, instead of taking each step.  A couple of these times we thought he had broken his leg, but after a couple of days he stopped limping and seemed to back to his normal self. After this came the appetite issues…with him not touching his dog bowl on some days and throwing up his food on others. The final decision for us to put him to sleep was caused by his aggressive barking at some kids in the neighborhood. This behavior seemed to stem from dementia that seemed to be setting in. We just couldn’t risk him hurting anyone, so the incredibly hard decision to end his life was made. The video is the story of that afternoon.