On the day that Cooper had protected me from my neighbor’s pit bulls, I was checking him out for injuries as I had noticed a little blood around his mouth. On the inside on his mouth along the gum line was a dark colored lump. It looked almost as if you had taken an olive, sliced it in half and stuck it there. I called the vet to make an appointment. My vet performed a biopsy of the lump and learned that it was the most aggressive form of cancer in dogs. He told me that it would likely spread to his brain quickly and that there was literally nothing that we could do other than giving him lots of love and lots of treats. I took him home and only a few weeks later, I noticed a dramatic change in his behavior. He had always been my little shadow. If I got up, he got up. If I left the room, he left the room. One day, I got up and he only moved his head to watch me leave the room. Later that same day, I got up and he was only able to follow me with his eyes and did not move his head. Still later that day, I got up and he wasn’t able to even follow me with his eyes. I called the vet and told them that I needed to bring him in. When the receptionist asked what he was needing, I responded simply by stating, “It’s his time”. I took him to the vet and carried him into the office since he was no longer able to walk or even stand on his own. They asked if I wanted to be with him during the procedure. I was not going to let him face that alone, so I told them that I would be with him until the end just as I had been with all of my dogs. I held his head while my vet gave him the sedative to knock him out and then the final shot that put him down. He knew that I was there with him.