Remembering Chocolate - a Beloved Poodle

Summer has just begun and we already miss Chocolate, my daughter's poodle dog. He died of old age and heart failure yesterday (6/23/2013). We were so sad and sorrowful. My husband and I have been dog-sitting him off and on for the past few years whenever my daughter needed us. Because of her particularly busy schedule this summer: studying at Columbia's Teachers College and preparing to be a brand new high school principal in the coming school year (Flushing, NYC), she has a tons of things to do and must be ready for the fall when the school starts.
So we took care of Chocolate for a while this time, I was shocked that he lost a lot of weight and showed poor stamina, no appetite, no energy and shortness of breath. But my daughter said he might have suffered separation anxiety.
We tried everything possible to gain his strength back but to no avail. The last couple of days we sensed this might be his final stage of life, because of his increasing difficulty breathing, and lying down most of the time. So we decided to bring him back to NYC my daughter's home and his familiar environment. After home, he appeared happy, relaxed and slept soundly.We chatted with our daughter and had lunch together (her husband came home that evening from a business trip) and then said good bye to Chocolate. We headed home. No sooner than 40 minutes later, Melanie called to say Chocolate stopped breathing, just passed away. We all cried, tears in our eyes.

Reaching out for peace
Hydrangea and Clematis in two glasses