As long as I can remember, I wanted a female lemon Beagle puppy, so when my husband and I were in the process of buying a house, he started looking for one. We were still living in our apartment, that did not allow pets, when he walked into a local pet store and spotted Belle. She was 3 months old and was exactly the dog that I had always been looking for. He ended up purchasing her that day, even though I had not even seen her yet, and she had to stay with my grandparents for a week and a half until we closed on our house. When we moved into this house, so did she. She was absolutely perfect from the first time I laid eyes on her. The love I had for her goes beyond words. I decided she needed a companion, so we ended up adopting our male tri-color Beagle Sammy. Belle was fixed and we had no intention of mating. We just didn't want her to be alone. Belle was our dog and Sammy was hers. The love he had for her was like something I've never seen. She was very healthy for many years and Sammy was the one that had minor medical issues here and there. She was always my lazy little sausage though and we finally found out that she had thyroid issues, so we started treating that. The weight went down, but slowly started going back up in spite of the medication. She ended up getting arthritis and crushed two disks in her back, which made it hard for her to walk for a bit. We got her weight loss dog food, joint medication and heart medication for her enlarged heart and kept trucking on. She lost a lot of weight and getting around was much easier, though she was still allergic to anything considered exercise. She was the most affectionate dog I've ever met in my life. If you made eye contact with her, she would immediately start whimpering and come over to you to get some cuddles. I loved her more than I could ever put into words. On January 16, I noticed that she was having some trouble getting around and wasn't eating, which was totally out of character. Belle would eat anything that didn't eat her first. I called the vet and took her out for a visit. He noticed her gums were pale and her kidney numbers were high. He kept her for two nights, gave her meds and fluids and she started acting like herself again, so we brought her home on the 18th. Unfortunately, her "health" was short-lived, because by the 19th she started going downhill and we took her out to the vet again. He figured it may be stomach cancer, but gave us medication that may help with the loose, bloody stools and said to come back the next day if things don't change or get worse. She got worse throughout the night. I laid her on the floor next to the couch and slept on the couch all night, checking on her periodically. The next morning, my husband and I decided we would take her out to be put to sleep once he got home from work. I petted and cuddled with her that morning. I held her and begged her to go to Heaven if it was her time and told her mommy loved her. I took a few pictures with her and let her lay down until her daddy got home and we could make her all better. I sat on the couch above her to message my friend about how she was doing and 5 minutes later when I looked back down to check on her, she was gone. She never cried out or gasped or anything. She went at the floor by my feet after I loved on her one last time and gave her the go ahead. I pray to God that she wasn't in a lot of pain and was just hiding it. Everything went so quickly and I felt so unprepared to say goodbye to my beautiful girl, but I am happy that she didn't have to suffer for a long time and that we didn't have to see her in pain and agony. The ache is still very fresh, but the days get a little easier, even though I thought they never would. I have Sammy to keep me company, as well as my husband and two human children. I considered her my first child and the pain I feel is like I lost a human part of my family. A lot of people don't understand this, but I am sure the people at this memorial site will understand it all too well. I was blessed to be her mom and I can't wait until the day that i get to meet her on the Rainbow Bridge. I hope my family and friends that have gone before me take good care of her until I get there and I hope she is as excited to see me as I will be to see her when we meet again.