must be something in the dog dish

One thing is for certain: March is not the Schwartz family's month for dogs.
My mom had to put my sweet Kondor down earlier this month.
And now I received word yesterday morning that my dad had to put his German Shepherd down as well. He was Rio. He was only 3 years old. 3. That is young for a dog to have to be put down.

I understand that for the past two weeks Rio has shown severe symptoms of Epilepsy, prevelant in certain breeds of dogs.
He has had numerous grand mal seizures and normally after dogs have these types of seizures they are never the same again. My family has had experience with this and the signs are clear.

Rio was now walking straight into walls, he was unable to run without falling over himself and he was abnormally moody. My dad consulted with our family Vet and with our great family friend, Karen. She still raises/breeds/trains/shows GS's in Maine (where my parents had thier start as well). She said that it is unfortunate he had this problem b/c there is no coming back from where Rio is.

My dad called me yesterday crying and asking my opinion. Do you know how hard it is to be the adult and to say 'dad, you have to put the boy down'. It is hard. Harder than you think it is.

So while this is an especially trying pet time for the family I know that my parents are both pet and dog lovers and will not go long without adding to the Schwartz's 4 legged family.

But mad props to Kondor and Rio for being some of the best fucking dogs ever.