So back in the summer, i was at a friends house.

The brother was still at work and wouldn't be home until dinner, but since he was working in town, we thought we'd pop in for five seconds to say hello before heading off to the park.

At the place where he was working, the family had a dog.

I didn't even see it at first. In fact, i didn't see it until we had said hello and were leaving and i can't recall the breed.

I think it was a border collie, or something fluffy like that. 

The dog didn't bark when we walked by.

It didn't move a single muscle except for a twitch of it's tail and a slight tipping of it's head.

I wondered why, behind it's flimsy little baby gate, it didn't seem all that excited that strangers had come.

At first i wondered if it was just a very well trained dog... until i saw the diaper.

My heart hurt for the dog and for his family. It was old and frail, it would soon have to be put down.

Later that night after dinner, a bunch of us sat downstairs and the subject came up again.

"I feel so bad, they should just put the poor thing down." i said.

The brother that had been working at the house looked at me and said "well you wouldn't put an old woman down if she was sick"*

I recall saying that dogs are different than people and that's pretty much where the conversation ended.

I don't know what brought the story back to my mind today, (I believe it was a friends tweet about the philosophy of putting a suffering ant out of it's misery) but i started to think about it.

Does he think i'm cruel for putting my own dog down when she had a stroke?

Had he been there that day and seen that she couldn't even stand on her own, and could hardly keep her eyes open, would he have said "don't do it" ?

Yes, i consider animals and humans very similar and was glad to know that he wouldn't just take a dogs life with no remorse or while saying "it's just an animal"

But at the same time, i think it's selfish and cruel to keep an animal, hurting that much and that old, alive.

They don't have a soul. They can't comprehend what is wrong or why they hurt. They can't tell you when something hurts.

If it can be fixed- fix it. Don't take a life unnecessarily.

But when the bad days outnumber the good and there's not a thing that can be changed- do what you have to.

 It's unpleasent. It takes a part of your heart. The hurt stays for ages and maybe you'll have regrets, but keeping them alive at that point is cruel. It is SELFISH.

 They've lived a good long life and their time has come.

Yes, the circumstances will always be different.

You may wonder if you're doing the right thing.

A bout with samonella was the cause of the problem with my dog.

She was 10 years old.

Old by some standards, but still had the energy of a six month old puppy.

It was not her time.

But circumstances changed and she was taken away.

To keep her alive would have been cruel, and solely for the sake of MY heart.

I've always thought of dogs almost as little people.

You have to care for them and give them love just like you would a child.

But in this way- our pets and ourselves are different.

*paraphrased of course, seeing as it happened some months back