Al

Al is a black lab mix and he's 14 years old. I'm afraid that this might be Al's last year, but who knows, I hope he surprises us! He's almost completely blind, he doesn't eat much (Al's favorite thing in the world has always been food, so it's a bit disconcerting), he's lost some weight, and he can't get around very well.

It's hard to know when it's time to put a dog to sleep (I've only had to do it once in my life with Pickles, and it was one of the worst things I've ever gone through). He doesn't seem to be in any pain, he still gets excited for his treats and if we take him to the lake he will run and swim (although he'll be in pain later and have to take a painkiller, which is why we don't go to the lake very often any more. We use to go every single weekend.). So, I know he's not ready yet. It makes me sad to see him like this, but he still has such a great attitude and is so loving.

Al loves his 3 siblings and they love him. He has no desire to play the "chain of command" game, so he's no threat to the other 3 kids. He can't really play with them much any more, but every once and awhile he'll try to play a little bit. Here's a video of the three other kids playing in the snow (if I uploaded it correctly) and you can see how Al got in there just a little bit. Unfortunately he can't run, jump and wrestle any more, but you can see that he'd like to.