Despite her difficulties, she still wagged her tail for us up through Monday, the day before she died. Yesterday morning, I found her trapped in the bathroom, lying under the toilet and breathing heavily. Later that day, she collapsed in our yard after being let outside. Janelle brought her in, but Annie was not able to stand after that without collapsing. By the time I got home from Lincoln, Janelle had laid Annie on the dog bed because Annie had been sliding around the floor without a lot of control as she tried to stand again.
As I prepared to leave from my evening class, I heard Annie barking. It was a weaker bark, but it had the tenor of the bark she used to give when chasing squirrels and rabbits (and skunks) when she was in better shape. I checked on her, and found that she was quite asleep and dreaming, her legs twitching like they often have while she dreams. She did not wake when I petted her, but continued her dreaming.
When I arrived from my evening class several hours later, I found Annie where I had left her, but no longer breathing. Janelle said that Annie had passed away sometime during the time that she dropped the boys off at CCD. We told Trevor and comforted him, and then decided to let the little boys know. They had just gone to bed, so I woke them and gave them the option to say goodbye. At first neither wanted to do it, but when I told them that they would not be able to see her tomorrow, they both went to see her. Connor petted her tail before going back to bed.
Trevor and I then took Annie's body to my parents' house and, with the help of my father, buried her in their backyard near where we buried Domino and the family pets of my youth. I had debated going into school today as I was crying almost nonstop since finding that she was dead. I decided to go anyway, but only informed my carpool compatriot as we were limiting whom we told before letting our daughters know. Katrina had to perform a solo today, and we wanted to wait until after that was over so she wouldn't have to worry about losing her composure. Work ended up not being as hard as I thought it would be, and I made it through the day without crying again until I started writing this entry.
Annie was a great dog for our family; she was (and is) a part of our family, and is (and will be) sorely missed. I look forward to seeing her again in the life beyond. Hopefully she and Domino are keeping themselves company.