Rest In Peace Sunny May 30th, 1994 - June 19th, 2008

by Jessica
(Sewell, NJ)

The Love of our lives, Sweet Sunny "Sunshine" Small, was born on May 30th, 1994, making him 14 years old at the time of his passing. Sunny lived a wonderful and blessed life here in the Small household and backyard.

He started deteriorating about six months ago when he took his first fall. From then on he was on a decline, and then on what seemed like borrowed time. He soon lost his bark and couldn’t stand up on his own, but the one thing he did not lose was his appetite. Oh yeah, Sunny was a great eater his whole life! He loved those dog bones and treats! We got so much joy out of watching him eat.

By the way, he was a Labrador Retriever, and we all know those dogs make great family pets. He was the prettiest color out of his breed, a pretty golden yellow.

We couldn’t ask for a more loyal friend and companion. We remember picking him out from a litter of 9 others. We chose him because he was the plumpest, furriest, and friendliest.

Sweet Sunny was declining rapidly and the day before we put him to sleep, he fell real hard and hurt his leg. He was trying to tell us his pain, but nothing was coming out, only tears streamed down his pretty face.

I awoke in the middle of the night worrying about my old boy and went to him, and held his paw. I said “sweetie, we are going to have to lay you down” and told him gently what our plans were, making sure to tell him that he will be re-united with his parents and siblings in a wonderful place. He looked in my eyes the whole time, and when I was finished talking, he laid his head down on my knee. I know he heard and understood everything I said because when I first went into him and tried to kiss him on his head, he snapped at me, but after I was finished telling him, he showed no resistance when I kissed him. So I laid down next to my boy for a few hours, crying and looking at my precious gift and before I knew it, my parents took him away from me and took him to the vet.

I have many, many memories of Sunny, but the memory that stands out the most was when he was just a pup barking at the bees. A bee stung him on his paw and he whimpered. I put ice on his paw and rubbed his belly to make him feel better.

That was the first time I realized animals can feel and think like we do. They have emotions too, just like us; we just have a hard time detecting their feelings.

Also, once I left the door open and he jetted out, leading our whole family on a chase through the neighborhood and park that lasted hours. Lastly, like I stated before, Sunny loved to eat everything in sight so when we accidently left the gate open in the laundry room where he stayed, he got into all the trash cans in the house!

Sunny brought such joy and sunshine into out lives. Here is a poem my sister wrote in memory of him:

Remember When...

Dear Sunny,

We first laid eyes on you 14 years ago,

What you had in store for us we did not know,

You showed us what love really is,

And now it hurts to see you go.

Remember the first time you played in the snow,

We let you loose and you lost control,

You tore my winter coat apart,

But now your passing has torn my heart.

All the love you brought was more than we could have bargained for,

You always greeted us at the door,

Your tail would slap us silly,

But we didn’t care,

We were just so happy to see you there.

The good times we had,

No other dog can replace,

You would eat up all our dinner plates,

Even things that go you ill,

Remember all those rabbits and birds you would kill?

You even ate a sock,

We could have lost you then,

But you stuck around,

Around to dance on your hind legs,

To roam the house,

To bark for a walk,

To cry for a bone,

You hated to be left alone.

Remember when you escaped that one day,

We ran so fast and long,

Because without you we could not go on,

Thank god we got you back,

You almost gave us a heart attack.

What about how we would throw you in the pool,

We just wanted to keep you cool,

Sure you were scared the first few times,

But your bravery never left our minds,

You even went in on your own,

To prove to us you could do it alone.

And then you lost your bark,

And started to decline,

Your legs would give up on you

And you would fall right to the floor

We hated to see you suffer

We could not bare it anymore.

So when the day came.

We knew you felt it too,

We were so sad,

But we knew it was better off for you.

We took you in and shed many tears,

As we thought back on your younger years,

We knew every life must come to an end,

But we never thought it would be our furry friend.