After what seemed like hours, she returned and led us into a room I can’t even describe because my eyes noticed nothing besides the helpless red Dachshund with an IV in his right, front paw on a metal table. When he saw us, he made a pitiful attempt at greeting us with a wag of his tail. The vet left us alone with him for a few minutes and as we pet him he attempted another greeting by trying to lick our hands, but his tongue was hanging halfway out of his mouth. When the vet returned, we did our best to comfort him as his body stilled and the awareness bled from his eyes.
 
Cody’s body was returned to us in a small cardboard box. I couldn’t resist taking one last look at him before putting him in the hole we spent an hour digging into the half frozen ground of our backyard. Amazingly, he looked exactly like he did when he slept, but only one thought raced through my mind, “Did we let it go too long?”