Our poor Chewybear....

Louie at 2years old
Such good buddies
Our wonderful gentle giant
Making yet again another bed out of a single article of clothing, he even does it with socks! lol
This is going to be one of the hardest and longest posts I write, I have been trying to finish it since sunday and I just have to stop, the screen gets too blurry with all my tears. Well you all know our animals are our kids, they always have been and always will be. I came home Saturday night after work to find Louie not using his left leg again at all. The last time he did this was last year when he tore his cruciate, and we had it repaired. At first I thought well maybe he just slept on it wrong, then as he walked down the hallway he screamed in pain, screamed, not whined. I knew he had torn it again. So, needless to say I have been in constant tears since then.
Dan came home from work the next morning and we waited up for the vet to open and they got us right in. Dr. Bruner did the same test she did on him last year and got the same results, she says she thinks he has torn it again. Short of going in and looking at his tendons and ligaments in surgery this is the best test we can do.
Louie is already 5 1/2 years old. Giant breeds like Louie usually only live 6-8 years. Unfortunatley the bigger you get in the dog world the shorter your time on earth is. Dan and I have decided not to put Louie through surgery again, due to his age, his not so pleasent recovery and other things. Our only options at this point are to put him to sleep or try to make him as comfortable as possible for as long as he is having a good quality life. We have him on pain medication and some other things to see how he does. The vet said we should at least give him a week and then if he still isn't using it we need to think about his quality of life. It's only a matter of time before his other knee will go out, these giant breeds are just too big to support themselves on three legs like other breeds can.
I have been really really depressed ever since we found out, he is just the best dog ever and has been through so much with me since he was a tiny puppy. It's so heartbreaking because it's not his mind or personality that is gone, he is still with us, it's his leg, and he is happy as ever until he tweaks his leg the wrong way and cries out in pain. We love him so much and can't imagine life without him. Dan and I decided to take these next few weeks and watch him and help him as much as we can. As hard as it will be we are not the type of people to let him suffer just to be around for our emotional comfort. So, this holiday is going to be a little sad to say the least. I am trying to look at it different, as the best christmas with him and not the last. The last pic is of what Dan got to walk into the other morning, Louie can't really get up the stairs anymore too well so I slept on the living room floor with him and of course George had too also! Send lots of good thoughts our way for our chewybear.