Pretzel had for several months become increasingly anxious and physically unstable. As we all do, I questioned and questioned and questioned, "Is it time," hanging on to the increasingly fleeting moments of joy. And as those moments became more rare, I knew there would be a day when I couldn't ignore the fact that the joy was gone. Looking through photos for this post has convinced me that I made the right decision. She changed so much in the last year despite my efforts to help her. I can only imagine the reunion she and Kiwi are having. He loved her so much. Pretzel came to me when she was 6 1/2 months old. She belonged to a client who had hired me for puppy training. They bought her from a pet store in a large mall in Southern California, thinking it would be a good idea to have a terrier in a mobile home park that didn't allow dogs. By the time she hit adolescence, they decided they had made a mistake and asked me if I could find her a better home. Forehead to the desk when I got their email. I had lost Buster to cancer only a few months before and wasn't looking to get another dog. I had Sandy, Moka, and Kiwi. But I had serious terrier envy and couldn't say no. They signed her over to me and I picked her up around Father's Day 2006. I discovered that she was almost agoraphobic, freezing in panic when I took her to the park the first time. But, I discovered that she adored kids so we went everywhere in search of kids and, soon enough, she was happy to go everywhere. I would just say, "Look! Kids!" Although I made feeble attempts to find her a home while I built her confidence, Kiwi was smitten with her so she stayed. As I look back at 15 years of photos, there must be hundreds of her with Kiwi. There are also hundreds of her in various jackets and blankets since she was always cold. When I lost Kiwi a couple of years ago, Cooper stepped up to become her best buddy. He's a bit confused about what's going on, but I'm convincing him that having my undivided attention is a good thing. We are adjusting. Here are a few of the gazillion photos I have of her. She was a character. Some of you who competed in agility with us will remember Pretzel with her football. She loved parading around all the setups outside the ring, football gripped in her mouth, head held high to keep it from dragging on the ground. As soon as she got someone's attention (who wouldn't notice this pipsqueak with the huge football), she would make eye contact, wiggle, and move on to find the next person to ooh and aah over her. She was a crazy resource guarder, once taking issue with our 70-pound Golden retriever, Lake, when she scooted under his head to try and grab his food from his dinner bowl and, when he growled at her, had a complete meltdown, stomping her feet and screaming at him in rage, his food dripping from her head. Gotta love a terrier. I'm glad she's having a great reunion with Kiwi, but we all miss her. She may have been small, but she took up a huge space in all our hearts.