Guardian

This is in memory of my dog, Hootie, who peacefully passed away at my home Thursday of last week. I sat next to him as he drew his last breath. He was 17 years old and I'd had him since I was five. I am now 21. He was always there for me, and I know he still is, just in a different way. He had been through so much, such as biting an electric fence, being run over, being shot by a BB gun(we know this because the BB was still embedded in his leg); he had begun to go blind and deaf, and was losing many of his teeth. But, despite all that, he carried on. I began to start referring to him as indestructible. But I had to face the facts as he began to start stumbling around, not walking very far. He had trouble breathing due to a heart murmur. He didn't seem to be in any pain, so we decided to wait and see. Then, while he was in my room on a blanket, I noticed he had even more trouble breathing. I sat down beside him, petting him, somehow knowing that this was it and there was nothing I could do. Hootie may be gone, but my love for him will always remain.
The photo is one of the last ones taken of him. The cat is Samantha, who I took in about six months ago. They rarely get that close to each other, so I like to think that she was watching over him and decided to photograph it. It is very similar to the last picture taken of my previous cat, Marco, in which Hootie is lying next to him, also considered rare, a few days before he passed back in July.