It's rather hard when one of our canine pals is dealing with illness or injuries. When do you say - it's time. It's different for everyone. That's okay but sometimes when you are in the thick of it, you can't see.

We would give our last meal to our dawgs. We adore them so. We fall hard for all our visitors too. It's just us.

Terra had a cruciate operation and has grade 4 hip dysplasia - not good. The vet said most would have put her down. I asked -will she be functioning again? Seeing she has 2 legs to do - he said there's a good chance but won't know till we see if she can strengthen her back end. She absolutely has atrophy from not using her leg. She must be walked around the block 3 times a day steady slow pace. It takes about 20 minutes each go around. Today she is in for her first rehabilitation on the underwater treadmill. I asked Nathan to take photos. I am hoping she does well.

Are we doing this for her or us? To be honest - both but if she had to live with constant pain, I would rethink this process. She will absolutely have arthritis. Perhaps be on Metacam all the rest of her life or maybe not.

She so much wants to be running like Treasure here and we can't blame her.

Before you read this as such a downer - it isn't. It's something we are all faced with eventually in humans and canines.

I do believe Terra is behind in her healing but she is also dealing with a hip and another bad leg - rather a tough one but if you saw her face when Nathan took just her to the car - well priceless.

Our big dawgs are a key element here - socializing the smaller sets to the big dawgs so they find that they are larger but just as friendly. That's important. Of course not all big dogs will be friendly but they must learn size is not a factor - it's about the dawg.

Gad, in our neighbourhood the dawgs must learn that even humans can be afraid of them. We try to get people over that but not always successful.

The puppies that will be 10 weeks tomorrow climb all over Terra and Whitney. They kiss them and snuggle with them. Plus the Goldens just truly know how to be a part of the Havanese pack.

We may never get a Golden after Whitney and Terra but we will always have some big dawg in our lives if we can. For us, the socialization element is critical and it is critical for people to expose their dawgs after they leave and have had their shots - to all sorts of things from dawgs to elevators to balloons etc.

Treasure the moments you have. Make the most of life and enjoy the laughter the Havanese bring - and they do - if you allow.