Dear Best-Friend, Please Don't Die!

I thought my dog, Ginger, might die soon.

(Okay, that's too dramatic! I just thought that her age might be getting the best of her or that she may be sick.)

One recent weekend, my dog was acting strange.

I was playing Halo 3 in my brother's room and she walked in. I called for her to jump up on the futon bed, but she didn't. I figured it was one of those times where she just felt lazy and forced you to pick her up, so I ignored her.

She left eventually, and came back later, though I didn't notice because I was in the middle of the game.

I was playing on Multi-player mode, so the game lasted for about 10-15 minutes. Once the game was over, I noticed her standing in front of the bed. Then I realized she had been there the whole time and her front two legs were shaking. I picked her up and put her on the bed next to me in the mound of blankets and played another game.

After that game was over, I looked at her again.

She had her head partially up looking at me.

I asked her if she wanted to go outside, thinking that maybe she needed to use the bathroom or just wanted to chase a squirrel.

She just kept looking at me.

Normally, her ears would perk up and she would sit up or jump off the bed and run in circles.

But she didn't.

Disturbed, I turned off my game and took her to my mom's bedroom.

I told my mom and the whole time, Ginger kept her head up and stared at me.

We didn't know what it could be and then my dad got home from work.

He said she could be sick, but still tried to get her to play with him.

She wouldn't.

He took her outside, making sure she walked on her own.

Normally, she would run off and play, but she didn't.

He took her inside and gave her a treat, thinking she might be happy to eat something, but she didn't eat it.

So he told me to go to bed with her and give her the treat.

Once on my bed, she ate it and seemed like her normal self.

All night, I prayed for God to let my BEST-FRIEND be fine again and hoped that it wasn't her age getting to her (she's 9 years old).

The next day, she seemed fine after breakfast and a bath.

I'm so glad that seems fine, and still does, but it scared me that night and morning after when she was shaky.