This is Bruce, my family's labrador retriever, a gift to my mom from a fishing buddy back in 1994. He was a friendly, vivacious, slobbery dog, and a big lover of water -- whether in the sea or in the swimming pool. We took him to the park, around the neighborhood, to the farm, and out sailing, and he was always fun to have around.
Bruce has been struggling with cancer for the past few years now, and Mom just told me that she had to euthanize him, as he had gone deaf and blind, and was unable to eat. He had already lived a year longer than the vet had thought he would, mostly without pain, but now he was suffering badly, so it was time to end it.
This is the only photo of him I could find, taken in January 1997. We'll miss Bruce dearly. He goes off to join our other dogs, Woppy the Shetland Sheepdog, Dockie the German Shepherd, Julius the Golden Retriever, and Copernicus the Cocker Spaniel, wherever dogs go when they die.
Update: More photos of Bruce from Dec 2003, by which time he was much older than in the photo above.
