My dog Butch lived to be a month shy of 17 years of age, positively ANCIENT for a shepherd. She was such a good girl, and was so full of life as a pup that we had to give her a guy name; she just always seemed like one of the guys!

She battled arthritis for 7 years, but we caught it early on because she had a low tolerance for pain and wouldn't get up that day, even though the case was mild. 7 years of "happy pills" got her legs going and slowed the progression down, but even those were not working all that well the past few months.

She had some old woman spunk in her till the end though. On Saturday morning, when they took her to the vet to put her down, she ambled around the backyard with her leash and collar on, evading my parents and wagging her tail, then pretending to fall over and being unable to get back up, even though her tail was wagging furiously.

I'll never forget how loving and playful she was, even in her old age, and I'll miss her dearly. She was always my girl, my good dog, my good girl. RIP Butch, you deserve it.

Commissioning art of her and my grandmother's Gshep who died a year ago pretty soon.