‘I know what you’re going through. Exactly what you’re going through,’ I say as we hug each other tight.

‘I can’t cope with losing her,’ he says.

‘Are you sure you have to put her down today? She seems so bright,’ I say through my tears.

‘I don’t know, I just don’t know.’ My father shakes his head.

‘Then let me have her while you are away. Don’t do it today. If she has to be put down while you are away, I can do it. I won’t let her suffer. You know I’ll look after her.’

In a cruel twist of fate, only three weeks after my much-loved springer spaniel Brin died, my parents’ dog, Brax, is near the same point.

A mystery illness over the last few weeks has left her finding breathing extremely difficult and any exercise – bar a gentle walk into the garden – near-impossible. Extensive investigations have revealed nothing and there is no treatment.

On Wednesday they made the appointment to put her to sleep. I went to say goodbye. She was poorly, yes, dying, yes, but in pain? No. So she is now here with me, perhaps seeing out her final days in the same quiet corner where Brin spent hers, receiving the same love and attention that Brin did and if the time comes we will make the same journey to the vets that we did three weeks ago.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find—it’s your own affair—
But . . . you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!).
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone—wherever it goes—for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.
(The Power of the Dog – Rudyard Kipling)

To those of you that come here after searching for ‘end stage canine liver disease’ I can only apologise if what you read here makes you dread what comes for you. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I hope you find strength and courage. I hope your grief gives way to good memories quicker than mine has.

And now I am about to go through it all again. And watch my parents go through it too.