I just had this conversation about my dog a week ago. She's a yellow lab and she'll be 13 in November. Thankfully, she still gets around just fine. Last week she started getting a real nasty hack, though. More than the normal cough you usually hear when they catch a bug. We decided that the best choice would be to put her down if she had an incurable condition brought on by her old age or cancer that would cost a fortune to treat. She's lived a long, happy life and we owe it to her to not let her suffer. Luckily, she just had sever pnumonia (vet said he couldn't believe she was still able to breath) that can be treated for a modest fee using medication. But now it's official. If she starts getting bad, we'll kindly end her pain.

Good luck to you. Saying goodbye to an old friend is not an easy thing.