I’m really sorry to hear that; I know how huge a role your fuzzies play in your life.
I want to thank each and every one of you for your words. They really do help. Cricket may have only weighed 8 lbs but she left a gaping, raw wound the size of Texas in my heart.
I want to share what happened last night/this morning. I have a bookcase headboard on my bed, and my first Papillon Jay always slept in it- he actually shoved the books out of it that first night and claimed it as HIS. When he passed on, Cricket took to sleeping there. It has always been my habit if I woke during the night to reach up and give her a pet, and she would kiss my hand.
Well, last night, I woke and out of habit, I reached up to find the pillow empty; I broke down crying all over again. The next time I woke was about 7 this morning, and again, habit, I reached up. But this time, there was a warm, furry body there and I got a kiss on the hand.
My youngest Papillon, Bunny was sleeping there. And yes, I cried again.
Aww, what a beautiful dog. I’m sorry for your loss.
You have my condolences. I know what it is like to have to put a dog to sleep.
Okay, I made it to here, barely, without bawling, but not any further!
I love that Bunny was there for you, not as a replacement, never a replacement, but a sweet reminder of what makes the pain of losing a pet worth it. They are so easy to love and so hard to lose. I’m sorry.
Shit, I never even knew Cricket, but after reading what you wrote I miss her.
Wow, a few days ago you posted condolences in my thread, and now sadly I’m posting condolences in yours.
I’m really sorry to hear about your loss. You seemed to be braver about it though than I was about mine. When it’s time for an animal to go I can’t bring myself to stay. I just leave it to the vet and get the hell out.
Here as elsewhere, Kipling said it very well. So sorry for your loss, but that’s dogs for you, inevitably. 
Malacandra, now I’m crying as I go to work, after reading that poem.
Malacandra, I am vvery familiar with that heartbreaking poem. It is so, so true. We know this, every time we bring a puppy into our lives, and yet… we do it.
And Nobody… Everyone has their own feelings about staying or not staying. No one is right or wrong. For me, I want my voice telling them I love them to be the last thing they hear. Brave? Not hardly. Bawling like a baby the whole time. But I do it for them.
Again, thank you everyone. It helps to know I’m not alone.
I’m sorry, PapSett. They do leave a hole in you when they leave, don’t they.
With all due respect to the OP, could a mod add [Dog] to the thread title? Until the fourth paragraph of the OP, I thought that she had lost her child, not her dog.
What a sweet puppy. So sorry for your loss.
Thank you for sharing. I’m so sorry. 
For some of us, our dogs (and cats, horses, rabbits, birds, etc) ARE our children. There is in my opinion no more offensive phrase than ‘it was just a dog’.
The grief of losing a pet is no less, and because it is seen as ‘just;’ a dog, we are not supposed to feel the same emotions. We are expected to carry on with life as if nothing is wrong and ignore the fact that our heart is breaking. There is no brrievement leave when you lose a pet.
And furthermore, the second sentance says: My oldest Ppillon Cricket was diagnosed with a severe heart murmur about a year and a half ago. With medication, it was largely kepy under control, but the last few months she has been having more and more bad days.
A Papillon is a dog breed, not a child.