It's always hard to watch a beloved dog get older. They're not as frisky as they were in their younger days. They sleep more. Maybe their eyes dim and they become hard of hearing. Their hips and knees deteriorate, making it difficult or even impossible for them to go up and down stairs.

Some of us get to the point where we're afraid to take an old dog to the veterinarian. We fear we're going to get bad news, or maybe even the worst possible news, for there comes a time when veterinary science can do no more.

And so it was with Baron, a 14-year-old Labrador retriever with chronic bronchitis and some joint problems. Medication was successfully treating both conditions, and he was doing really well for an old guy. He was happy and pain-free.

Several months ago, "he started vomiting and choking after eating" though he seemed to be OK otherwise, said his owner and partner, Bonnie Rizzino, of Mt. Lebanon. That continued for several days, she said, so she made an appointment with the dog's regular veterinarian.

She was shocked when the vet said, "You might as well put him down."

Is that not the worst day in the life of every pet owner? And Baron is more than a pet, for Mrs. Rizzino is blind and Baron was her partner and professionally trained guide dog until 2004, when he retired. When Mrs. Rizzino got another Labrador retriever guide dog, Nugget, from Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Baron stayed with the family and became "just" a pet.

Baron adjusted quite well to the change, though Mrs. Rizzino felt bad about leaving him home alone when she worked as a case manager at Blind & Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh.

Now, 14 is very old age for a Labrador retriever, and Mrs. Rizzino knew she had been lucky to have him for so many years. She just wasn't ready to say good-bye.

Baron is alive today because Mrs. Rizzino decided to trust her own instincts. She is not opposed to euthanasia. She doesn't believe in letting a dog suffer, but she didn't think Baron was suffering. She declined the vet's advice, took Baron home and made an appointment with another veterinarian.

She told the new vet that she had heard "these horrible gurgling noises in Baron's belly." She said the dog had been eating the same premium dog food for years. She wondered if switching to a formula for older dogs would be beneficial.

"The new veterinarian changed his food and he is doing well. I am so glad I got a second opinion," Mrs. Rizzino said.

Now the moral of this pet tale is not to ignore a veterinary diagnosis or recommendation just because it is not what you want to hear. Veterinarians go to school for a long time and have a lot of knowledge and experience. But no one is right 100 percent of the time.

We, the clients, have the right to weigh information and advice that a veterinarian gives us. We have the right to ask questions, and we have the right to seek another opinion.

We also have the right to trust our instincts. Mrs. Rizzino thought Baron still had some quality time left, and she was right.

Many of us hope that our dogs and cats will live long, happy lives. We hope they will die peacefully, in their sleep, in their own beds surrounded by the people they love. All too often, that doesn't happen and pet owners have to decide whether it is time to have the animal "put down," or euthanized.

This is a very tough and individual decision. The things I watch for include pain that cannot be controlled with medication and loss of appetite accompanied by a quick and dramatic weight loss. I look in the animal's eyes for that spark that indicates there is still some joy and some quality of life. Does the cat purr? Does the dog still wag its tail?

Animal lovers are often pretty hard on each other, criticizing some people, for instance, for putting a cancer-ridden dog or cat down "too quickly" before symptoms of the disease appear. Others criticize owners for letting a terminally ill animal live and suffer "too long."

May that awful, end-of-life decision always remain in the hands of the pet owner.