First; if a dog owner asks this questions, the answer should never be "Now!" or even worse, "Yesterday". This decision can't be made by anybody else but the dog owner or the one who lives with the dog. Anybody else, be it relative, friend, trainer, breeder or veterinarian, can only help carefully by compassionately sharing experiences, explaining progression or status of the dog as they see it (the vet) and supporting the dog owner by being there for them and giving them a shoulder to lean on or listening ear.

Most people don't want their dogs to suffer and make that their first priority. Others might have difficulty letting go of their dear friend of many years, need more time or believe in letting nature take its course without interfering. It's important to support these decisions without arguing, as this time is hard enough for everybody.

So before I give you my answer to the question posed, I'll give you my insight, which is a mix of my German veterinary background, my experience as a dog training instructor since 2002, my conversations with clients and friends and my personal experience going through this not too long ago.

About a year ago, I had to say good-bye to my two best dog friends of the last 12-16 years, both within 6 weeks.

Both dogs had their very own story and their very different health reasons why I decided to take the dreadful trips to the vet when I did. During the weeks before that, I needed to take time to talk to family and friends about my dogs and their condition, to brainstorm and to help me come to a decision – or not. But in the end, it was still my decision, every day. No one can make this decision for you.

People might lovingly say "Don’t you think it’s time?" but nobody can say "You should" or "You shouldn’t". I think even the first option is already too pushy, even though well-meaning. It is more important to SUPPORT your friend, relative or client in their decision making process.

My dog Sally looked like skin and bones for quite a while, but she still galloped up the hill and ran happily after the ball in the facility and on the field. She was already a very finicky eater due to her cancer, and combined with recurring diarrhea, she lost more and more weight. I was hoping for that clear cut moment of looking much worse from one day to the next, but the progression happened very gradually. I was willing to clean her nightly diarrhea disasters to give her/us more days of playing ball, but I finally realized that I’d rather want to make that trip to the vet before she totally crashes to spare her more accidents and to allow her the dignity to have been playful until her last day.

My other dog, Lucy, had more psychological, geriatric issues, although she looked rather healthier when I made the decision to help her over the Rainbow Bridge. She was far from healthy, but it wasn’t as visible as with Sally. This made it much harder for me, but Lucy was mostly blind and deaf and obviously becoming more physically and emotionally distressed daily by the loss of her world as she'd known it. Additionally, we had to factor into consideration a trip to Europe coming up that we couldn’t postpone. Leaving her in this state wasn't an option. But when I realized that it wouldn’t help her feeling better even if I’d cancel the trip to stay with her, that the problems she had still persisted, I found peace in my decision.

As a Certified Professional Dog Trainer with a veterinary background, I feel we should use our expertise only to increase our client's knowledge and lay out the different options as we see them. We're trying to give clients more knowledge and additional tools, maybe recommendations, but in the end they will be the ones to decide how to train their dogs or which treatment route to take - and when it is finally time to bid their dog a loving final farewell. .

I'll also like to be clear in saying that these decisions are not only based on the dog and its well-being, but also on the well-being of the people around the dog. "How do you feel about this?" is a question we need to ask the people living with the dog, not only the dog.

I hope for all of us that we can spend a long life together with our four-legged friends. But I also hope that you’ll find the right support around you, as I did, and that you’ll be at peace when the day comes to let your friend cross the Rainbow Bridge. The answer to the question "when is it time to say good-bye?" is: "Only YOU will know!"