This is Zip aka Mr. Buddy. He’s 17yo and doing great for his age. He does have some significant health issues which I am choosing not to treat due to his age and the high cost of treatment, but clinically he appears to be comfortable and not in pain. He still gets out for light walks and brief games of fetch, but mostly just sleeps.

We have regular check-ins with our vet and she has stated that he doesn’t look like a dog who needs to be put down just yet, but she will go ahead and do it if I choose. She has also shared a few quality of life resources with me to help me decide when the time is right.

At this point in time, he is doing just fine and it’s entirely possible he could stick around comfortably until next summer. He has also far exceeded the average life span for a border collie and his time could come any day now. I am conflicted as to when to put him down due to external factors. I live in rural Alaska and the nearest vet is 2 hours away. Winter will be here by late October (if not sooner) and it’s not uncommon to get trapped in town for 1-2 weeks at a time if we have a big snow storm.

My biggest fear is that I’m going to wake up one morning this winter to find his health has taken a turn and he’s suffering - and that I may not be able to make it to the emergency vet for euthanasia in a timely manner if I am trapped in town due to unsafe road conditions. The very real possibility of him suffering for days or weeks is more than I can handle and I am considering putting him down before winter so we can end things on a good note.

I try not to speculate on things like that too much, but had a traumatic experience putting down my other border collie a couple of years ago. She was in great health, but one morning I just woke up and she couldn’t walk and was very ill. I took her to the emergency vet immediately. I slept in my car for 3 nights and chucked thousands of dollars towards diagnostic testing only to find out that she had advanced liver cancer and there was not a doctor in Alaska who could treat her. She had to be euthanized and it absolutely devastated me - I’m still not completely over it. I adored that dog and was so heartbroken I missed 10 days of work during a blackout period which almost got me fired. My biggest regret is that I let her suffer for 3 days instead of just putting her down immediately.

This past experience has left me wanting more control over future situations, so I think I would prefer to go ahead and schedule a euthanasia appointment with our vet before winter sets in, but it’s a tough call and I’m feeling quite conflicted over it. So, fellow border collie parents of Reddit, wwyd in my situation? Is it inhumane for me to go ahead and euthanize him when he’s in decent health due to my personal fears and external factors?