Brian,
I am so sorry to hear about your pal Sammie. Even though he will be leaving your family soon, know that he will be done with his suffering and will be waiting for you in the afterlife.
I have a yellow Lab named Payton who is a little older (11.5 yrs), and I'm dreading the day that I will have to make the same decision. Last Thanksgiving, I got a call from friends who had a littermate of my dog - they had to put their dog down for the exact same reason as Sammie.
This June, I took my Payton in for his yearly checkup. I thought that he had been putting on some weight because he was getting chunky in the belly area, but the vet thought something else was going on. She took an ultrasound of the abdomen area and recommended immediate surgery. It turned out that he had a 13-pound splenic mass removed which fortunately was benign. He is now back in good health again, and I consider every day that he's still with me a blessing.
