Sorry to hear about your dog Sammitch. I've gone through 3 pet deaths last year and I know how sad those can be.
One of our dogs, a 10+ year old mongrel with no name gave birth in front of our doorstep, the pup was DOA and the mongrel staggered around for a bit, drank her milk and went backyard to lie down and pass away.
The other was my in-laws' guard dog, who tried to climb over a bench while she was on a leash and ended up getting hanged, with the leash twisting itself on her jaw which prevented her from making a noise and alerting people.
The last was a really old shi tzuh(it was already an adult when they bought it, it stayed with them for about 5 years) who suffered from the same thing as Jake (old age/liver failure), it started while me and my wife was on vacation, and it seemed like it just waited for her to come back. When my wife visited, it ate solid food before going to sleep. It didn't wake up again.
