After being spared, Bela the dog is put down

Maybe it is just best to think of the happy ending. It is, perhaps, the only way to have one dog's life make sense.

And indeed, Bela, the German Shepherd, had a terrific final 28 days.

And he earned them. After a story of death and outrage and social media and snow storms, Bela spent four weeks at an idyllic shelter for orphaned and abandoned animals in southern Utah. It was going to be his best chapter. It just happened to be his shortest.

After romping and sleeping and fetching and overall dog happiness, Bela woke up sick on Sunday. His abdomen was distended and he was breathing fast. Tests showed fluid around his lungs and heart and nodules in his lungs. He had a fast-growing cancer. Veterinarians at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary put him down on Sunday.

A sad ending to what looked for a while to be a happy story. There is no doubt it began as an odd story.

On Nov. 25 of last year, Bela's owner died in her home near Aurora, Indiana, 30 miles west of Cincinnati. Bela was found with her, and it is clear Connie Ley and Bela were close. You can hear Bela barking clearly on Ley's phone answering machine as if they were leaving a message together.

In her will, Ley requested that a friend take Bela, or that he go to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. But the friend did not want the dog, and the Utah shelter had never been contacted by Ley.

That brought the final option in Ley's will: Kill Bela, cremate him, and mingle his ashes with Ley. They could be together forever.

And that was exactly what was going to happen. Bela was close to getting the needle, but then word got out and people went apoplectic. The very idea of killing a healthy dog almost broke Twitter and Facebook.

That's when Best Friends said no. It was to be a Christmas miracle. Best Friends flew out, got delayed by a snowstorm, and then drove Bela back to Utah to their no-kill sanctuary of rolling hills and green trees and happy animals. Bela arrived on Dec. 29. And everybody there loved Bela. The keepers and the other dogs all seemed to adore him.

"Bela was a great dog who made many friends and was quickly becoming one of the most popular dogs at the sanctuary. Our staff had grown to love him as the sweet and wonderful dog he was, and every one of us who knew him is devastated by this turn of events," said Francis Battista, a co-founder of Best Friends Animal Society in a statement. "Bela will be greatly missed."

Best Friends Animal Society has a custom for animals "who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge at Angels Rest." Those dogs are typically given a final resting place at Angel Canyon. (In case you were wondering, it's a real place.)

But not Bela. No, the folks at Best Friends decided that he needed to go home again. Connie Ley's final wishes will be granted. Best Friends will cremate Bela, and send his ashes back to Indiana so that he and his owner can sit and stay forever.

May they rest in peace.