Sudden death in my dog

My dogs name was Reese. He was about 15 years old, a golden retriever german shepherd mutt, maybe. We aren't really sure. Last night, around 1 am, he starting crying, and he couldn't get up. This was sort of normal, because he has a bit of arthritis and it's been very cold here recently. But he was having more and more trouble than normal. He defecated in the living room, which has never happened in the last 14 years he's been with us. He was very well house trained. My parents were going to take him to an emergency vet, but he recovered, so we decided to wait until morning came along. By 4 he had begun to crying and have problems again. He was panting, drooling more than I've ever seen him, his paws were shaking, and his eyes were wonky. They took him to the vet and all they said was that he was old and had to be put down. But that's all they told us. What happened? Did he have a stroke? A seizure?

[Jerry_NJ]

Sorry I can't give you a definitive single answer, but I think it was all the above: old age, stroke, seizure.  

We had a big (90 pounds or so) Golden Retriever that we had to put down at just over 12 years old, due to cancer in his chest - he first showed the problem with "fat pockets" on his chest.  These were cancerous.  Had some removed and he live on for another year plus.  Prior to that he had what I observed first hand, a stroke that made him cripple in the rear legs. He went down and drooled and lost his defecated on the front side walk.  We got him back on his feet with about a month of regular DIY physical therapy - the break through was getting him in water and getting him to dog paddle.  

I share all of this in one case to share your sadness, which I still have three years later for our Golden, and to demonstrate an example of a case the vet believes was a spinal stroke, not a brain stroke.  

[Margot49]

So sorry to read about your dog dying so suddenly.  There seem to be a few postings like this lately.  
Agree, it was probably old age related, just as with people, they can have the same problems.  It may not be a comfort but, to be honest, if it is their time, I would rather they pass quickly and at home.  Trying to care for a dog with cancer or some terminal illness is so hard to do.
15 years is a good life span so Reese must have been one lucky dog to have such a loving family.
Hugs to you.

[Shannon93]

Thank you. You're right, 15 years is a good amount of time. The vet said that they would have been able to patch him up, and he may have been able to come home for a while...but we decided that it was time to let him go. He had arthritis, and we didn't want him to have to be in pain. It would have been quite selfish of us. Thank you for your thoughts.