Eulogy: To the Goofy Dawgs in your Life

A little history before I start my story...I love dogs, my wife hates dogs, and is very allergic to them. That's the history. We lived in Alberta from 2007-09 and rented an old farmhouse in the country. The landlord's house was only a few hundred metres from ours, and they had a beautiful dog named Sasha. Sasha was a Turkish something-or-other, a herding dog of some kind, and was basically an outside dog and patrolled the farmland, keeping the elk, foxes, coyotes etc at bay. She would often be nicked up in the mornings following what I believed to be an epic battle with the local wildlife, but was likely not. The summer before we moved there, she had actually killed a coyote...pretty sweet. It didn't take her long to figure out that she now had two more people to look after, and two more people spoil her with treats. My wife hated to be home alone at night in our old farmhouse, but no matter what time I got in, Sasha was waiting on our porch, literally lying across the front of the door, protecting the house until I got home. She only did this if De was home alone, never if the house was empty, or I was home. Needless to say, De thought this was pretty cool, and it didn't take long for us to totally fall in love with Sasha, Deanna especially. I'd catch her waiting with Sasha on the porch, in the dark, in the dead cold (-30) of Central Alberta winter, because "the dog looked lonely". Sasha ran with De when she was training for her half-marathon's, and was so good with our friends little kids. Sometime's I'd catch De outside playing/wrestling with her, even though it meant she would have to shower after, because she'd have allergic reactions and such. Sadly, the spring before we moved back, Sasha didn't come home one night, and Wendy (our landlord) found her in the snow the next day. She had suffered a stroke and passed away. Since we live in town, we can't get a dog right away, but our plan is to move out to the country, so we can have an outside dog...since we obviously can't have one in the house. I'm pretty sure we already have her name picked out.

As I'm reading this I am lying here with Toby curled up behind my legs and Duke in a beagle ball on my feet. Duke is my first dog ever. I never grew up with dogs as my brother was allergic. Duke is a beagle/basset hound mix that we adopted only 2 years ago at the age of around 5 or 6. He was a stray picked up by the municipal pound in Aurora, ON, we drove 1.5 hours up north to meet him. His pics are in one of my old blogs from when we adopted him and Toby. Toby is our little rescue mutt from Ohio that was brought up to Mississauga. He is an unkown mix but looks like a minature border collie. I've only had two years with my boys and can't imagine life without a dog. Duke is my buddy, the 40 pound lap dog who is content to lay on top of you to sleep and get his belly rubbed. He loves everyone and will allow anyone do whatever they want to him as long as he can get a belly rub. He's the boy who sits at the door with this sad little look whenever I leave the house. Toby is a little nut who is my shadow. He has to follow me from room to room and sleep between my legs at night. His favourite thing is to lick your face and get you to chase him around with a toy in his mouth. I dread the day when one of them goes, but no matter if its today or 10 years from now I wouldn't trade one of the days between for anything. Not even the days when they misbehave or cause you grief. Nothing can't be forgiven when they place that fuzzy head in your lap, look up at you with those big brown eyes and lick your hand.

My Sammy(Golden Retriever) was the same way. Was always me and her sticking together through what ever came our way. Was always the daughters go-to for a hug to make her feel better. Never mom, dad, grandma. She'd just plop next to Sammy and lay her head on her. Kind of went the same way. We knew her liver was ailing for the years and one day she had the seizure. Vet said I can take her home and maybe get some more time. The thought of finding her at the bottom of the stairs from falling(takes time to recover mobility/balance) wasn't working out and I let her go. Then I beat my self up for weeks that I could have had more time. Swore I'd never get another dog and always felt that I'd betray Sammy if I did. Couple year later I would still occasionally call for her(just waking up, getting home, drunk). So, I walked to her urn, said "Sorry buddy but I;m getting a dog". Hell, if I'm gonna call for one, may as well have one come running. So now I have another true gem named Bella. She's a Black Lab/Golden Retriever mix and I love her to death. Follows me everywhere, smart as heck, trains super easy, and has given me more in a few years than I could ever give her back. She gave me peace and helped me let Sammy go a little more. No one that comes over can resist her. She'll gladly put her head in the lap of anyone with a free hand to give her a rub. Glad I held out so long before I got another dog but I won't be waiting very long to get a new one after Bella's time has expired.

http://www.indigo.org/rainbowbridge_ver2.html This is a very touching and inspiring poem that helped my family when our rotty passed away,my prayer's are with you.

My cousins had a Boxer and a Chihuahua that had puppies (the chihuahua was male). On my 5th birthday they gave me one of the puppies as a gift. He was just 6 weeks old and this little ball of white fluff sitting in an open box when I first saw him. I called him Snowball. For the next 19 years he was the one true thing in my life. Even to this day, just thinking about him gets me all choked up. Even when I moved away to go to culinary school I could count on him to just go nuts when I'd come home. One day, while away at school, I got a call from my dad telling me that he had passed. Apparently he'd had a seizure and when they took him to the vet he was told that the only thing they could do was put him down or wait for him to die. My dad had him euthanized (something for which I am grateful). That was 13 years ago. I haven't had a dog since but only because, since I left home, I haven't lived anywhere where a dog was allowed. Someday I will have a dog again, and while he/she will never replace my Snowball, I know I will never have anyone more loving and unswerving in their loyalty than a him/her.

had a blonde cocker-spaniel growing up named Trixie. Not the brightest bulb in the pack, but damn loyal and a sweetheart. When she got frustrated or annoyed, her lip curled up and she'd start "sneezing" at you. When she got older she started having tumors develop all over her. Got really hard for her to move around. After having some of the tumors removed, then regrow in the same spots....my parents decided it was time to put her down.