13 years ago, The Hubs and I decided our family needed a dog. He was still just The Boyfriend back in the day and he was still navigating a never ending divorce along with the older girls who seemed to be wrapped up in it no matter how hard we tried to keep them protected from it all. We thought having a little ball of happy puppy fluff to come home to (when they came to our house) would do them good. I had a very specific idea of what I wanted. And I know you're not surprised that I'd made a list:
- Must be good with kids. - In the middle of a divorce the last thing we needed was an aggressive dog!
- Must be short hair. Honestly folks, we live in So Cal, on top of make the poor pup suffer in this heat, I didn't want to be cleaning up dog hair for days.
- No drool. Seriously, this was a deal breaker. I don't like animals to lick me, but drool? Yeah, no.
- On the smaller size. Do any of you remember that my house is like the size of a suitcase? I wanted a dog who wouldn't take up all of the living room just by lying down.
We discussed these items. We all agreed. And then we started searching the local humane society website DAILY for our new little addition. We looked for a long time before an adorable face popped up along with his two brothers - one of who was a bleu, and the list kinda went out the window. As an Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix, we were sure he'd be good with the kids - both herd dogs and watch dogs he wouldn't be aggressive. And, he wasn't a drooler. I expected him to be on the small side due to his mixed breed, but no. Our dog ended up being HUGE, and clearly he wasn't a short hair, but at least I got 2 of my 4 wish list items right? Oh and they were all so pretty, so I called The Boyfriend and had him rush down to the humane society. By the time he got there, our pups two brothers had long waiting lists, but not our boy. He was clearly waiting for us. The Boyfriend put our names on the list and we figured we'd have him home before Christmas. Little did we know...
A few weeks after we were assured to get him, we got a phone call from the Humane Society letting us know his brother (the bleu) had come down with Parvo. A very contagious and deadly disease. All three pups were being quarantined just in case. So, we waited. We hoped the phone WOULDN'T ring because that would mean he still hadn't come down with the disease. Then we heard the news the blue hadn't made it and we all held our breath. It was agony waiting to see, but six weeks later, we finally were allowed to pick up our pup, who by now was much bigger than we'd anticipated.
Our pup has gone on camping trips, grocery runs, and hikes. He's slept on the floor in each of the kids rooms often wandering from room to room to check on everyone (including us!) as the night wore on. Although I will say here, that he was way more LW's dog than anyone else. She was most definitely his person.
He was our watch dog, sure to alert us if anyone came to the house or just got too close. He patiently put up with first the two cats with Jack playing head of house and then later when he was much older still patiently put up with our two new kittens (now 2 years old). As the years wore on, he started having a lot of trouble with his hips and couldn't get around as well as he used to, but he still LOVED a good roll in the grass.
It transformed him back into the little puppy we all remembered.
Yesterday, our pup's old age finally caught up to him, and he passed - I believe - peacefully in his sleep - doing what he did best, guarding us all. We had 13 amazing years with our boy - 13 years of loving and being loved. We hope he's at the rainbow bridge with Jack who left us a year ago tomorrow, just waiting for the rest of us before starting our next adventure together. We already miss you.
Morpheus
2001-2014
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