another pack member is gone...

lucy has been with us for years.  since dan & i started dating.  i think our 5th date was going to the kennel to help my mom find a 2nd dog to keep sophie company.

lucy was my mom's companion all these years.  she was a brindle beauty and a bit of a mystery.  she will be missed.

saying goodbye to another of our pack...

in my family, our dogs & cats are part of the family.  and when we lose one of them, we grieve.  there are no funerals or obituaries for our beloved animal companions, so i try to pay tribute here on my blog.

here's one of the first photos i took of precious back in 2009.  she had the funniest habit of showing her teeth when she first met us.  

my mother-in-law nancy adopted precious from one of her elderly patients who had passed away.  precious was an older gal, and as we know it's hard finding senior dogs a home.  but nancy took her in and they became best pals.

precious was devoted to nancy.  she would follow her everywhere.  she'd watch her with a look of pure love.  nancy gave her a wonderful home & they had 4 great years together.  car rides & cats to hang out with, a yard with a garden & a pond.  precious lived the good life!

losing a beloved animal companion is heart breaking.  all you can do is remember the good times.  and someday be ready to let another dog (or cat or even a bird) into your heart.

bowie was a friend of mine...

handsome bowie

bowie and morris became friends

bowie liked to lay in the glass windows 

bowie thought my window of plants was a cat salad bar 

 cat friends

 when morris passed away, we got a replacement (but it wasn't the same)

so we got hank!

hank & bowie has some fun 

RIP sweet bowie

the one we couldn't save...

my life is all about dogs.  i am constantly talking about my dogs, taking their pics.  i also like to talk about how adopting a rescued dog is so awesome.  i love how our family is full of dogs that were saved from the hard life of being a stray, or worse.  i donate money to the volunteer group that is responsible for rescuing these dogs.

every day, i find myself feeling so lucky to have these dogs in my life.  i once wrote about "what the dogs have taught me", but i had yet to learn this most painful lesson; we can't save them all.

over the last week, a sad saga occurred.  a dog was in trouble, and a handful of volunteers tried to help her.  it was all unfolding on facebook, and every day i checked, hoping to see good news.  but there was to be no good news.

the last time i checked, there were 184 comments on this post on facebook.  everyone was so hopeful, and now we're all devastated.  she is going to be buried at connie's, which is appropriate since she's the one who tried so hard to save this girl.  and she's the one who saved charlie from the same fate.

i've been posting "pet obituaries" on my blog for years.  for the dogs we've loved and lost.  and i wanted to do the same for this girl.  the one we loved but couldn't save.

losing a member of the pack...

rachel & wayne lost their dog eiko last night. it was sudden. he was a beautiful german shepherd who was by wayne's side day & night. he was also an accomplished escape artist who was able to sneak out of windows and magically appear in the driveway!

when i met him, it was when i was house sitting. i let myself in the door and he sort of lunged and growled at me. he was a protector and doing his job. i tried telling him i was there to feed him, and when he saw that maubee was happy to see me, he backed off.

he was a great companion to wayne, rachel, donna martin, numerous cats, junior, and many others. he liked to sleep on rachel's side of the bed, to be near to his beloved dad wayne.

he will be missed.

griffin...

well, the sad day has arrived, and griffin is no longer with us. we tried 3 different types of chemo and none worked. he went downhill fast. it was hard to take, but i'm glad he only had a few bad days and that we knew when it was time to let him go.

but let's remember the great times we had with the "old man puppy"! he was a big, shaggy, clumsy dog who thought he was a lap dog. he was full of joy. he had glorious eye brows.

ah hell, i've got 6 years of photos, blog posts, and videos. i tried to celebrated griffin every day, and i'll continue to do that with gilly and the next dog, and the next...

click here to read dan's thoughts on griff.

click here to watch a really sweet video of gilly & griffin.

click here to read the 30-odd posts i wrote about griffin, with tons of photos.

click here to watch griffin eat a stolen cucumber.

click here to watch griffin rip up a stuffed toy (while cleo watches on).

click here to read my thoughts on loving (& losing) our beloved pets.

and here's the ad that started it all... a fitting end to this post:

cleo.......

derek trucks commented on the passing of les paul. he said, "far too many times you see people go down, and it's tragic. with les, it's actually a good story, you know? that's the way to live: go out smiling and making the people around you happy."

that's what i would say about cleo. with cleo, it's a good story. that's the way to live: she went out smiling and making the people around her happy.

there's so much more to say, but i'm just going to post some of my favorite pics of our old girl....

we lost one of our pack....

i think most of our friends and family have heard the sad news, that caesar passed away friday night. i've been through this before (with dixie, miles, maggie, gus, shadow, jack...) but i forgot how much it hurts. we're grieving and trying to get through it. that's all. we did "the right thing" for old caesar, and it was "his time" to go... it still hurts. but life goes on. cleo is up on the love seat, licking the cushions for some reason. i'm yelling at her to stop, while griffin climbs up on the couch with dan. life goes on...

click here to see a really cool slide show that groundcat put together.

and here's something to make us laugh a little.....

another sad goodbye......

gus passed away last night. here are some of my favorite pics of old guster........

hiding in his "nest" behind the bushes (when he didn't want to come back inside)

super handsome!

modeling the latest in patriotic fashion....

being sweet and jumping around like a pup

more handsome posing and playing wild with griffin

i liked to dress gus up wheneve he came down to hang out with me, dixie and griffin. (dixie had a huge crush on him...)

the dogs after their baths (which gus did not appreciate!)

gus liked to hang with the humans (i wish i had a photo of him and zak watching soccer together!)
big-headed handsome fella...

(it seems like we've lost so many beloved pets in the last year or so. i guess all we can do is remember how much we loved them and the good times. then we can go give the pets still with us a little extra affection.
and since everyone has been asking: gus died from bloat, the same thing that took my mother's dog maggie. you can read more about it at this link.)