Jasper.
Last week was hard for our family as our beloved Golden Retriever, Jasper, suddenly got severely ill and died.
We cried and cried, of course. We miss him now whenever we are coming home or going out, whenever we see someone walking a dog that looks like him, whenever I don't need to step carefully over him in the night...
He was crazy about his ball. It's one of those bright orange and blue indestructible ones that bounce and float and can be far-flung using the chuck-it stick. This had two benefits; for Jasper it meant longer runs for each thrown ball, and for us it meant no touching the slobbery ball ;)
He was also crazy about stealing food! We had to be ever vigilant to prevent him gobbling whatever he could get his mouth on (but oddly, not his own food. He ate plenty of that, but only at mealtimes. Otherwise, he couldn't be bothered. It was the appeal of 'forbidden fruit', I guess!)
Once he sniffed out the remains of a bag lunch in Jack's bedroom, wolfed down the ham and lettuce sandwich with the ziplock sandwich bag, and spit out the lettuce. Just the lettuce. That's all we found!
He was amazingly gentle, and extremely tolerant of children. On more than one occasion I've walked into a room and seen the sweet dog lying with a one-year old baby playing with long pink tongue or his floppy black lips! He looked bored, and like he'd prefer they stopped, but wouldn't stir or frighten them ever.
The only real risk factor for little ones around him was his tail-wagging!
His loving, loyal heart is what I'll miss most. When I was sick, he'd always lie down beside the bed or couch and never wake me, never demand anything. It was incredible; like he understood and cared.
Thank Heaven for dogs, and I am sure that all dogs go to Heaven! Especially our Jasper boy...
We cried and cried, of course. We miss him now whenever we are coming home or going out, whenever we see someone walking a dog that looks like him, whenever I don't need to step carefully over him in the night...
He was crazy about his ball. It's one of those bright orange and blue indestructible ones that bounce and float and can be far-flung using the chuck-it stick. This had two benefits; for Jasper it meant longer runs for each thrown ball, and for us it meant no touching the slobbery ball ;)
He was also crazy about stealing food! We had to be ever vigilant to prevent him gobbling whatever he could get his mouth on (but oddly, not his own food. He ate plenty of that, but only at mealtimes. Otherwise, he couldn't be bothered. It was the appeal of 'forbidden fruit', I guess!)
Once he sniffed out the remains of a bag lunch in Jack's bedroom, wolfed down the ham and lettuce sandwich with the ziplock sandwich bag, and spit out the lettuce. Just the lettuce. That's all we found!
He was amazingly gentle, and extremely tolerant of children. On more than one occasion I've walked into a room and seen the sweet dog lying with a one-year old baby playing with long pink tongue or his floppy black lips! He looked bored, and like he'd prefer they stopped, but wouldn't stir or frighten them ever.
The only real risk factor for little ones around him was his tail-wagging!
His loving, loyal heart is what I'll miss most. When I was sick, he'd always lie down beside the bed or couch and never wake me, never demand anything. It was incredible; like he understood and cared.
Thank Heaven for dogs, and I am sure that all dogs go to Heaven! Especially our Jasper boy...
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