My Best Buddy, Goodbye

When I was about 15, My sister was living down in the same town as my dad, Elsinore, UT.  I had gone down for a few weeks to spend time with my sister and my dad.  One day my sister, Shanna, wanted to go visit a friend over in the local trailer park and I decided to go with her.  They had a litter of puppies and I sat down with their kids to play with them while we were there.  This one little pup kept crawling in my lap and would not leave me alone.  He followed me everywhere in their house and just wanted to be where I was, and he was only 5 or so weeks old.  I decided he must be mine and I took him home with me without permission.  On the way home, he started whining and I felt he needed to go, but the friend that was giving me a ride home didn't want to stop.  I ended up putting him down in his box and he ended up soiling it.  This little tiny pup actually acted very embarrassed to have gone somewhere other than outside.  I was surprised by his behavior, but this was just an introduction to just what kind of dog he was to become.

I got him home and amazingly my mom and step-dad let me keep him.  he had to be outside though and I hated that.  But the little fuzz ball fit right in and our cocker spaniel, Peaches, kept him company and my cat, Nikki Bean, became his play mate.

Just a couple of months old

Nikki was about six months old when I brought Chewy home, and they became good friends.  Chewy and I both missed him when got sick and left us at just a year and a half.  I can't help but think that he would maybe still be around, if he hadn't gotten sick.

Chewy grew up to be a fine little dog.  He took direction very well and picked up on new things very quickly.  I really didn't have to do a lot of training with him, he was naturally just a really good dog.  He was funny with rollover though, it took him forever to learn how to rollover and when he finally got it, he rolled over for everything for a day or two, he was so excited about it.  "Sit Chewy", he would roll over.  "Lay down", he rolled over.  It was so funny.

Just over a year old

The first six years, he lived outside on a chain in my parents back yard.  He had to be chained because he liked to wander. He got loose a couple of times and I got phone calls from people a neighborhood or two away to come get him.  He got himself caught between the little hut I had made to keep his food bowls out of the weather and the fence behind it one day and apparently there was a nail back there.  This happened when none of us were home.  In his struggle to get back out and, I'm sure, panic, he ripped his side clean open on a nail.  I took him to the vet and they got him cleaned up and then left it open, no stitches.  I found that really odd for how bad it was, but he kept it really clean and it healed up nicely.

When he about six, I moved out and got my own apartment and decided he would never be on a chain again and that he was going to be an inside dog, but the first day I had to go to work I wasn't sure how he would do in the house all day by himself and hadn't had a chance to test him.  I lived on the ground floor of a four-plex and happened to have the only apartment with a back door.  I decided I would chain him one more time, and left him out back.

When I got home from work, he was gone, chain and all.  I panicked and called the police and started searching the neighborhood until I finally found a kid who knew where he was.  A bunch of kids had found him early in the day and taken him.  I found out that one of the kids had been mean and practically tortured him all day.  I was so upset, and the kid's parents could have cared less, they did nothing.  I never left him out alone ever again and you know what, he never once had an accident inside that was not my fault or due to sickness.  He did however have a problem with kids after that.  He would tolerate them, but didn't want them near or touching him for the longest time.  He would walk away if they got too close after that.  I felt so bad.

He always loved his toys, and just begged you to play

One of my favorite pictures of him

I was walking him about a mile every day and hiking on the weekends at this time, and we were both in pretty good shape and am I ever glad he was strong and sturdy.  My friend Tina, that lived above me, and I were sitting on the porch one day, and quick as ever, Chewy took off out of the blue.  There was a cat across the street.  He took off right across the nose of my car that was parked on the street and the van that was coming never saw him.  He got slammed and rolled.  The guy stopped, I was screaming, we ran out to the street and he wasn't breathing.  He had blood coming out of his mouth.  He was stiff as a board and then he relaxed.  I was sure he was gone and I lost it.  The guy that hit him started crying too, and then Chewy started breathing again.  Tina and I rushed him off to the only vet we could find open.  Dr Roper looked him over and pronounced him just fine!  He had a concussion, a bit tongue, which is why he had blood coming out of his mouth, and a bruised shoulder. No broken bones!  I was so relieved!  He never chased cats and always looked both ways before crossing the street after that.  In fact the first time I wanted him to cross the street with me after he started shaking.  He remembered.

When he was about seven or eight, I lost my job and had to move back home.  I was so reluctant to make him be outside again and be on a chain and was heart broken by the idea.  I decided he was not going to live that way and that I needed to go back to school.  I talked to my sister and she and Kenton took him in and he lived with them for two years.  I was so grateful for this and that he didn't have to be outside, but I sure did miss him.  The first week he was there he fine, but then I showed up and spent the weekend with him and then left him again.  He was so upset with the realization that he was going to stay there that he went and peed all over their living room furniture!  I felt so bad for both him and them.

A couple years later I met the love of my life who also loves dogs and Chewy decided he liked him from the start.  We got married and brought Chewy back home to live with us in our tiny little apartment.  Stacie and Kenton missed him, but I was sure happy to have hm back.  Andy was the first and only person that could call Chewy away from my lap without bribing him.  I felt so betrayed the first time he did it.  LOL

This was taken at my dad's about a month after our wedding

He loved looking out the door and sunning himself in front of it.

We call this position the frog dog.

 Only a few months after we got married, we decided to get another dog.  Chewy was not too thrilled with this arrangement.  She is a cutie, but insisted on tugging on his tail.

We knew he didn't like her tugging, but he never chewed her out for doing it.

As she got bigger he decided she was okay, but they never did get close or play much.  Lily always tried, but Chewy almost always walked away.

At our second apartment, when Chewy was about 10 or so, he jumped off the couch one time and yelped. Now this dog was a manly dog, and never cried out or let you know he was in pain, so this surprised me.  I looked him over but couldn't find anything wrong.  The next morning though, we knew something was really wrong.  He was arching his back way high and could barely walk.  We rushed him off tho the vet and found out he had four calcified disks in his back and he had ruptured two of them.  They pumped him full of steroids and pain killers and he slowly pulled out of it, but he was never quite the same after that.   We moved into one other apartment and then we bought our house.  We made a mistake for Chewy in buying a split entry house, he had to take the stairs to get in or out no matter what.  He soon started refusing to go down any of the inside stairs and only went down the deck stairs because he had to.  The last several years have not been kind and he had been declining.  His right eye went cloudy and he was hurting more and his thyroid problems got worse.  He got incontinent and we started gating him in the bathroom when we weren't home.  He has not been himself lately and this past week he has been sick.  When we got home from work yesterday I knew we had to take him in.  The vet did blood work and a urinalysis and came back to tell us his kidneys were failing.  I was heartbroken.  Andy and I both started crying.  He was just shy of 16 and a half years old.  We had to let him go.  That was one of the worst decisions to have to make.  We stayed with him till he was gone.

Through the years, everyone who has ever met him has loved him.  Several of his babysitters have tried to kidnap and keep him.   He never barked at anyone, hardly ever barked at all really.  He was always excited for new toys and walks and car rides and loved wading and getting wet in rivers and lakes, but hated swimming.  He loved to cuddle in my lap and have me rub his ears.  If you ignored him, and he wanted to play, he would pick up his toys and throw them at you.  You couldn't help but laugh and play with him.  He was a special little dog and will always be loved and missed.  The last 24 hours have been very difficult, but comments and phone calls from family and friends and cuddles from Lily have helped so much.  Dan and Denise came over and visited last night and that was wonderful.  I went to bed with puffy, achy, stinging eyes and a severe headache.  Today has been a little easier for both of us, but it's going to be a while before we are both okay again.

Sweet dreams little buddy and say Hi to Nikki Bean for me.  I love you, always.