He came in to my life 14.5 years ago, full of energy and not very big. He was 8 weeks old. The day - 9/10/2001 It had been 12 years of proding my husband to get a dog for the kids and as a surprise for my birthday, that day, in bounced our new addition to our family (as I lay in the tub no less). Of course I was quick to get out of the tub and play with his little bundle of furness. As we play in the hallway as a family with our new addition, trying to come up with a name, we decided that Sir Lancelot would be his name (Lance for short). I believe it was a well chosen name and he was a good servant, a loyal companion and a watchman over our kingdom. He learned quickly and was obedient in nature with a few exceptions of some excursions to the nearby park where he knew the kids would go and catch the bus or be playing. If he ran off, we could usually find him there. He wasn't overly destructive as a puppy. A few barbies lost their feet and it was hard to have anything laying around with lace on it that he didn't rip to pieces but he wasn't a digger or a destroyer of furniture....those dogs showed up much later in our lives. :) Over the years Lance came to know many friends of ours and many will attest to the annoying barking that Lance had developed. He barked when you came in the door, took out trash, ran up the stairs, cannonballed or even walked into the pool. He just barked, a lot and was a bit OCD about it. As a sheltie barking was normal, and so was the endless amounts of fur balls around our home. Grooming him was simpler when he was smaller but as he grew older and heavy it became quite a chore. He enjoyed every moment of it though, the washing, the drying, the nail clipping, the teeth cleaning. He was so tolerant of us poking him the mouth so we can check on his teeth as they went from pointy needle like baby teeth to broken back teeth in his later years. He just liked the attention, of course the treats too. Over time he found the bath time as like a spa day and his one-on-one attention from me. If petting him on his big soft snout you had to be prepared to pet for days. He was not going to let you stop and would nudge your hand as if to say "more, more". Like most dogs, he knew when you were feeling bad or down and was always there to comfort you. He gave back what he wanted in return...love. He had to tolerate additional puppies entering our home, 4 over his lifetime and one other dog that Tanner had for a while. He was tolerant of their tugging and playing on a daily basis but over time that grew tiresome to him and we could tell he was getting older. I do believe that like the Swim Bike Run has keeps me feeling younger and healthier I think playing with the other dogs also kept him younger and healthier but dogs don't last forever and so his time was coming to a close. His face barely showed signs of age. His soft deep brown eyes, his velvety ears, his furry feet and big fox like tail all as it was through the years. Lance was a scavenger of sorts, would eat anything you gave him and usually in one swallow. He wasn't much for chewing. This included socks and underwear! He loved to be at my feet in the kitchen when I was cooking, hoping a crumb or a splatter of grease would hit the floor. He loved it when my dad was in town because he was the only one who fed him table scraps and Lance knew it, even when he only saw him once a year. He remembered him. He started to lose a bit of hearing and possibly some vision. He had started gaining a lot of weight and was getting harder and harder to groom. Over Christmas break our son Tanner was home and I pointed out that he may want to spend a bit of time with him before he left town. He got down and took some time with him and I am very thankful that we knew to do that for both of them. He stopped barking around that time and I never heard him bark again. It was New Year's Eve and as I sat on the computer working on loading up my working from that evening Lance started to get sick in our office. It was not normal for him and while he had an issue earlier in the week trying to cough up a "hairball" that never happened. Our fear was he had ingested something that he wasn't able to digest so an x-ray was needing to be done, and then exploratory surgery on his stomach. We didn't realize that this was marking the beginning to an end. We discovered on the 5th after the surgery that he had a blood cancer. There was hope he would bounce back and have some more time with us but slowly he declined. No longer did he scavenge around the house for food. He pretty much gave up eating and drinking before his last night. His eyes looked lost and he looked tired. As I picked him up and lay him on our bedroom floor last night I realized how much weight he had truly lost and how lethargic he had become. I was hoping he was just getting through the anesthesia he had been given but the reality was his body was riddled with the cancer and finally took its last toll on him. He had no energy to give. I typically sleep like a log but last night I was unsettled and frustrated and I didn't know why. Could it have been from sitting in a desk chair for the last week for long periods of time or could it have been for not having any work outs completed since Monday? Little did I know what was going to happen next. I suppose I turned on my "mommy" instincts before I went to bed. I was woken at 3:30 am with a sound of some sort of struggle. As I got down on the floor with him, petting his beautiful snout and looking in his glassy eyes, he took his last breath, with me at his side. What more could you wish for as a final farewell...it was beautiful and sad. He touched my heart more than I realized and today I am reminded of how truly special he was to me and my family. No more furballs, no more barking only memories and many many tears yet to flow. Rest in Peace my friend. I hope you are barking and running free and eating anything you want. I will miss your soft fur and you by my side when I am feeling down but you are in a better place. We had a good ride.
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Victoria "Torie" GrammarJust your average Mom and Friend who found a love for the swim, bike, and run. Archives
January 2023
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