My Life in Dogs

I wrote this as a comment on a forum and wanted to save it, maybe add to it:

Cereberus was a great dane when I was small, he would stand on his hind legs and put his paws up on my shoulders and I would scratch his chest.

Guenevier was his friend, a lab puppy. I hit her in the head with a shovel. I was young and stupid and 30 years later the memory still wakes me up at night. She survived that to run off on moving day. We came back a couple times to look for her but we never found her.

Rebecca was a German shorthair who showed me how important it is, for you and for the dog, to get a dog one intensity notch below what you want to maintain.

Puck was my first dog of my own. He was a good dog. He was hard enough to make me feel like I had achieved something when I took him into town and he behaved perfectly, but easy enough that I could do it. He died in traffic and a piece of me went with him. I buried him on the edge of the field where I first taught him to come looking for me, under a wild patch of tigerlillies.

Echo was a long haired mini dachshund. I got him as an adult as a rabbit dog. He came to me fearful of children, loving and totallyconsumed with hunting down anything racoon sized or smaller. Utterly unhousebroken. He had the best intrinsic dog personality I have ever seen. We called him "the mayor" and he never met another dog he couldn't get along with. He sat on my wife's lap through a very difficult time in her life and listened to everything I wasn't ready to hear. He ended up, due to her awesome, patient, consistent care loving and seeking out attention from children and when we had kids he was perfect. He died on my dining room table at 15 with diabetes and wrecked kidneys. I sat on the floor with my wife and children and cried and cried. He never did learn to poop outside reliably. I will never have another Echo. He was one in a million and i miss him more than I can say.

Guy replaced Puck. I got him so I could have a dog with my kids and when i looked over and saw him just sitting there while Hugh pulled himself up by guy's cheeks I knew I had chosen well. He is a great dog for my children. I have video of my son walking him at 3 years old, on a slack leash. Guy would take a couple steps, look at me and wait for Hugh to catch up, then take a couple more steps. Never once pulled the leash tight. My daughter curls up and naps on his side and he won't get up until she wakes up.

Pip is my current rabbit dog and she is awesome. She will work a rabbit all day long. Shes fast enough to keep it moving, slow enough to bring it around over and over and smart enough to not be fooled twice. She listens and can be called off a rabbit but she is obsessed with trying to run off coyotes. It will get her killed. She has had 2 close calls already, one resulting in a broken back, a broken rib and 7 drains for puncture wounds. She loves my kids and puts up with their learning how to care for animals. 

I cant imagine my life without dogs. Everyone of them takes a piece of me when they go but somehow I'm still more for having them