Disclaimer: This is Part 1 and this post is a little sad. It is about losing my dog. I had to do one serious post to get thru some of my sadness. Part 2 will be a funny story about my dog to make you laugh.

This is my dog Gordo. He wasn’t just our family dog; he wasn’t just our first dog; he was the thing that first made me and Brent a family. We got him 6 + years ago and he is what made 2 unmarried people who lived together ‘a family’. Just the 3 of us. Well over the years the 3 of us turned into 4 and then 5. We were a post card for what a family looks like: Mom, Dad, Boy, Girl, and Yellow lab.

Gordo was the best family dog you could ever ask for. He was gentle and loving and easy. He was never high-maintenance or demanding, just there to love you. He only asked that occasionaly you would throw the ball for him and feed him (a lot).

Well all good things come to an end as they say. Yesterday we had to say goodbye to our buddy. It was very sad and very sudden. Apparently sometimes with large breed animals, their stomachs twist or flip. Unfortunately, the doctor didn’t know if it was even possible to save the stomach because of the amount of damage that was done. So, we decided to take away his pain and say goodbye. Earlier in the day before I could get him to the vet he climbed into the bath tub and laid down. He gave me a look like he just wanted to lay down and die. He was in a lot of pain and there was nothing I could do for him. This dog that would do anything for us… too sad to even write.

Anyway, we made the hardest decision ever, and let him go. I pretty much spent the next 8 hours crying. I never thought I would be that emotional. I’m still crying as I’m writing this and its 26 hours later. We also had to tell our little boy (he’s 4) that his dog wasn’t coming home. If there is 1 blessing out of all of this is that the kids are too young to understand. We just told him that some times doggies get very very sick and the only way to make them feel better is to put them to sleep and that Gordo would not come home anymore. I don’t know if we handled that well or not. He seemed okay with the news.

The hardest thing about losing a pet that you have had for so long is the habits or the sub-conscious triggers. I can’t even hear the back door open without thinking about him. His food and bowls are still sitting in the laundry room. There is still dog hair all over my floor.

With Gordo gone, who is going to knock Ellie over as she is learning to walk over the next couple months? Who is going to trip me in the middle of the night on my way to the bathroom? Who is going to scare the crap out of the girl scouts that ring the doorbell? Who is going to bark like a maniac when the doorbell rings on TV comercials? Who is going to wake me up with his hot breath on my face every morning? Brent?

Gordo was such a weird and wonderful dog. He loved to fetch, eat, and swim like a normal lab. He also loved to have his butt scratched and roll around in dirt. He was a crazy SOB and I can’t even explain how much we will miss him. My heart hurts.