Man's Best Friend

I was planning on taking a deep breath in this new post for tonight and begin my journey into year two with a new energy and a smile.  However, today my dog had to be put down.  This was the dog that had been living with my in-laws for the past year, the one that had cancer.  I did not find out until after it happened, so I wasn't there.  It really hasn't sank in quite yet, but I have been looking at pictures tonight which have stirred up memories.  

I had mentioned several times that I used to have two dogs.  (The other lives with my parents now.)  Argyle, the one that just passed, was "the golden child."  Our other dog was sweet and lovable, but a handful too.  Argyle was one of those rare dogs, one that doesn't come along that often.  He was a border collie and with that came both the intelligence and intensity of a border collie.  He was very smart and his facial expressions were almost human like.  He also was very agile!  He loved, loved to run and we could never tire him out.  His energy was boundless.  He was also a big border collie.  We always laughed about that and nicknamed him "Gooney Bird." 

Argyle also loved kids, although he wasn't so thrilled when he got one of his own, lol.  I should say that he loved other people's kids.  My son was only a baby when he last lived with us.  Argyle liked older kids, the ones that could throw a ball or frisbee to him or kick a soccer ball to him.  When we lived in Virginia, we lived in the midst of kid central.  I kid you not, the neighborhood kids loved Argyle so much, they used to come and knock on our door and ask if Argyle could come out and play.  We would let him out and everyone had a blast!  

My husband and I got Argyle in 2001.  We didn't have our son until 2009.  In many ways, for so many years, our dogs were our kids.  They were with us throughout all of our moves.  They were with us when we spent many holidays alone when we lived in Virginia.  We took them when we went camping and when we went on vacations to the beach house in the Outer Banks.  We were... a family.  For so long, it was just the four of us.  It is hard to believe that that family of four that I knew for so many years of my life... I have lost half of that family.  

I entitled this post "Man's Best Friend" because it is very fitting to Argyle.  While he was "our" dog, he really was my husband's.  They had this weird "E.T." connection.  Argyle was very in tuned with my husband's feelings.  He could tell if something was off, if he was anxious, angry, or sad.  Honestly, my husband hid his feelings so well, I used to turn to Argyle and try to see if I could read my husband's feelings through him.  I've heard that dog's can have that sense, but it really was amazing to actually witness it.  

A couple of years ago, we did find a lump near his left elbow.  We took him to the vet and were told it was a fatty deposit, like he had in a few other places.  However, last winter, we did notice that it was growing.  We didn't take him in for a check up because last winter was also the time that things started to fall apart in our marriage and in our lives.  The plan was for Argyle to move into the new apartment with my husband.  When that never happened, Argyle ended up staying at my in-laws and I just didn't have the heart to ask for him back.  

When Argyle left me in April of last year, his lump was about the size of a walnut, maybe a bit bigger.  In the course of only a few months, in grew to the size of a softball.  During the course of the past year, I didn't get to see much of him, but every time I did, I could see the change in size of what we had learned was a cancerous tumor.  It was inoperable.  I found out today that his tumor ruptured and that was the cause for having to put him down.  

I remember when the movie Marley and Me came out.  I watched it and I cried through the whole movie because I knew how it was going to end.  I couldn't imagine at that time losing either of my dogs because it seemed so devastating.  But, here I am... almost exactly a year to the day that my husband passed away.  

It is somewhat ironic that Argyle's health deteriorated just as my husband's did during the same time last year.  This past year, Argyle's health continued to deteriorate at a rapid speed.  In some ways, I feel as if they belonged together.  They are not alone and they are both running around at the speed of light tumor free, cancer free, depression free.  I hope they were able to find one another.  :')

He had some ups!

This is actually one of my favorites... this is him!

He looks humiliated doesn't he?  He was in his teenage years.

He loved this chair.  He loved watching people sitting in this chair.

RIP Argyle, you were an amazing companion!