Yoo 370 - Shadow & Me

My dog died yesterday morning. With her cute puppy head resting on her paw. I'm told it looked peaceful. I knew she was getting old and struggling to breath. And I'd been living away from her for years. But she was still my puppy.

Shadow. Shadrick. Pupper-doggy. Whatever we were calling her that day.

I found out at work. In the restroom. While I was perusing facebook. (lesson to myself not to peruse facebook at work...). The Gregdude and Kyoo mom had debated earlier that day who would drop the news and when. They both decided it was better to wait until I was home from work.

But one of the Kyoo sisters unknowingly posted it on facebook and the news was out.

I was strong for all of 7 seconds. Telling myself I could cry and think about it later. And then I saw a picture of her and started bawling. Still very much in the bathroom at work. I stood there for several minutes trying to contain the scene before giving up and dashing down to hide in the locker rooms. There I cried for a long while. Then hopped on a treadmill and ran until my tears just looked like sweat.

I loved that dog.

Except for all those times she got out of her kennel and decided her life could not continue until she'd visited every bush in the neighborhood on her own personal puppy-trot-about. (like a walkabout but for dogs). Whoever was there to witness would call her and call her and she would just dash away with her mischievous "aren't i so cute?? just try to catch me!" dog face.

That's when we'd decide she was Morgan's dog and tell her to go catch the rogue canine. Morgan loved that! Ok, mostly we loved watching her try to chase Shadrick down. Eventually we'd offer her (Shadow, not Morgan) a piece of bread and if that didn't do the trick, we'd start up the van and make her think we were going for a ride.

Silly dog.

She was my running buddy growing up. Early morning high school track workouts, training for my first marathon, lazy evening jogs? Shadow was with me.

She'd go exploring in the ditches and run through the cornfields while I pushed onward. Ever-so-often she'd sprint to catch up, coming at me with purpose, like I was the only person in the world that mattered.

It was always really exciting when she came bearing gifts, too. I mean, she usually came bearing gifts. But moost of the time it was the fact that she'd found water and she'd wait until she was trotting right next to me to shake it all out.

"Thanks for sharing puppy!"

My favorite was the time she found a deer carcass...and then proudly, with her head held high, galloped on home by my side, with a deer leg protruding from her mouth. She acted like it was the biggest honor of her life, carrying that deer leg.

Shadrick had a personal goal to never sit still and look cute for pictures, so long as she knew we were trying to take a picture.

Family pictures with Shad always looked like this.

 

The few times I got to come home after leaving for college, her kennel was always one of my first stops. She'd bark a few times before realizing it was me. And then she'd just go crazy and lick me and let me pet her like no time had passed at all.

Dogs are cool like that. Shadow was cool like that.

I'm sure gonna miss ya, pupper-doggy. You were our first and only family dog! We begged and pleaded for years for you and loved your stinkin' cute face and paws from the very first night. I even remember your mischievous times with fondness now. And all the times we snuck you in the house to chill with us, despite what the repercussions would be if the Kyoo dad found out. May you find many cornfields to explore and deer bones to chew in the next life!

Have a great day :-)