I did not remember the date but I do remember the day. Shana told me it was December 5th, 2010. Her and the boys had been driving me crazy wanting to get another dog. I did NOT want to do it. It broke my heart when we had to put Daisy down and I never wanted to go through that again.
Shana was convinced that she wanted a Golden Doodle. Even back then, they were selling for over $1,000. I wasn’t going to spend $100, so there was no way I was going to spend $1,000 on one. Well, I was about to get conned but didn’t know it yet.
I got a call that day sometime after lunch that Shana had a friend who had a friend that wanted to get rid of their Golden Doodle. Here is a rough narrative of how the conversation went:
Me: I told you, I really don’t want to spend that kind of money for a dog.
Shana: I know ! This one is going to be free. They just want to find a good home for it!
Me: Well, I’d like to see the dog before we make that kind of decision.
Shana: I knew you would say that! I already told them, they are are on their way here with him.
Me: Greaaaaat. I’ll be home in a few minutes.
By the time I got there, they were already there. I walk in MY front door and this mutant of a Golden Doodle stands up on its hind legs, puts its paws on my shoulders, looks me dead in the eye and starts licking my face. Everyone is giddy at my house. I however was thrilled, not. Shana and the owner wanted to have him spend the night to see how it went and if he would fit in here. I knew from that moment on, that dog was never going to leave!
What were we going to do with this monstrosity?
Chris
I mentioned earlier that he was a mutant. Look at him, he’s as big as Shana!
The average Golden Doodle weighs somewhere around 85 lbs while a big one can go 100. Not this freak, he clipped in around 130. Our previous dog only weighed about 20 lbs soaking wet. What were we going to do with this monstrosity? I wasn’t sure, but he was moving in.
He was about 2 years old when he came to live with us. His previous owner was moving and was not going to be able to keep him. She just wanted a good home and loving family that would take good care of him. Of course, his name was Doodle. Yeah, I know, real creative, right. Personally, I
called him Dog most of the time. He has been called Doodle, The Dood, Dood, Mutt, Dog and a whole host of other names. He would answer to all of them. And, I was right, he never left here after coming to visit that first day. For those of you that don’t have big dogs, do you know how much they eat? This dog was a living garbage disposal. He’d eat his food, your food, the trash and anything he could find outside. Inevitably, he’d eat something that disagreed with him and he would have an allergic reaction and chew his paw until it was raw. So, like our previous dog, Shana put him on the most expensive food she could find. But it never failed, if we were eating, he was hovering around hoping to catch a bite or two.
In this picture, I was sitting eating cookies or donuts or some other snack. Of course once we got the cat, Doodle recruited her to come and beg for food too. He always thought he could give me the sad eyes in hopes of scoring a bite.
Now, I gave him a hard time, no doubt. I accused him of breathing all of the air in the house, of stealing our food or basically blaming him for anything that went wrong. The truth of the matter is, he was a good dog. He was good-natured, fun-loving and about as goofy as a dog could be.
As good-natured as we was, he was also a protector. If you even acted like you were going to do something to Shana or one of the boys, he went into protection mode. He was big and he was strong and he was not afraid to throw his weight around.
Speaking of throwing his weight around. For a dog that weighed 130+ lbs, he acted like he was a chihuahua. He’d jump up in your lap or like in this picture, he’d crawl up on the couch and work his way behind the cushions and try to push you
off. Unless, of course it was storming or someone was shooting off fireworks, then he would want you to save him. He’d get as close as you would let him and shake like the boogeyman was after him. Or worse yet, he would force a closet door open and try to hide in there.
He loved the boys and they loved him. Aiden was small enough when we first got him to ride on his back. And when one of them was sick or hurting, he knew it. He was there for them night or day.
The last few years have been rough on The Dood. He lost the strength in his legs and couldn’t get down the steps, so he would get stranded upstairs. He fell down the steps a couple of years ago and we were afraid he had broken a hip. But he ended up being OK. It got to the point that Shana and Zack would take turns sleeping with him downstairs so that he wouldn’t be alone. We were constantly looking for a way to block the steps to keep him from going up them. It took a while but we finally found a “permanent” fix. He hated it! He would sleep at the foot of the stairs and wait for one of us to come down in the mornings. He had gotten to where he couldn’t hear, struggled to get up and probably had trouble seeing.
He’d have good days where he would jump around and want to play. He even acted like he wanted to wrestle with me this past Thursday night. But it had gotten to where most of the time he would lay around and sleep. Yesterday was tough, he was having a rough day before Shana & I left for the UK Game. Aiden was at work and Zack was celebrating a late Thanksgiving with friends. Doodle having a rough day or all of us being gone for the afternoon is not that unusual. When we got home after the game, he was laying peacefully in the floor and sadly, he was gone. He hadn’t been gone long, he was still warm. There was no sign of trauma or struggle, he was just laying in the floor as he always did. While it is sad, I am glad that we didn’t have to make the choice to put him down. That is one of the worst things I have ever had to do in my life. After all of us had a chance to love on him for a minute, we packed him up and drove him out to the Cameron farm. Zack, Tracy and I buried him in a field on the front side of the farm. It was muddy, started to rain and wore me out but I’d gladly do it all again.
We knew this day was coming but that doesn’t make it any easier. From that very first day in December of 2010, he found a home where he was loved, spoiled and gave love in return. He lived the good life here at The 103 for 11 years and 356 days, just 9 days short of 12 years. While he got on my nerves and drove me crazy, he was a great friend, protector and companion.
There is so much more I could say about the ignorant mutt that has lived in my house all these years but I think I’ve gotten the point across. As we have started to unDoodle-proof our house today, it makes me realize that I’m going to miss his big, goofy a$$. Rest well Doodle, thank you for spending time with us, you won’t be forgotten.
I’m afraid Gabby (the cat) will miss him as much as we do.