I just lost a dear friend today… well, more than a friend, one of my four-legged babies.
Gandalf was named after a character in The Lord of the Rings because of his grey colour. He, along with Kikay and Hagrid (another character off another fantasy series), were part of Sugar’s first litter. At first, I did not want to keep any of them, wanting to retire from puppy duties. I was contented with Milo and Sugar.
My mother and sister insisted to keep Kikay, the only female in the litter. I looked at both of them and said, “You’ll take care of her?” And they said they would. They wanted to keep another one to keep her company and I just rolled my eyes because I knew I had a new job. Then, I chanced upon Gandalf.
He was the only one coloured differently, the others were either brown or dark brown. I think there was a black one. Anyway, he stood out and I just had to choose him. And I never regretted it.
He was a lovable dog, there was no one who did not like him. Well, he likes to bark at Butch or Batch when they arrive or even when coming down the stairs, but when he sees them eating something, they were his best friends.
He liked to lick a lot. He will lick any exposed part of your body. We’d just make sure he didn’t eat his poop before doing that… sometimes we forget to check, hehehe.
In the mornings, when we go down for breakfast, he’d crave for attention and will bite your behind if you so much as pass him by. And it hurt… no marks, though.
He was always at the receiving end of Milo’s crankiness. Milo is the Alpha dog. Period. It was always fun to see how he’d work around any situation just to avoid Milo’s wrath. I bet the later would miss him. Hmm, Gandalf would now be harassing my Dad… and meeting Thompson, my small but terrible bestie, hehehe.
He can jump as high as the garden table. He likes to greet us by jumping to reach our faces. And then we’d hug him as if he was a small kid. And we like making fun of his very big eyes.
He can also be bad. He’d get stuff for him and Kikay to chew on. They already destroyed a pair of shoes worth 3,000 pesos. Mom gave them a good beating but they still love her by chewing something else. If he can reach it, they’ll shred it.
Gandalf is one in a long line of dogs I have had the privilege to be a “parent” to. I know that they will die before me and it hurts to go through it over and over again. But that’s life with pets and I cannot imagine not having any of these four-legged, noisy creatures in the house and until the end.
They say that when you die, your dogs will be the first ones to greet you in heaven. I expect to see a welcoming party.
🙂
A blast from the past: Gandalf’s Wish.. miss you already, Big Eyes…
15 SEP UPDATE: On 5 Sep, Sugar was put to sleep because of a full-blown distemper attack. It was hard to lose 2 friends within a week. Run free, pretty Sugar, and enjoy having a beautiful and shiny coat!
🙂
