Reginald Martin Fry, we will miss you.

We lost our dog tonight.  My first baby...We've had him with us nearly 9 years.  I still remember bringing him home.  He was about 7 pounds and whimpered the whole way.  He was just so tender.  The breeder told us to get him a kennel...that he would love it and it would be his happy place...to just leave it in the living room with some blankets and treats in there and that he'd go in there and make it his safe haven.  Well, Reg wasn't having any of it.  He would scream like a woman for hours at night.  We tried to discipline his cute little butt, but he just wanted to be by us!  So, finally we allowed him out of the kennel and put his collar on so he could snuggle on the floor in his bed.  With the collar, we'd hear him get up and move around.  He soon learned that when he shook his head, we let him out.  It became the sign for life.  He went everywhere with us for the longest time.  That is, until Macy came along.  His life was forever changed when she joined the family.  One night, I think I broke his heart a little.  He watched me sit in a chair and hold her all day...then, he got up, went to our room, laid in his bed and would have nothing to do with me until the next day. Ken was gone and he usually would sleep with me in the bed...but that night, I asked him to come up and he wouldn't do it.  He was proving a point and had already developed a bit of Ken and I's stubbornness.  He progressively became a great sport about the kiddos and let them climb on him and play with him whenever they wanted.  They'd pull his ears, he'd yelp, and then look apologetically at us to make sure he was OK for yelping.  Couldn't ask for a better dog and we'll miss him lots.  

He had a really tough year, starting with a bacterial and staff infection in March that we didn't know if he'd survive, but he did.  We treated him with antibiotics for 4 months and the hair never grew back in most of the areas that had the wounds.  He was looking pretty tough in the end.  A few months back, we went for a walk and he just wasn't acting quite right...couldn't keep up (and usually, he'd be running ahead, looking back to see if I was coming.)  He couldn't walk straight, and his face was pulled to one side - we were pretty sure he had a stroke.  The vet checked and noticed that his left eye had no reflexes - never blinked when she would touch it, but said it could just be an inner ear infection so we treated him with some antibiotics to see if it would go away.  He got a little better - wasn't quite as crooked-faced after a while, drooled a lot, and was just a little less coordinated.  I could tell he couldn't see as well out of one of his eyes, but we just thought it was the effect of the stroke.  Well, Ken came home from work today and found Reg laying down.  He couldn't get up and his eyes were twitching.  Ken called the vet and took Reg up there.  He had to carry him because Reg couldn't walk.  I grabbed the kids and went to the vet.  They informed us that they were confident he had a brain tumor - that was causing the problems - and there wasn't much they could do for him.  The kids said goodbye, Ken and I said goodbye...Macy, who took it the hardest, told him that he would live in our hearts forever...and that he was the best dog ever and that she loved him very much.  I think she said it very well.  We had Reg cremated and we'll bury him in the back yard so we can have his spirit around.  I choose to remember Reg as he was the day of Senior's 70th Birthday party...With a smile on his face.  Reginald Martin Fry, you were THE BEST dog anyone could ask for. 

Reginald Martin Fry 3.14.03-12.12.11