Farewell Bob

Emmalee and Bob Circa 2000

Sadness and sorrow can cause the happy moments in life to stand out more sharply.  Tonight our family experienced some of that sadness and painful sorrow that caused us to reflect deeply on the happiness and joy we’ve experienced over the past fifteen years.  We reached the decision that it is time to let Bob go, to let him move past his pain and suffering.

Bob the dog joined our family in September of 2000.  We had just moved to Enid, Oklahoma and I talked Rochelle into letting us get a dog.  Bob was waiting for us to pick him up at the Humane Society in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  We weren’t sure what kind of dog we were looking for, but when we saw his family we knew we wanted him.  He is half Black Lab and half Dalmatian.  He was born in June of that year.  We picked him out of the litter.

Initially I planned to name him Sam.  I always wanted a dog named Sam even though I have a wonderful sister named Samantha.  Emmalee, however, had a different idea.  She had spent a couple of months in Malad where her Uncle Brett had a dog named Bob.  One-year-old Emmalee called him Bob repeatedly and the name stuck. 

Naturally Bob was sad to leave his siblings.  For several nights he whined and barked and whined some more.  Eventually he came to accept his new home and his new family.  He and Emmalee became fast friends.  As a puppy he was high energy.  He loved to run and jump.  We would spend hours in the back yard throwing the tennis ball up in the air so he could catch it.  As he grew he could jump higher and higher.  Sometimes he would jump so high that he would forget about the landing and just crash into the ground.  He loved to catch the ball as it bounced off the side of the house.  A few times he failed to slow down and crashed into the house. 

He developed an amazing skill as a bird, squirrel and cat hunter.  Any small animal or bird that transited or landed in our backyard was at risk.  Bob buried several small animals in that backyard.  He became good friends with our neighbor, Old Mary.  She loved to feed him scraps of meat.  Unfortunately he jumped on her one time for his treat and put a huge scratch on her arm that took months to heal.  She forgave him.

Bob wasn’t sure what to think of Gracee when we brought her home in September of 2001.  He walked up to her as she sat in her car seat, fresh from the hospital—he sniffed her and looked at us for reassurance that she was now part of the clan.  At first Gracee didn’t like Bob.  One weekend as we drove to a campground south of Norman, Oklahoma, Bob jumped on Gracee in the back of the car.  He was scared of the drive and he scared her terribly.  It took her awhile to decide she liked him.

Bob’s first camping trip was exciting.  An armadillo walked into and through our camp.  It took several minutes to make the trip and Bob barked the entire time.

Our family moved to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs in 2003.  Bob handled the move well, enjoying the cooler summers and the hiking trails on the Academy.  On one hike Bob and I spooked a black bear.  We heard it run away through the trees and found its tracks.  Luckily Bob managed to survive the occasional bear wandering through the housing area and the mountain lions.

Early one morning he had a terrible run-in with nature.  All of us were asleep when Bob started to bark loudly at the back door.  Bob rarely ever barked, so in my sleep-fogged brain, I assumed he needed to go outside to take care of business.  As I opened the back door, he dove out and I immediately realized my mistake.  A skunk bolted from his small kennel. 

In the time it took me to yell, “Bob! No!” he had jumped off the porch, grabbed the skunk by the tail, taken the full brunt of the spray, and then jumped back through the sliding glass door I was trying to close.  As the pungent skunk musk overwhelmed me, Bob was rubbing his face frantically on the carpet and the couch to get it out of his eyes, mouth, and nose.  It took days for the odor to fade and Bob endured a few hydrogen peroxide and baking soda baths, but eventually we recovered.

As the first Colorado winter hit we decided that Bob needed a fancy doghouse to stay warm in the back yard.  I used it as justification to buy a circular saw and a few other tools.  To date that doghouse is the largest and most successful carpentry production I’ve done on my own.

In June of 2004 we brought Elijah home from the hospital.  Again Bob looked up at us as if to ask if we were certain an addition was a good thing.  They fast became friends.

Living in Colorado we were able to travel back to Idaho and Utah to visit family on a regular basis.  At first I was worried about how Bob would travel.  Before the first trip I got a hold of some motion sickness pills for him.  We used them for the first couple of trips and didn’t need them after that.  Bob was an expert traveller.  He needed fewer bathroom breaks than the children and hardly ever complained.  Bob loved to stop at the rest area in Glenwood Springs Canyon to play in the Colorado River and walk along the trails. 

During this time Bob also started to spend extended periods of time in Provo with Grandma Kris.  She spoiled him.  Grandma Ann spoiled him and Joyce Daybell spoiled him.  They became some of his best friends as they fed him treat after treat.  A diet was always required after a couple of weeks in Provo.  Bob and my dad, however, didn’t always see eye to eye.  While Bob was never mean or violent with anyone, he could get revenge in very creative ways.  On one occasion, after my dad yelled at him, Bob took his time tearing up carpet padding in the carport.

Bob moved with us to Monterey, CA in 2005.  Our yard was a lot smaller and was covered in bark, so the living conditions weren’t quite as nice for him.  To make it up to him I made Bob my regular running partner.  It was tough, but somehow we survived those miles and miles up and down the beach.  He loved to scatter the geese in the park on our way to the coastal trail.  Bob and I quickly go to where we could run seven miles at a time.  Bob would get thrilled each time he saw me putting on my running shoes.  If I ran without him, he wouldn’t look at me for hours after I returned.  His second most favorite running partner was Rochelle's sister Amanda.

In March of 2007 Bob and Isaiah met each other for the first time.  He seemed to shake his head at us after he sniffed the new addition.

Bob inherited a large backyard when we moved back to Colorado Springs in 2008.  He had soft grass, a deck, and a garden.  He was courteous to us and did all of his business in one small area of the lawn.  It made it easy to clean.  Bob enjoyed our expanding garden and showed it by eating the leaves off of several plants and chewing on any type of squash.  (He chewed up my mom’s zucchini on one or two occasions.)

Each summer we would go camping with Rochelle’s family on the Jackson Family Ranch on the Bear River.  Bob loved the camping trips.  He would run from the ranch house down to the river.  Once there he followed everyone everywhere.  He went fishing with us, he followed us when we floated the river, and he followed us on our ATV rides.  He crossed the river more times than any of us on those trips.  Often, by the end of the day, he was too tired to eat the leftovers.  Two things scared him when we camped—gunfire and sleeping alone outside at night.  One time he jumped into the front of Uncle Robert’s truck to hide from the sounds of gunfire.  At night he would try to get into the tents early or push his way in.  Bob also loved to warm himself next to the campfire each night.

Lightning and thunder and fireworks would quickly bring Bob into the house or the tent.

In May of 2010 Bob met Elizabeth.  Elizabeth became one of Bob’s greatest sources of food.  She dropped her food onto the floor from her chair.  Bob sat under her and ate everything.

After Bob moved to Henderson with us in 2011 he learned to love the mild winters and indoor air conditioning.  For the past four years he has spent a lot of time in the house, enjoying long naps.  His favorite activity was to greet each of Rochelle’s piano students.  They loved to pet him and he loved to be petted.  He brought smiles several times each day to these wonderful young people. 

In 2012 he met Clara.  Their relationship was a challenge for both of them—one a bit grumpy and the other always trying to steal some food. 

Bob camped at the river with us the last few years.  He no longer ran as much, but was content to take short walks and long naps.  He even took to riding in the truck from the ranch house down to the river.  With the Vegas Valley heat, he has appreciated his summers in Provo even more.

The problem with loving so much is that it enables you to hurt so much.  Bob has been our friend for almost 15 years.  None of my six children know what life is like without him.  He has always been there, always ready to go for a walk, to snuggle, or to make sure someone is feeling happy.  After watching Bob experience the pains, aches and illnesses that go with old age, we knew the time to say farewell was approaching.  But we were selfish.  We didn’t want to face life without him.  He waited for us patiently to come to terms with the passage of time.  

He lost most of his hearing but could always hear when Elizabeth called him.  

Last night we accepted the need to let him go.  After consulting with Emmalee we informed the rest of the children that today would be the day.  Each of us cried, except for Clara, cried and hugged him gently.  It seemed almost as if he knew what was happening.  Clara was concerned with our sadness and she tried to comfort us.  All of the children, with the exception of Clara again, slept with Bob on the living room floor for his last night with us.  He wagged his tail, as they laid out their blankets and pillows, anxious for the opportunity to spend the night with them again.  As he was always wont to do, he laid right in the middle of Elizabeth’s blanket. 

Emmalee was brave and strong today.  She went with Bob on his last ride today.