The Big Red Dog: A Eulogy

Raymond was a big red dog, arriving in our lives on the 11th of June, 2009. He was a slight 76 pounds, multi-colored, long eared, amber-eyed dog who had been on the road most of his life. He was wild, not house-broken and pretty much out of control...and I fell in LOVE!

I spoiled him rotten, spent untold amounts of money getting his teeth fixed, modifying his diet, buying toys for him to chew through and basically putting life on hold to make the world a better place for Raymond. You see, on the way home in the truck, this big dog leaned his head over the seat, placed it on my shoulder, and proceeded to sigh and snore the rest of the way home. Who could NOT fall in love (I just might have a weak spot for snoring men who sigh....since I live with one of those of the human persuasion.).

When we arrived home, he had his run of the yard and house, pee'ing on anything and everything, including the other dog at home. He was incorrigible, jumping on me, on the door, knocking us down...he was WILD...and we were...you guessed it....In LOVE! You might wonder how you can fall in love with a critter like this, and I can tell you there is no cerebral explanation. It was just that he enriched out lives, he made for some really interesting conversations..."Did you watch him eat that poop?" "Yeah....do you think he's always going to do that, or will he stop when he knows he's always going to have food?" (answer: Always going to do that).

We had been without our old (and wonderfully incorrigible) black lab Penny, when Raymond came into our lives. We wanted a big dog, a male, and one to keep our little Trudy company (she's a lab too). We wanted a younger dog, that would be around awhile, and one that needed us as much as we needed him. We got everything we asked for, except time.

He gave us "walkies" each night before dinner, walking around the yard in the twilight, laughing about the antics of the critters. We got "crazy man dog," when Raymie would run around as if there were stray wires in his brain, no purpose or path, just crazy running. We got snoring at night by the bed, and howling in his sleep. We got skunked once, and we worried about getting skunked again. I got a dog with velvet ears, who would lay his head on the bed at night and let me rub them until he could no longer sit up, then groan off to his snoring sleep. We got multiple trips to the vet, who always said, "He's some dog!" and we got Life in our life....He embraced us so easily, it was only natural we'd return the hugs.

Our little granddaughter, Peanut, got a HUGE dog that loved her very much, but would put his mouth on all her stuff so that she eventually had to tell him..."Raymie....I am NOT a toy!!!" But she also got someone to lay her head on and share a book with...who would listen and idolize her and not correct her reading.

Raymond died yesterday....heart failure...and he went really fast. We had no idea he was sick, but when I woke up at 3:00 a.m. and went to see him, it was pretty obvious something way wrong. We called the vet, rushed him in, but he died soon after we got him there. My heart was broken, and spent forever second guessing if I should have noticed something sooner....and have now realized that there was really nothing I could have done.

I couldn't have loved him more, spoiled him more, treated him better, or found him more wonderful. I couldn't have laughed at him more, bragged about him more, and been more proud of how much better he had gotten over the last year. I couldn't have wished for a better or worse dog, and I know he'll never be replaced.

Wherever he is now...they better be ready, because he IS the center of the universe and YOU will not forget it!

R.I.P Raymond, you were on helluva Big Red Dog!!!