I can still remember when I was ten years old (almost 11) and my step dad came home from work with a cute little, fluffy, adorable puppy.
My step dad was a mechanic and he had been working on a Saturday, which wasn't terribly typical. This little ball of fuzz had wandered into his shop and, of course he was way too cute to just leave there, so...he brought him home. He said he had named him Chevy, which I thought was kind of lame, but I guess you could expect a mechanic to name a dog after a truck.
It was perfect because it was Christmas time. The first thing the Chevy did was curl up underneath the Christmas tree, just like a little present. We thought this was super adorable. At least until he started chewing up all of the ornaments that dangled from the bottom of the tree. Finally, we gave in and decided to only have ornaments on the top half of the tree.
We looked high and low to find out where this puppy came from, but to no avail. I wasn't sad though, because it meant we got to keep him.:)
He was a naughty little guy. Like...longer than most dogs are naughty for. He chewed up anything and everything and he was an escape artist. Seriously, he could get out of ANYTHING. First, he learned how to open the gate with his nose. Then he learned how to climb (yes, climb, not jump) the fence, which turned out to be an issue because we even built a kennel for him that was twice as tall as me, but he climbed that too. He broke chains, he learned out to open the board we put over the doggie door to lock it, and he got caught by dog catchers and went to the pound THREE times because of his escaping acts.
But, we knew he loved us, because he'd always come back. He'd wander around for a few hours and then he'd hop right back in the yard and come inside.
While he was naughty, he was even more sweet. He was the friendliest (as long as you were a human and not another animal) dog ever. In fact, the third time he was caught by the dog catcher, he was allowed to ride in the front seat instead of in the cage in the back because the catcher recognized him and remembered how friendly he was.
He was one of the quirkiest dogs I've ever known. I've always loved that about him. He would climb things (like the fence) and the ladder used to get up on our trampoline. He also LOVED to play in the trampoline with us, and he'd always sleep on it on hot summer days. He would carefully inspect his food before eating it. He was the pickiest dog I've ever met. He refused to eat pancakes if there wasn't syrup on them. One time he was licking a plate of left overs and he licked the plate clean except for one tiny radish. He always ate his dog food while the rest of the family ate dinner, and he would hardly ever eat it at any other time.
Did I mention that he was insanely adorable?
Look at that face and tell me that's not the cutest face you've ever seen. That's what I thought. You can't do it.
Chev and I were the best of buds. We had lots of adventures together. He would always run in the snow with me when no one else would. I hate the milk left over after eating cereal, so I'd always give it to him. We'd both look forward to this every morning. He was always there to snuggle, to play, to make me laugh, to make me feel better on a bad day, and to greet me at the door. I'll never forget him greeting me at the door. When I moved to Logan to go to school I would often expect him to be greeting me when I got to my apartment, but then I'd remember that he was all the way in Sandy and I would get a little sad. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning and expect him to be sitting by my bed like he used to do when I lived at home too, but of course he wasn't. But, you can bet that he was always happy to see me and happy to greet me at the door when I came home to visit.
See? Best buds.
Chev was pretty unsure about Jayson at first. He got really jealous when I would pay attention to Jayson and not him. But, as you can see, he warmed up to him.
My step dad was a mechanic and he had been working on a Saturday, which wasn't terribly typical. This little ball of fuzz had wandered into his shop and, of course he was way too cute to just leave there, so...he brought him home. He said he had named him Chevy, which I thought was kind of lame, but I guess you could expect a mechanic to name a dog after a truck.
It was perfect because it was Christmas time. The first thing the Chevy did was curl up underneath the Christmas tree, just like a little present. We thought this was super adorable. At least until he started chewing up all of the ornaments that dangled from the bottom of the tree. Finally, we gave in and decided to only have ornaments on the top half of the tree.
We looked high and low to find out where this puppy came from, but to no avail. I wasn't sad though, because it meant we got to keep him.:)
He was a naughty little guy. Like...longer than most dogs are naughty for. He chewed up anything and everything and he was an escape artist. Seriously, he could get out of ANYTHING. First, he learned how to open the gate with his nose. Then he learned how to climb (yes, climb, not jump) the fence, which turned out to be an issue because we even built a kennel for him that was twice as tall as me, but he climbed that too. He broke chains, he learned out to open the board we put over the doggie door to lock it, and he got caught by dog catchers and went to the pound THREE times because of his escaping acts.
But, we knew he loved us, because he'd always come back. He'd wander around for a few hours and then he'd hop right back in the yard and come inside.
While he was naughty, he was even more sweet. He was the friendliest (as long as you were a human and not another animal) dog ever. In fact, the third time he was caught by the dog catcher, he was allowed to ride in the front seat instead of in the cage in the back because the catcher recognized him and remembered how friendly he was.
He was one of the quirkiest dogs I've ever known. I've always loved that about him. He would climb things (like the fence) and the ladder used to get up on our trampoline. He also LOVED to play in the trampoline with us, and he'd always sleep on it on hot summer days. He would carefully inspect his food before eating it. He was the pickiest dog I've ever met. He refused to eat pancakes if there wasn't syrup on them. One time he was licking a plate of left overs and he licked the plate clean except for one tiny radish. He always ate his dog food while the rest of the family ate dinner, and he would hardly ever eat it at any other time.
Did I mention that he was insanely adorable?
Chev and I were the best of buds. We had lots of adventures together. He would always run in the snow with me when no one else would. I hate the milk left over after eating cereal, so I'd always give it to him. We'd both look forward to this every morning. He was always there to snuggle, to play, to make me laugh, to make me feel better on a bad day, and to greet me at the door. I'll never forget him greeting me at the door. When I moved to Logan to go to school I would often expect him to be greeting me when I got to my apartment, but then I'd remember that he was all the way in Sandy and I would get a little sad. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning and expect him to be sitting by my bed like he used to do when I lived at home too, but of course he wasn't. But, you can bet that he was always happy to see me and happy to greet me at the door when I came home to visit.
Well, if any of you did the math, you probably realized that I was ten like..13 years ago, which makes Chev pretty old.
And, you probably guessed by now that I'm writing this post because I went with my mom to have him put to sleep today.
Don't worry though, I promise I'm doing well. (I also promise that my next post will be about much less sad topics, because there really is SO much happiness in life right now because I've been preparing a post about the many things that make me happy, but I just had to write this one first.) I mean, of course I'm sad, but I'm glad he's not suffering anymore. His passing was very peaceful. He lived a good life and made a whole lot of people happy. I just really wanted to write a good, dedicatory post, to one of my dearest, truest, and most loyal friends.
Be at peace, little Chev. I'll always love you.
