Man's Best Friend ...

Or in our case, our family's best friend - our daschund, Mikey. Today was a hard day for our family - over the weekend, Mikey let us know that he was getting tired after almost 17 years as a member of our family and tonight we are experiencing our first night with no little buddy hogging the couch or needing to go out.

Mikey as a puppy

I have had a dog since I was 5 or 6 years old and for Megan and Katie, they have never known a time when we didn't have a dog. Barry didn't have one growing up - but when he married me, he didn't just get a spouse, he got a dog too.

Since then we have had several dogs - Piute, Tim-Bit and then Mikey. Barry often referred to him as 'his son' since we didn't have any boys and Mikey evened the score slightly in a family of mostly girls.

Mikey was the runt of his litter - and when Tim-Bit died leaving a litter of puppies, we had to take care of them all - and had a special attachment to the littlest one - Mikey.

Katie bottle feeding Mikey

He needed to be bottle fed - which we all took turns doing. And he always seemed to need a little extra cuddling - and even started pawing at my neck to comfort himself. This continued throughout his life - always needing a little extra attention!

He was a character - he put up with being dressed in festive holiday attire on more than one occassion and even had a little leather harley hat. He was always active - scaling the rocks or jumping off of them - and always with more than one ball close at hand.

He could sit up on his haunches longer than any of our other dogs and he had more nicknames than most - mogoat, Sir Farts Alot, little buddy, boo boo kitten, little pisser to name a few.

He loved to play - we could throw the ball for hours and in the winter, he loved to play the 'artic fox' game with Barry with the towel. Not sure who had more fun playing - Barry or Mikey!

Barry and Mikey playing the 'artic fox' game

Barry would try to sneak his ball and Mikey would guard it - and when the day was over, if Barry picked him up to take him downstairs, Mikey would always growl in fun - he never did that for me.

For me, I will miss him in the garden - he was my garden buddy - digging and rolling in the grass - spending the day outside with me and as he got older, he was content to have a nap while I worked. He was always happy to see me after work - whose day wouldn't get better after that. And he always knew when I came home - no matter how late. I think he heard the garage door opener.

Mikey December 2011 - Photo by Meg

So little buddy - it is with sad hearts we said goodbye to you - but we have to remember and say thank you for the almost 17 years of memories you left us. So many good times - won't look at my hollyhocks without thinking of you 'chopping' them down because they had your ball.

Bye buddy...you helped make our house a home.