My Dog passed away this morning. 4:00am. I knew this day would come sooner or later, but it was still a shock. In November, he would have turned 12 years old (people years, because really, what the hell are dog years anyways?). I couldn’t have asked for a better dog while growing up. He was attentive, intelligent and affectionate, not to mention a great protector.
We came upon Taylor accidentally. Growing up, my parents didn’t want a dog. Reasonably, they felt that having a dog would limit our vacation choices, and would be a lot of work to keep. Most people don’t want to look after your dog as you go on a month-long trip through Europe. We vicariously owned dogs through our grandparents (Killer) and Neighbour (Smokey). We even bough a couple of Guinea Pigs to keep as pets (Chip + Thumper lead to Gizmo and Dale). At the age of 18, I started looking to buy fish to fill an aquarium left in the basement by my sister. I soon realized that fish sucked and I’d be elbow deep in Fish poop, weekly, as I cleaned the aquarium. My interests turned to Geckos. I searched a few pet shops but couldn’t find any Gecko I liked. I soon realized that I didn’t want a fish or a Gecko. I wanted a dog. My Dad clued in on it sooner than I had. While at PetSmart, searching for a Geko, my dad turned to me and said “You don’t want a lizard do you.” I confessed that I wanted a dog, and terminated the Gecko hunt. As it just so happened, one of my dad’s co-workers had a litter of Black Lab/Shepherd puppies. We all approached my mom and told her we were ready to buy a dog. She too was willing to get a dog now that we were all older. Mom had only one stipulation. The stipulation being that we had to get a small to medium sized dog. She didn’t want an overwhelming dog in the house. Big dogs also tend to shed a lot more. Seeing as Lab/Shep puppies will grow to be a fairly large sized dog, the litter was left out of the selection process. As a family, we decided that the dog we get has to be unanimously approved by the family, and that we were to adopt a dog from a shelter. My dad did most of the leg work, visiting shelters on his lunch breaks, and taking us over when he found one that he thought we’d all like. Unfortunately, this process was long and drawn out. We couldn’t all agree on a dog we liked. As our search continued, the litter of Lab/Shep puppies, up for adoption by my dad’s co-worker were being scooped up. By mid-December, the Lab/Shep puppies had all been spoken for, and our search for a new dog was fruitless. Things weren’t looking good on the adoption-front until my dad found out one of the Lab/Shep puppies was back up for adoption. The original owner had to back out. Seeing his opening for adoption, my dad put together a plan that would us our very own Lab/Shep puppy. He brought home one of the litter Lab pup photos to show my mom. The studio dog photo had a barely 8 week old Lab pup sitting in front of a winter landscape, as the puppy adorned reindeer antlers. This photo was equivalent to the family Christmas portrait. One look at the photo and my mom had to have a lab puppy of her own. The next day, my dad brought home Taylor.
One of my favourite memories of Taylor was how he would wait up for me as I came home late from the bar. All throughout college and a few years later, Taylor would sleep at the top of the stairs, waiting for me to come home from the bar. As I unlocked the door each of those times, and stepped in at some early morning hour, he wouldn’t bark, as he normally would, should anyone enter the house. Taylor would lie on his side, without a moan or a bark; he’d wag his tail as I climbed the steps to my room. The wagging of his tail sounded like the quick whipping of a muted drum. As I went to bed and closed my door, Taylor, now satisfied that I made it home, would proceed back into my parents’ room and climb into their bed for the remainder of the morning.
I have plenty more Taylor stories I could tell. He was a great dog with a wise and compassionate character. He left us as I remember him, wagging his tail a he passed away.
