Reminiscing

I would like to start by offering a huge thank you to everyone who has expressed their condolences to us over Hawk's passing. It has been a great comfort, especially since we just weren't expecting to lose him. He was almost thirteen years old and I didn't think he'd live forever, but I thought he'd bounce back and be with us for a while longer. I feel mostly at peace with our decision to let him go, but we miss him greatly. As I read through messages that people sent to us, I kept thinking to myself, "Oh, I should have mentioned that, or that, and I can't believe I didn't tell that story."

There was the time he fell asleep and scared himself with his own fart. We laughed so hard over that, but perhaps it wouldn't have been the best story to tell in his eulogy. There was the story about him with our crazy cat, Blizzard. That cat put the fear of God into more foster greyhounds that we had than I can count, and he got his bluff on over Hawk from the minute the poor guy set foot in our house. There's the story about the time Hawk and Treat appeared in a professional ballet production, all in the name of helping other greyhounds get adopted. He put up with a lot of silliness from us. He looks so GQ in all of the pictures we have of him, but the truth is, he was really a lovable goofball who was very protective of his toys. He'd sit on them to protect them from our fosters if he had to. He was deathly afraid of the camera, certain it would steal his soul with that crazy flash, and so he'd never look directly at it, hence the reason he always appeared so dignified in his photos. There was also his deep love of popcorn and the fact that for the last seven years we have not been able to say "potty" or anything that remotely sounds like it without making a trip to the back door, even if we just came in. All blog stories for a rainy day, perhaps.

He really loved his girls, and that included Treat, first and foremost, and me, but he also felt the need to take Blueberry and Bunny under his wing. He and Lilac got along, but perhaps he realized that our sassy little mama dog could take care of herself better than he could. They were never particularly chummy, but they seemed to have an understanding. He was happy when we brought Bunny home and one thing I wish I'd gotten a picture of were the times Bunny would walk underneath him, but this always happened at the back door at turn out time. He must have liked her, because nobody else could ever have pulled that off. He'd look at her and sort of shake his head as if to say, "Kids, what can you do with them."

He also loved to go on trips with us, and surprisingly, was a model hound whenever we went somewhere away from home. Apparently, there was no danger of the sky falling when we weren't in our own quiet little town. Either that or he was too busy making sure Treat and I didn't fall in the ocean or fall victims to some other disaster.

And now that we've celebrated his life, we're going to do our best to look forward. We have a very important event coming up on Tuesday that involves a certain little puppy here and we're excited about that. More than anything, Hawk would want us to remember him with a smile and a laugh, not with tears, and that's what we plan to do. He was a one of a kind, a dog who would have been a long, tall cowboy if he'd been human, and we'll always remember him with gratitude that he came into our lives. We thank everyone for enjoying hime with us!