an everyday blue

phil and i married in august of 2000. bodi joined our family in october of 2000, our third month of marriage. she was only a wee pup with big ears then. as she grew, i felt sad when we'd leave for work and she'd be home by herself all day long. i, being a completely blind new dog owner, thought bodi would be so much happier if she had a playmate to be at home all day long with. little did we know then how all of our lives would be turned upside down by the addition of the one and only blue dog. bodi gave blue hell for most of her life and blue, the laid back one, just dealt with it.

when i told phil i wanted to add a second dog to our home, he reluctantly said that if we did, we needed to get a dog that no one else wanted. so i familiarized myself with rescue dogs and thought this was the way we should go this time, having purchased bodi from a breeder. boy did i open pandora's box here. i had no idea what a sad, huge world existed within humane societies and rescue organizations. it was completely overwhelming and so sad all at once. there were just so many dogs in need. this was how we would get our next dog... adoption. (i loved it so much i went on to volunteer with the humane society and german shepherd rescue for the first 4 years we had the dogs, prior to the kids)

one day while visiting a petsmart dog adoption day in forsyth county, i saw the most beautiful blue-eyed dog. she was so sweet, just sitting quietly in her crate(first clue that she was a lazy one!). i asked if i could take her out and get to know her, to see what i thought of her personality. it was then that i saw this black-eyeliner-wearing dog only had three legs. what! three legs and still walking? sure, she had a bit of a limp (i guess you could call it that) to her but seemed to get around ok for the short walk we took through the parking lot. her name was blue. she had the sweetest, calmest demeanor ever.

it was love. i wanted her.

i went home to tell phil the exciting news, that i had found the most amazing dog to adopt. and per his directions, no one else seemed to want this one. she had been at the humane society for 6 months already. i don't know how such a beautiful dog was still there. i like to think she was waiting for us.

i remember our first night home with blue. i had a jeep cherokee at the time and went to carry her out of it, easing her trip to the ground since she was three-legged after all. our plan was to have bodi meet blue in front of our house, on neutral ground. it was in that split second when i set blue's three feet on the ground and she hauled off after bodi that i knew we would never feel sorry for this dog. i'm pretty sure it was the fact that she only had three legs that made her so quick! she ran after bodi, squirrels, rabbits, us, whatever. nope, no worries at all.

she went on to be the laziest, easiest, chubbiest, most family-friendly dog anyone could have. she found pleasure in the little things... like laying under a tree, laying in the grass, laying in the shrubs, laying at our feet, all with her face pointing towards the sun.  some may call her a lazy dog. i'd agree with that. she never liked playing ball, chase, or any sort of game a normal dog does. no, our blue dog was in fact content doing nothing at all. we loved our easy-going girl for that reason.

the girls really loved blue too. blue would easily let the girls lay on her, put hats on her, pretty much whatever they wanted to do and she wouldn't put up a fight. her favorite part about the girls was definitely the fact the they loved giving her treats and snacks. so, that was part of the reason blue turned in to such a chubby girl. she lived for food.

i just can't say enough about this dog. she was the best.

it was a super difficult decision that was made on dec 20th, 2013. after giving us years of fun, love, comfort, laughs, and happiness, we had to put our old girl down. walking became so tough for a 13 year old three-legged dog. it was compassion more than anything that made our decision just a smidge easier.

we miss her every single day.

it is a strange silence in our house without any dogs. just not hearing their nails hit the wood floors when they walk, hearing them pant loudly or having them at our feet at the table waiting for crumbs. bodi and blue filled our hearts and our home for 13 of our almost 14 years of marriage. they were a part of the family.

we miss you blue blue. thanks for being the awesome dog you were. (even in the years you would break free from the fence and we had to drive around the local neighborhoods to find you, then lift your heavy self into our car. you sure could get around in your early years.)