Another Tribute to Bob

I miss Bob. My first thought when I get home is still - "I need to go let Bob out!" The floor is alot messier to clean after a meal. When I come down in the morning and the curtains are closed I freak out thinking I forgot somehow to let Bob out (I'd usually come down first thing, let him out, and open the curtains while he was out there). At the boy's birthday party this weekend one of their friends asked about Bob and I said he didn't live with us anymore because he was very old. She determined on her own that he must be in Heaven. I keep thinking I hear him barking to come in. And, sadly, there are occasions I see something on the floor and my first reaction is to think Bob has had an accident. I saw our box of tennis balls in the garage today and it made me sad.

Bob's previous owner, Michael Dimarco, wrote a post about him documenting the first 7 years of his life and honoring his memory. I'd encourage you to check it out, especially if you grew to love Bob as well. This post was, for me, kind of like re-opening the wound - but it was so wonderful to read.

Mike's post reminded me of a few similar memories we had of him as well that I did not mention before....

* Bob DID love to run. LOVED it. And he was SO fast. I loved watching him. As he aged though, his running became much slower and much more short-lived. I'm glad to remember how much he loved it.

* Bob was so super smart. He learned quickly and was so eager to please.

* Mike teaching Bob not to bark (check out the story on this) lasted his whole life. You could tell him to bark but it wasn't until the last year or so that he decided he was going to bark if he wanted to come inside.

* Towards the end we had to put him in a pen when we left the house or when we went to sleep at night. It was a baby gate technically and he could see through it, stand up and walk around and he had his bed so it wasn't too bad. Before this, however, (and actually quite a bit before we had to resort to putting him in the pen) if he needed to go out in the middle of the night he would come stare at me. Right next to the bed face right in front of mine with his ears perked up. I would wake up (probably due to his hot breath) with Bob's face inches from mine and it would scare me to death.

* Mike's post reminded me of when we would be on a walk. Jared would usually take the leash because Bob was too fast for me (back in the day). Bob was CONSTANTLY turning around and nearly tangling himself in the leash to be sure I was coming.

I organize my pictures according to events and have folders for pets, kids, etc. I missed some of my favorite pictures in my last post because I was only looking in the pets folder. I searched other folders and here are a few more.

Bye Bob. We love you and miss you.