The Best Dog in the World

Anyone else want to sing the title of this post to the tune of that Tenacious D song? Just me?...ok moving on...

Our faithful German Shepherd, Cleo, passed away suddenly in February this year. And since she really was the best dog in the world, things just wouldn't be right unless she was somehow immortalized in blog-dom.

Cleo was only middle aged, and should have been with us for 6-8 more years. One night she started acting really lathargic, and when she got worse the next day, we took her to the vet and found out she had a tumor that ruptured. $1500 surgery to remove it and even then her life expectancy was a matter of months, so we decided to put her down. It was so sad to lose her so suddenly!

I won't go on and on about her, but I need to document just how amazing she really was:

She knew 50+ commands, and was very obedient

She didn't slobber at all, and never chewed on anything that wasn't hers. We bought her some rawhide bones for Christmas once, and she wouldn't even chew those but hid them around the house instead. Every few weeks we'd find one somewhere random like the laundry hamper or a toy bin :)

She always greeted us at the door when we got home

She never barked, but would howl with firetrucks which was just plain awesome

She never jumped up on people

She never got on the furniture

She was super mellow, but was ready for a game of tag any time

She was very gentle with the kids

She kept all her 'business' contained to one area in the backyard

On walks, I could balance her leash loosely with a couple fingers while I pushed the kids in a stroller and she always stayed close

Our neighborhood is full of yappy dogs that would always freak out when we walked by, and she never even batted an eyelash

Okay, I kind of did go on forever but there is so much more I could have said -- we are sure we will never have another pet as good as Cleo.

When we told the kids what happened, their reactions could not have been more different. Kate got immediately sad and was on the verge of tears for quite a while. Finn listened calmy and then jovially replied, "well, it's kind of a good thing Dad, cuz now she won't get in your way anymore!"

Ha! Wah. That night, we all wrote a note to put in a container with her leash to bury in the backyard. Rest in peace, Cleo. We will miss you.

We are on the lookout for another pet, but want to take our time and make sure we get something that is a good fit for the family. The kids really want a cat. I am definitely more of a dog person, but am consoled by the fact that if we do get a cat, I can name her Blanche. Or maybe Gladys. But probably Blanche.