Tuesday, September 27th was a tough day for us…it was Chase’s 11th birthday. As you have noticed, we have not posted since before his death. To be quite honest, we have been hurting and it has taken us nearly nine weeks to actually get on here and write about his incredible life. This morning (after yet another late night of grading), I decided to jump on here and speak on behalf of both of us. Needless to say, we miss him horribly.
Here is the story of a super dog’s life…I could offer many, many stories of this character (many of you knew him well).
We got Chase in the fall of 2000 when we lived in Western Pennsylvania. Candy and I had discussed getting a lab puppy if I got a full-time coaching and teaching job. When this happened, Candy started looking for a puppy in the newspaper.
She had been struggling with our move to Grove City, PA and wanted a puppy badly. She found Chase in a newspaper ad. We got him at a trailer house in West Middlesex, PA for $25. We have always said that he was the best investment we ever made 🙂 It was rather ironic that two people who grew up in trailers would get a mutt lab puppy who was born in a trailer. I guess we were just meant to be together, huh?
The first week was very challenging for us and Chase. However, the one thing that was amazing was his ability to learn so quickly…he was a sponge! We can still remember him learning to climb the stairs, up to and down from the 2nd floor of our “defense brick” home in Grove City. He was so persistent and was soon running up and down these stairs.
He went on his first road trip in December 2000 with Candy when she went down to the Fort Myers area. We had been a traveling couple but never would have thought he would be such a lover of “going for a ride.” Once again, he liked what we liked. If he heard this, he was out the door and ready to go.
He jumped in his first creek in Grove City in the campus’s legendary Wolf Creek at seven months old. He swam like a natural, because he was! We never would have thought he would swim in the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the cold, glacial lakes of Canada and Alaska. Again, the perfect match for us.
He loved to play ball and jump off docks. He was just a great dog. I guess I could go on for a while about this. He was so great that we bought a car just because of him (our 2003 Honda Element with no carpet…he shed quite a bit).
When we got him as a puppy, we thought it was all about teaching him. While I am sure we taught him some things, he taught us way more than we taught him. He truly was “The Great Teacher of Unconditional Love.” He was always there when we had a bad day, complete with a wagging tail and hanging tongue holding a Kong, ready to play. How could we not be happy seeing that?
Chase had an incredible life but we were the beneficiaries of his kindness and love. As you all know, we do not have children. He was our kid and it hurt so much to see him in pain. I will not go into detail about the poor job the vet did in Ellworth, Maine. Let’s just say we will never go back to that state.
He died at the foot of our bed at Candy’s mother’s home in Fergus Falls, MN at 5:28 am on July 28th. We were with him when he passed, something that was painful to witness but a blessing at the same time. We wanted to be there for him like he had been there for us for nearly 11 years. Chase had a form of cancer called hemangiosarcoma of the spleen, an aggressive, bleeding tumor that many large breeds get. There is no cure for this. I just know that he fought until the very end and kept trying to please us.
After a misdiagnosis by the inept vet in Maine, we got a second opinion from our vet in Ohio. She found the cancer, news that was devastating to hear. Chase did get to see many of his “people” friends in Hiram, OH after this vet visit for one last time…that was such a blessing.
We laid Chase to rest in Candy’s mom’s garden, his ball launcher with a tennis ball marking the site forever. When we leave today (Wednesday, 9/28/11) to head south to Texas, it will be the first trip with the camper on the hitch without him coming along. That will be strange for sure.
Many friends have asked if we will get another dog soon. The answer to that question is “yes”, but it will not be happening for a little while. We have plans of traveling to Europe in the spring of 2012 for an extended time frame and are looking to get another dog after we come back to the US.
Thanks for reading this. He made an impact on everyone he crossed paths with. We appreciated the kind words from all of you when he left us.
As stated earlier, we are heading south to Texas today (Wednesday). We have spent the last nine weeks here in Fergus Falls with our “mom”, Joy Minion (technically, Candy’s mom). We hope to post about this time in a future post as we did a ton of things during this time to better ourselves. Stay tuned!
Have a great day and make it a masterpiece. Chase lived in the now and made everyday great. Let’s hope we can live by his philosophy for the rest of our lives.
by tim
show hide 22 comments