Our Dogs Tale...

So last week I had to do one of the most difficult things in my life. I had to say goodbye to a friend that has been in my life every single day for the past 15 years. Levi was a good dog with a typical outlook on life. If it moved, bite it, if it smelt good, eat it and if a spot looked warm and cozy, lay and claim it. My wife had rescued Levi from a shelter as a gift to me for losing another Jack Russell previously. Clyde too was a great dog. He would attack your pant leg when you would go to leave the house. Sadly, he chased the wrong car and it got him. Levi was an incredible addition to our family. He was adopted under the notion that he was still somewhat f a pup but quickly came to realize that he was well past his childish phase.

When we first got him, he would not bark at all, instead he would just sit and watch. It was not until my wife's cousin thought it would be funny to teach him to bark at specific races of people. After that he was a normal dog, barking at squirrels, strangers and anything else that was unfamiliar..

Levi quickly became a staple in the stories that were told. All of our photos were of him. All of my money went to him. I would bring him down to the beach at night and let the drunks try and pet him while he tried to bite them. I would bring him home bacon pizza from the pizzeria I worked at. It was all about Levi. When it came time for me to move out, he came with me. Levi has moved with us for years to come. We made sure to always find a home that would accommodate ALL of us. We even had to pay extra, which is illegal, to ensure that he would come with us. There was never a decision made that didn't involve Levi. When we fell into hard times and had to move we kept hearing that we should give up Levi and it would be easier, like hell I would give up my dog. It's also a good thing I didn't because when we lived in Ocean Grove, that dog let me know that the building next door was on fire.Levi barked to alert me that something was wrong during a time where he had stopped barking for about a year at the time. Hearing him bark let me know that something was not right. I got our of the shower and went to where he was barking and whining, opened the window and saw the fire trucks outside. It's one of those stories that people tell about a person they see as a hero but for me, it's a dog. 

We never imagined for Levi to make it too the ripe old age that he did. After Ocean Grove, his health started to... slip. Aural Hematoma in his ear followed by cataracts and his teeth started to fall out. Still he was a major part of our lives. He then made it to be there when we brought our daughter home. A moment that we dreading and came to find out that despite his head honcho status in our lives, he gladly accepted his new place and his new sister. 

We had to make the terrible choice to send off our beloved friend at a time when Emilia was just starting to look at him as a friend. She would wake up and want to see him. She would go into the kitchen and want to feed him. She would approach him and want to pet him. When he followed her she thought he was playing a game. It was a beautiful thing to witness. When the time had come we had to tell Mealz that Levi was going to be headed to the North Pole to work with Sandra's reindeers. It's been two weeks and she still says that Rabbi(her pronunciation of Levi) is at the North Pole. He even sent her a stuffed Jack Russell Terrier with his collar as a Christmas gift. His box of course sits on our home and always will. His look alike painting will always hang on our wall as a reminder of the time that he served us. It's still rough not having him around. When food hits the floor we need to clean it up. I still wake up at 3 am thinking that I heard him turning over in the kitchen and not seeing him get up when I come home from work even though he is old and his bones most definitely hurt, is just hard. 

Levi will always be the flagship companion to the Jimenez family. All dogs that follow will be loved just as much but due to what Levi has been through with us from the time we had nothing to the times when everything was great and then we had nothing again they will never get the history that he did. There will be others of course because Mealz already says she wants a doggy and I am a dog lover. There will always be a dog in the Jimenez house.