Gosh it's been so long since I've been here. It's been a rough few years. My Mom had a massive stroke back in 2010, then 2 months later, I had to put Oz to sleep for lymphoma. My Mom passed away about 8 mos ago. So it's just been me and Gulliver for awhile now and he got me through it all. Bringing me toys when I was upset to cheer me up. I finally got my feet back under me this year and was starting to feel fairly good and then a couple of months ago, he woke me up in the middle of the night, all panicky. He was trying to stand, but his legs wouldn't support him. I held him up, so he could stand and he stopped panicking, but he really didn't seem aware I was there. It lasted about a minute, then he wagged his tail and trotted off to get a toy to play. It almost seemed like a seizure to me, but the vet thought it was a stroke. We didn't have anymore of those incidents, but I could tell he was slowly getting weaker. And then he had trouble working his legs correctly. He couldn't back up very well and he'd do this lil' stutter step, when he walked. In the back of my mind, I knew our time together was growing shorter.

Last week, I was cooking dinner and dropped some turkey meat on the floor. Called him to come get it. I heard all this commotion, but no Gull showed up. I ran to where he was and he couldn't get up. He was so upset. He peed and threw up all over himself. I tried to lift him up, but he couldn't help at all this time. I called a friend to come help me lift him into my Jeep, to get him to the vet. My vet wasn't there that day, so they tranquilized him and kept him over nite for observation. I went in the next morning to see Gull and consult with my vet. The tranquilizer had long since worn off, but Gull was so non-responsive, when I was talking to him and he still couldn't get up. He looked so miserable, so I made the decision to put him to sleep.

When I put Oz to sleep, I had all nite to basically say goodbye to him, before we went into the vet. Everything was so rushed with Gull, but I said the things I needed to (at warp speed, but I did get the chance to say them at least) and sang his favorite song to him ("Girl" by Davy Jones. With Davy's accent, Girl sounds a bit like Gull). He went peacefully, staring into my eyes. I know he's up in heaven now, playing with Oz and Murph and Maddie. I've no doubt, he's also sharing a laugh with my Mom about the time he drug her thru my flowerbed. And hopefully "Girl" is playing on a perpetual loop for him and he's barking and dancing his way through heaven, to his very own theme song. I know there's a whole lot more laughter in heaven now.

Here's a lil' tribute video I did to his favorite song: