Hail to the Chief!!

If you don't love animals like I do (nobody does-it's unhealthy!) you can go read something else. I just sent chief to heaven. This is a horrible, crappy, sad day.
The first time I met chief he was a stringy puppy living illegally in an apartment of stupid boys in Rexburg, Idaho. He was pretty shy. All the boys said they liked him, but I think one of them didn't because he was very nervous and a bit shy. If I ever find out who abused him, that person is toast. Anyway- the boys got caught with the dog and so his owner took him to Salk Lake to live with his sister, who hated him, didn't want him and kept him in the garage. She decided she couldn't keep him, allergies or some such excuse, and that is where Whitney came in. She called and asked if she could bring him home. GAH! Not another dog. We already had a Boarder Collie. I tried to scare her by telling her she would never get him through the border- She was not deterred. He had papers- pure bread stuff. I said you can bring him home if you find another place for him. She drove all the way home from Salt Lake with him on the front seat, where he accidentally shifted the car into neutral on the I-15 luge! They made it unscathed, barely.
Oh my he was silly looking. He stayed on a bed in the spare room and didn't come out. It was obvious he had been mistreated. Our other dog hated him at first. She growled at him and bared her teeth- like he need that! After a while Stewart got him to come out of the room and Nicky tolerated him but I insisted that Whitney find him another home. There was a lady who had boxers so we took him over to her house to make sure chief would be ok. It looked good- he played with the other boxers and I felt great- this is a good deal. Paige however was not ok. We got in the car and she started to bawl. One of the few times I have seen her cry. I got all mother knows best on her and told her we couldn't keep him, this is a good arrangement, etc. This was a Friday. The lady was out of town for the weekend and said she would pick him up on Monday.
TOO LATE. She came over one more time to see him and I brought him down to the living room. He was acting so scared and shy. I knelt down to try and give him some reassurance and he draped his head on my neck and actually hugged me. That was all it took. We had us a Big Boy Brindle Boxer.
He was always a bit scared of stuff but around our house he was the biggest goof ball. Very affectionate and all 65 pounds of him in the mindset of a lap dog. Always trying to sit on your lap, always with some part of his big body against you or on you. Once I had a really bad inner ear infection and he stayed on the bed next to me for an entire week.
He had what we called the spin move. When he got to go for a walk, he would spin in little circles all over the back yard. He loved to run and he and Nicky would chase each other with no thought for what was around them. One day Chief literally took a friend of mine out at the knees- knocked her flat on her back. You had to watch out for him because he was so big.
When he was about 3 years old we noticed he was limping and trying to walk only on his front legs. Something was wrong. We took him to the vet and he said it was probably his back. This was not good news. Stewart stayed home from a family ski trip to take him to a specialist in Calgary. We found out he had torn both of his ACL ligaments. The specialist could fix him- for $3000.00 a leg. Stew was on board but I thought that was a lot of money. We all cried because I said no-that is just too much money and it was a horrible recovery for the dog. Stewart brought him home so we could all say goodbye. We thought he was just too young to go- there had to be something we could do. We are of the mindset that when you have animals you take care of them and you don't just put them down because they have a chink in their armor. We made a last ditch effort to talk the vet in Lethbridge into fixing Chiefs legs. He said he could do a different operation that was half the cost and the recovery wasn't as hard. So one leg at a time Chief was fixed. The first leg went pretty well, but the second leg was really rough. But he was a trooper, and soon he was back to his old self. Not doing the spin moves- we had to break him of that for his legs sake, but doing great. Until Nicky died.
He turned into an old man over night. He would lay around and sulked all day. SO up to Edmonton Stewart and Paige went and got a female boxer puppy- Mattie, to cheer Chief up. He was a new man!
He lasted for another 7 years, until we knew that he couldn't see very well, or hear and he had some weird things growing in weird places and he snored so bad I had to sleep in another room. We knew he would not be able to make the yearly summer trip to the lake. We knew we wouldn't get any sleep with him snoring like that in the trailer. So today, he went to the vet. He was very excited to get in the truck. Little did he know.
Do dogs really go to heaven? Somebody tell me they do, even if it's a lie. I kind of believe all things that God created are resurrected at some point. Mattie is sitting here looking out the window. It breaks my already broken heart. I hope she doesn't decline because Chief is gone. I am afraid of that. Right now I say no more dogs. I just get too attached. It is much easier when you know they are really sick. Chief was just old. So it's harder.
I loved that dog. His only vice was eating horse poop- yeah, I know it's gross- He was brave and sweet and loving and gentle. He never bit even when the babies would pull his ears or poke him or pet him too hard. He was handsome and big and goofy and I loved him very much. I will miss him every day. I never got tired of petting him or hugging him. I always wondered if the novelty of him would wear off- it never did. Each morning when he snorted and got all feisty, throwing his head around and boxing you with his front paws, it was a treat.
Can you love a dog too much? Yes and no. I know the hurt goes away, thank heaven. But today it's agony.
I love you, Chiefy boy! Rest in peace.