Life is a Game We Play: Saturday, 7/21/2012

2000? - 2012

We said goodbye to our sweet Hank this day. We received the diagnosis of a soft palate tumor the previous Tuesday. We decided that it was kinder to let him go before his pain progressed any further. He was able to enjoy his last few days with a good appetite, plenty of opportunities to lie in the sun, and even got his couch privileges back. His last morning, we took him with Scout and Max on a walk at one of his favorite places, Bond Park. Andrew and I were with him at the end. It was one of the hardest things that I have ever done. It still makes me cry sitting here writing about it five months later. He was my first pet and will always hold a special place in my heart.

We met Hank in August 2004. Andrew and I both wanted to get dogs. We joked that we'd get a standard one (big) and an emergency backup (small). It was hard for us to find smaller dogs on the rescue groups' websites, but eventually we found a posting for a 25-pound beagle mix. We met him and his foster mom at a meet-and-greet at a local pet store. She had named him Huckleberry. He was super friendly and bayed at the other dogs passing by. We chose to adopt him then and there. We soon realized that yelling "Huck" to get his attention might sound like another word, so we chose to rename him Hank.

We soon adopted Hank's "little" sister, Scout. He was happy about this choice until she started bossing him around. He held his ground though and they quickly became a tight pack. Hank was also quick to choose his human. Although it was Andrew who had picked him, Hank gravitated towards me. (The opposite happened with Scout.)

Throughout his time with us, Hank was always a sweet guy, but boy was he lazy! He much preferred to nap in the sunlight and oftentimes it seemed that he needed a written invitation to go out for bedtime potty stop. Even though he was the smallest of our three dogs, we often found him on the biggest bed. The best bed always went to Hank. In the evenings, he often slept on the bed in the office next to me while Max was left to sleep on the floor nearby.

He enjoyed going for walks in the woods and took the opportunity to mark as many trees as possible. He also loved visits to the off-leash dog park. We called him "The Ambassador" because he liked to hang out by the gate to greet the newcomers.

We loved to go backpacking with the dogs. (Okay, maybe one of us liked it more than the other!) Whenever we came to a fallen log over the trail, Hank would stop, look at me, and seem to say, "are you going to help me out or not?" I'd grab the handle on his backpack and lift him over the log. Off we went until the next obstacle. He was a trooper on the trail, but was always happy to make a stop for "power bone" snacks.

We have tons of Hank memories and I could go on and on, but these are some of my favorites. We miss you so much, Hank!