He was the smartest dog you will ever meet. He could use a fork, talk at the phone, and unlock gates. There was never a time I wasn't impressed and awed by his smarts. He was also the friendliest dog. I never once heard him growl. He was always happy to say hi, whether it be to cat, dog or person. As long as you weren't a threat to me, he was happy to meet you. He was loved by so many, it is surely no surprise to learn he was friendly. Even those that were hesitant to love such a big dog, were quickly won over. Next thing you know those same people are happy to share a slim Jim with him, and he would gently take it to enjoy. He never snatched food away, he would even wait for the okay to eat a hot hot dog on the floor. He did love that people food though, it was the only thing that could take his attention away from me for a moment. We were always together, in the twelve years together we never spent more than two consecutive nights apart. And when those nights had to happen neither of us enjoyed being apart. He was very patient, in every aspect, but especially when it came to me. He spent many a hours waiting for me to come home, whether from school or somewhere he couldn't go, but was always happy with a toy when I came back to him. I tried to not make him wait for me any longer than necessary, and anywhere he could go with and wanted to he did. That includes nights at Grandmas or trips to Rural King. We spent many of his birthdays together, it was a blast celebrating with him. He knew what his birthday was, and loved getting his gifts and cupcake. The same goes for Christmas, he would stick his nose in his stocking for his treats, and rush me along unwrapping his gifts from under the tree. In his younger days he enjoyed snatching candy canes off the bottom of the Christmas tree. He would unwrap them himself, and was not prejudice about flavor. By the end of the holiday the bottom half of the the tree would be bare! He was such a good listener too. We had a joke going where when he would walk to where my dad was sitting at a desk chair to say hi, and my dad would jokingly rest his legs on Ripleys back. I figured out Ripley was such a good listener that I could holler for him the "sit" from another room and he would and dump my dads feet to the floor. The same applied when someone wanted him to move from his spot on the couch, he wouldn't budge or do anything anyone else said, but if I said something from the other room, he's on it. I remember learning he liked to catch treats, when I ran out of tricks to teach him one 4th of July. We were inside practicing new tricks to stay distracted from the sky falling outside. He got all the basics and then some down, I was so out of ideas on what else to try I decided "what if I just throw food at you", and he was about it. Kept the trick until the end, even started to prefer catching toys rather than chasing them. He loved eating snow when it snowed, or catching snowballs. He would hide under blankets with me when he was scared, or dive behind my back or the couch. He's seen most of the show Person of Interest, the dog was his favorite character. And all of SpongeBob, we've watched them together many a times. The hardest part of any puzzle toy, was finding one he couldn't solve. He would watch me put the treats in any one of them, and then just undo whatever I did to get them in there in the first place. He even applied this technique to get out of gates! Those filled bones were his favorites, and he had a couple hedgehog toys that became favorites as well. I could go on forever about all the memories I have of him. We spent a lot of time together, and loved every moment of it. Fifty percent of my time on this earth at the time of his passing was spent with him by my side. He was my shadow, every where I went. My puppy butt, that needed pats during allergy season. My puppy puppy that could make toys go squeaky squeaky. My best friend in the whole world, who was always there, waiting and listening. I do not know what I will do without him. But I do know I will hurt forever, so he didn't have to any longer. He was my Ripley Dog. And he will always be all of these things.

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