Dear Friends and Famiily,

Most of you that know us either have known our dear Major or know of him. He left this world yesterday morning peacefully, after growing old with us gracefully.

I first laid eyes on Major the day he was born in Salt Lake City, Utah at our good friends', Jay and Kappa Meadows home. It was such an exciting day when we brought him home at the tender age of 6 weeks, in a little box with a blanket and a clock inside. He was our first baby and over the next 12 years he welcomed Alex, moved with us to Missoula, welcomed Jack and Will and shared in all of our adventures. One can hardly find a picture around here that he is not in, either in the background or in the corner, he was always with us. He was more like a child to us than a pet, never crated or tied up, always free to roam the yard and the nearby woods and in his last year he became a fixture around our new yard and garden, always snoozing in the soft grass and soaking up the sun, teetering around the yard on his weak little legs. He has run hundreds of miles with us, hiked up many peaks and swam in the Clark Fork, the Bitterroot and the Blackfoot Rivers. In 2005, he stood down a huge black bear in front of our home, teeth bared and every hair on end, and the bear backed off!

His old little body just gave out and after making the most painful decision we have ever faced, we rallied around him for one last night. We all spent time with him, grilled him a hamburger (his favorite), and he scavenged food off of the kitchen floor one last time. I held him in my arms like a baby and he drifted away to the sound of my voice telling him how much we love him.

Yesterday, after he was gone, we cried at the site of his little pawprints in the snow, making his path around the house, going in little circles in the yard and leading into his doghouse. Today, the rain came, melted all of the snow, and the prints are now all gone. We miss you, Little Buddy.