by Steve Meyers
We went to get Alex 13 1/2 years ago. He was six months old at the time and hadn't mastered steps yet. He had to be carried up from the basement where the litter had been kept. I remember saying to my wife " are you sure you want this one? " He looked mentally challenged because his eyelids were kinda droopy. She immediately fell in love with him and over the years I came to know why. He was the kindest, most gentle dog anyone could ever wish for. He followed us around everywhere we went. He alternated between being mommy's boy and daddy's boy. Last fall we thought we were going to loose him but after a trip to the vet and some medicine he was almost back to his old self. This spring he developed a tumor which grew to the size of a softball. The news was bad. It was cancerous and would in all likelihood grow back. It did. But we were able to have one last summer with him which we will always treasure. He started to show signs of failing health two weeks ago and last week we realized that rather than try to squeeze a few more weeks of time with him, we needed to do the compasionate thing and say goodbye. Alex left us last Saturday morning. We truly hope that we will meet him again someday soon so that we can see that love in his eyes and that little nub just a wagging. Until then we'll just hang onto his raggy baby for him.