My youngest son wanted a dog for his 20th birthday so we went to the local Humane Society to get one. As we walked in, there was this one tiny little guy, out front in a huge cage all by himself, he yapped hello to us and the front counter people told us he was too young to be back with the others.

So my son and I went in the back and looked at all the marvelous dogs but he couldn't really decide, there were two beautiful Shepherd mixes, brothers, but we couldn't have two and I wouldn't have wanted to be the one to separate them anyway. So we went back out front to look at that little guy again. I kneeled down and stuck my finger in the cage and he bit me, then sat down and smirked. He was jet black, half Lab, half Shepherd, looked like a Lab but with the long black hair of a Shepherd but thick as a Lab.

He was 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 7 weeks old, we decided to take him home. AFTER I signed the paperwork and wrote the check, they said we might notice he was a little noisy at night. A little? That first night he slept, well, was IN a box by my son's bed. He cried ALL night long, he'd cry till his little voice would give out in a squawk, he'd be quiet a couple minutes then start crying again. The next morning, my son told me, "Dad, I don't think I can handle another night like that." I told him I couldn't either, from then on Cisco slept with my son, quietly and contentedly.

For a year, then my son died and Cisco became mine. For the next 13 years we shared everything together. They said he'd get to be about 65 pounds, he stopped growing at 120, not fat, tall and strong. We walked our suburb at all hours of the day and night, often very early so I could let him off leash, a dog that big needs room to run, and he loved running. He'd run with me with that perfectly efficient movement all dogs have for 5 miles, then I'd be done, and we'd stop at a park and he'd race around by himself for another half hour while I cooled down.

The first time he saw water, he was about 7 months old, he and I were walking through a park near us, a good-sized creek ran through it. About halfway through the creek had a big bend, on the other side a huge old tree hung out over the water and two boys, maybe 10 or 11, had a rope tied there and were swinging out and dropping into the water. Cisco and I were about 5 feet above the water on a ledge and he looked up at me, we could always read each others minds, and I knew he was asking, "can I?". I said, sure, buddy. Well, he took off running in the OTHER direction and I thought oh-oh, but 20 yards out he turned and circled back, and leaped off that ledge all the way out to where those boys were dropping in. He came up sputtering and looking at me like "WHAT did I just do?", clambered up the bank and did it again. We had many such experiences.

He wasn't a typical anything, certainly not a Lab since he didn't like to play fetch. He'd bring me a ball, I'd toss it for him, EVERY time he'd give me this look like "WHAT did you do THAT for?", go get it, bring it back, I'd toss it, get the look, and after 3 or 4 tosses he was done with that. But he NEVER did that without giving me that "Are you crazy, I just GAVE you that look."

He had horrible separation anxiety his first three years as do many labs. The first year he only ate my son's shoes and such. When my son died and we became each other's, he turned to MY stuff, he ate furniture, woodwork, wallboard, a couch, lounge chair, how I have no idea. But I'd hear him as I left in the morning for work and got into the car, a heart breaking howl. On his 3rd birthday, I told him, okay, buddy, now you're 3 and that chewing stops! He quit on his own terms the way he did everything about three months later.

If I had known when we got him that he was going to be mine in a year, I couldn't have borne the thought. But when my son died, Cisco was the only reason I got out of bed many days. The best friend I've ever had for 13 blessed years. He passed this August past age and arthritis, tumors, it was time and now all I have left of the two of them are a rock my son gave me when he was 5, an old piece of tar he brought in all excited to give me, it was multi colored and I asked what it was, and he said, its a beauty rock, Dad, for you. It's been on my counter ever since and next to it now rests a clay paw print of our beloved Cisco. An angel sent to me straight from God to guide me through the grief and sorrow of the years following my sons death, who ultimately meant more to me than any dog I've ever known. He better be waiting for me at the rainbow bridge, because no afterlife would be complete without him, as is my life now incomplete without him. Cisco, love of my life, the bestest puppy boy the world ever saw, who loved everyone he met after scaring them with his size, and who gave me his whole being for so many blessed years. I didn't know he was for me, but I'm glad he was. I don't know that I would have survived the blow but for him. He made my life mean something again, he gave all he had to me, every day and I only wanted to do the same for him. I really want to see him again, my son too, but this site is for Cisco, my rock and my best friend forever.