Goodbye Gus

Today we had to say goodbye to Gus. He came into our lives just a short 5 1/2 years ago.

First came Reggie, who Mitchell and I got as a puppy after dating for less than 4 months. My neighbors next door to my townhouse got a Boston Terrier puppy named "Bruiser" (still my favorite Boston name) and I always made Mitchell look at it out the window when they took it out to go to the bathroom. They quickly became my favorite breed of dog.

It took awhile to convince myself that I was indeed ready for the commitment of a dog, not to mention a puppy. But with some convincing from Mitchell, and promise to help with the vet bills, we picked up Reggie from a breeder. And then we were a family of three.

Once we moved in together and lived in a house, we decided it would be a good idea to get Reggie a buddy. Terrier puppies have a LOT of energy and they a bit exhausting. Our previous breeder had a litter of roly-poly butterball puppies, and we picked out Gus from the batch one year after getting Reggie. His name was inspired by the chubby mouse from Cinderella, with the t-shirt that was always a bit too small. Gus became "Mitchell's." Or shall I say, they were both "your dog" when they were misbehaving. :)

Gus fit into our family perfectly. Reggie was still in charge, despite the fact that Gus could eventually kick Reg' butt. When lucky enough to get into bed with us, Gus slept at our feet, while Reggie stuck his legs out and hogged the top of the bed. Gus loved to cuddle, but often underestimated the value of "personal space" and smothering your face. While Reggie was content acting like a cat, Gus was a real dog. He swam in the water the one chance he got. He would fetch a ball. He loved to follow commands once he learned them.

He had a very cute snaggletooth that would stick out of his lip sometimes. He had a crooked tail nub, which he would wag when happy. He loved to have his head resting on things - I held his chin the entire ride home from picking him up from the breeder, which kept him content. He loved to nest into a blanket, sunbathe in sunspots and sleep with his head on the pillow like his dad.

He did have one unfortunate habit of biting fingers of strangers and those that made him nervous. It made him (obviously) a bit untrustworthy, but also misunderstood. He was very much the lover when he wasn't too anxious to sit in one spot for awhile. Once you were in his circle, you were good, and loved.

We were a bit nervous about bringing Oliver home to the dogs. But "the boys" did great. Gus would sit on the sheepskin in Oliver's room when I would rock him to sleep at night. And he would just hop away when Oliver would get too grabby around skin and ears.

He also loved riding in the car. Our last trip was down to Eugene to visit Grandma (loved it there) and then out to Sunriver (which meant extra walks). We arrived Monday, and then on Wednesday morning, we came back from an outing and he was acting strange. We assumed he had peed somewhere in the house, because he always busted himself with that guilty head and ears down look. But when Mitchell went to put his collar on later, he yelped. We thought it was weird, but thought maybe he was just stung by a bee or something. Over the next couple of days he got more and more sluggish, and soon couldn't get onto the couch by himself. So, Friday we took him into the vet. She did an xray and sent him home with painkillers, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs. He showed signs of a degenerative issue with his neck and he had 104 temperature, so we were to follow up with our usual vet and get an MRI when we got home.

Monday, we called our vet and made an appointment for 3:00 the next day and they got the info from the vet in Sunriver. By Monday evening, Gus couldn't even lay down, he was in so much pain, and it seemed like his leg was now causing him pain. We went in early the next day to the vet, got him some stronger painkillers, and they referred us to a specialize in Clackamas, OR, at VCA Northwest Veterinary Specialists. We got an MRI done, but they were assuming that it was a ruptured disc in his neck and needed surgery. But the MRI showed that it wasn't that. The next guess was Meningitis or cancer. We biopsied things. His lymph nodes were swollen. They had to give him a temporary tracheotomy to help him breathe in order to come out of sedation. They even removed his tonsils and took a biopsy.

After being in the hospital since Tuesday and not improving and having exhausted all reasonable tests and guesses as to what was wrong, we decided that was enough for Gus. He wasn't eating and did not have a good quality of life. So I went and said goodbye one last time for the family, and he went night-night one last time.

He is loved and missed. Bye-Bye Gus-Gus